Banggai eggs stopped being fertile

[jjencek]

I have had a pair of banggai laying eggs every one month or so. First year was very good and I could raise 20-50 of them each month.

After one year they still have lots of eggs, but they are not fertile anymore.

Is this normal? Will it get better again? Is there something I could have done that causes that?

 

[Fish Think Pink]

I have had a pair of banggai laying eggs every one month or so. First year was very good and I could raise 20-50 of them each month.

After one year they still have lots of eggs, but they are not fertile anymore.

Is this normal? Will it get better again? Is there something I could have done that causes that?

without more details, I suspect diet aka nutrition needs. Not enough oils or something going on. Even human women are supposed to take vitamins etc when pregnant

we forget in wild they eat entire creatures, but in our aquariums are fish are getting what we give them

I'm finding live black worms helps my clownfish eggs. If they get a lot of worms in the week leading up to next egg laying, those eggs hatch. If they only eat some worms (because worms are more for CBB who eats at other end of tank), then noticed eggs look funny and then don't hatch. Sorry this is only my observation in my tank and not scientific

I've been going thru pound of worms monthly (in addition to exhaustive list of frozen foods from all different brands, plus TDO chromaboost pellets). Getting worms from Eastern Aquatics in PA. There is a local to me event this coming weekend that is freshwater focused - hoping to get TX local worm contact because half my worm cost is shipping., yet that is SUBSTANTIALLY cheaper than if I was buying by the cup from LFSs. I have worm culture info in my build thread... but I do feed faster than worms reproduce

 

[jjencek]

I have not considered food being the problem, because I had not changed it. I was chasing water quality, but without any improvement.

They will not take TDO, just frozen food, which is little limited in Central Europe. I have been giving them frozen mysis and adult BS. I could add some SELCON which I do have. I never tried black worms, which are also available here.

Ok. Thank you for the advice. I will try a few things and will get back here with an update.

 

[DaJMasta]

I can't say my banggai spawns have been especially large, but I try to rotate frozen foods (mysis, bloodworms, copepods, marine carnivore mix foods) and they seem to love everything except for pellets, which they eat and immediately spit out (though I've had good luck with TDO for their children, oddly). They are also quick to go for things that are moving and drifting in the tank, so if you can get some extra amphipods or mysid shrimp growing in your tank, they will probably supplement their meals with that.

Could also be related to quantity, mine always seem to be ready to eat and I'm feeding a cube a day plus particulate food to an E170.

But I think diet is probably the biggest factor to spawn fecundity when they are already actively spawning, so it's probably worth pursuing it first. There can certainly be variations due to seasons and water conditions (it's common to see quantity and quality of eggs vary over the year in studies of other fish), but it would be harder to control even if it were a primary factor.

 

[jjencek]

From the frozen food I have been able to get only mysis and brine shrimp in Central Europe. I have started to saturate them in Selcon one day and Brightwell Multi-vitamin the next day. We will see if I get any better results.

My experience with TDO is mixed. A few of the adults will take it, but most will not. As far as the children, I have been having hard time switching them from the live BS to anything else. I used to mix the cardinals with my black clown babies and that worked much better. The clowns ate anything and seemed to teach the cardinals what to do. But I have not had clown babies for a while.

 

[DaJMasta]

Something that seemed to help with my babies taking TDO: flow. I think their interest is much higher when the particle is moving, especially in an irregular manner, so I found that using a feeding ring near the front of a power head, then letting the sinking particles be pushed all over the tank wildly increases interest, and that feeding live at the same time helps ease the transition.

The parents may be the same way, but they seem to be much more ready to just take a bite of whatever comes near them and then spit it out if it's a pellet

 

[jjencek]

Something that seemed to help with my babies taking TDO: flow. I think their interest is much higher when the particle is moving, especially in an irregular manner, so I found that using a feeding ring near the front of a power head, then letting the sinking particles be pushed all over the tank wildly increases interest, and that feeding live at the same time helps ease the transition.

The parents may be the same way, but they seem to be much more ready to just take a bite of whatever comes near them and then spit it out if it's a pellet

I sort of knew that. When I had them in more-flow tank switching them to TDO was easy. I just needed you to tell me that ... I will install a small power head into this new tank that does not have much flow. Thank you for pushing me. DONE

 

[Pico bam]

Hello, do you guys have any tips for raising banggai's? I have at least one breeding pair. Like and idiot I tried to catch the male when I seen eggs in his mouth. He spit them out obviously. Ive read that some people wait for the eggs to hatch as they stay in the males mouth for some time afterwords. That's when they go after the male with a net knowing he'll spit out the baby's to be netted. And should I go the Live brine route? or is there a fair amount of success with frozen/pellet? I orderd 4 banggai's with hopes of getting one pair and it looks like I have two pairs. If I have success I'll probably isolate the pairs in separate tanks all by themselves, thoughts?

 

[DaJMasta]

I try to catch him when they're still eggs, right before hatch (20 days or so), but I use a clear acrylic trap. Leave it in a place they like to hang out, especially under a ledge (or with something over it to offer some shade), and wait. Slide in the door when it shows up - and you can sort of fence off areas with nets and gently guide them into the box if needed. Haven't had any babies or eggs spit out from my guy except for the one time I used a net (and that was to transfer from the trap to the new tank). I transfer him to a mesh breeder box in the same and leave him there with some cover until he spits out everything, then you get him out of the box (I prefer to submerge it and wait for him to swim, but has to be flow off and the babies sometimes try to get out too) and you can start them off in there, though they will need new space eventually.

Best feeding response is live foods, I use copepods (primarily apocyclops, which I've had the easiest time culturing in large quantities), but baby brine (not fully grown) will probably work fine. Some will certainly eat prepared foods, but they will need to start small and I doubt your success rate will be nearly that as with live to start on, and you probably want the food to be moving/in suspension for a long time to maximize the chance they take a bite. I've supplemented live food with TDO A in the first week (not much feeding response), but usually switch to B1 and then bigger from there.

 

[jjencek]

Hello, do you guys have any tips for raising banggai's? I have at least one breeding pair. Like and idiot I tried to catch the male when I seen eggs in his mouth. He spit them out obviously. Ive read that some people wait for the eggs to hatch as they stay in the males mouth for some time afterwords. That's when they go after the male with a net knowing he'll spit out the baby's to be netted. And should I go the Live brine route? or is there a fair amount of success with frozen/pellet? I orderd 4 banggai's with hopes of getting one pair and it looks like I have two pairs. If I have success I'll probably isolate the pairs in separate tanks all by themselves, thoughts?

I have done two methods sucessfuly. First was letting the male carry them the whole time until he spat them out (about 30 days for my pair). Second was netting the male after about 10 days that usually makes him release the eggs. Sometimes you need to help him with a paperclip. Then I raise them using an incubator.