i bought a pair or banggai's a while ago and now one of them i believe to be the male, his lower jaw seems to be getting larger. what should i look for to be sure that he is carrying?? can anyone offer any tips.

Talk to Aquatic Aquaman or AnnArborBuck, Scott (AA) has Bangaii's that breed for him and Doug (AAB) has his children raise them.

I do believe the male stops eating when he is carrying the eggs.

ok thank you for the info.

I have bred many a bangaii...  Keep an eye on who you think is the male.  He will not eat at all from the time he's carrying until release which can be up to 26 days!  You will see the lower jaw bow out.  The babies will be ready any time between day 18 - 26.  It all depends on your water quality and temperature.  The longer he holds the less babies you'll have born.  If you're looking to raise the babies start setting up a couple of 10 gallon tanks and make yourself a sea urchin, buy some live baby brine and I would sugguest stripping the babies to get the most out of your batch.  But the night before you strip start cultivating live baby brine.

Last time I stripped we got 32 babies.

If you need help let me know.  Also try not to spook the male as he will spit out the eggs.  Most likely if this is his first time carrying the eggs he won't make it past day 7.  But don't worry as long as You don't change anything with your tank keep up with normal water changes ect, he'll have eggs in his mouth again within a month.

Just an FYI..  Bangaii's of the same sex will fight to the death unless you have 90 gallon tank or more with good hiding spots where they can avoid each other.

This only happens when they reach maturity approximately around 6 months old.

wow thanks. thats some good info. i just fed my tank and i noticed that he did not eat at all. i did notice that he was doing a gulping motion as if he is moving the eggs or something. does that sound normal. i have a 150 reef with lots of rock work. it is a constant 78F. i dont really understand what you mean by stripping..please explain. if you dont mind. i am fairly new to saltwater. about 4yrs. what are the possibilities in getting babies in my tank?  i just dont think i will be able to catch him without tearing out my rock. he has a very good hiding spot. thanks again.

More inlikely your babies won't survive in a 150 gallon tank.  They won't swim far to get food and generally will only eat what comes near them.  Thats why setting up some 10 gallon tanks would be wise.  And use the water from your main tank to set them up so its already cycled and ready.  I would do this soon to start getting the baby tanks ready if you want to raise them out.

To strip them is fairly easy.  Before the male spits them out into the water column what you can do is attempt to catch the male in a large net.  As soon as you pull him out of the water he will spit out the babies.  You then quickly put everyone into a bucket.  Then use a smaller net and scoop up the male again and put him back into your display tank.  He will glup around a little bit at the surface of the water trying to get rid of the air caught in his mouth from the displacement of the babies.  Soon he'll be back to swimming normally and you'll have a ton of babies to raise.

If you need a hand with this let me know in about 20 days and I could probably take a look at him if he's still carrying and see when we should do this.

LucidProp said :
I'm looking for some more Bangaii, so if you do breed them I'll buy some off of you for my new 125g tank.

Doug aka AnnArborBuck has serveral of my babies he would be willing to sell.  Contact him via PM.

i want to give it a shot and see if i am able to get them to survive. i will keep an eye on him and make sure that he keeps ahold of the eggs. i'm not totaly sure how long he has had them in his mouth 3-4 days maybe. i have noticed his enlarged chin for 2 days now i will keep you up to date on the status of him. i would very much appreciate whatever help you can give. wether it is in person or just advice via trac board. it all will be very helpful. thanks again for your help thus far.

Keep us posted NickelHead. It's always interesting to read one of these threads

hc8719 said :

Keep us posted NickelHead. It's always interesting to read one of these threads

will do.

has anyone read or care to offer a hypothesis as to how viable it would be to have banggai and say cleaner shrimp both breeding in the same tank. 

Will they eat each other's offspring ???

I am trying to plan next year's projects for students.  having two projects in the same tanks saves space and materials. 

Briney Dave said :

has anyone read or care to offer a hypothesis as to how viable it would be to have banggai and say cleaner shrimp both breeding in the same tank. 

Will they eat each other's offspring ???

I am trying to plan next year's projects for students.  having two projects in the same tanks saves space and materials. 

I did both in my tank at home.  The bangaii will eat the baby cleaner shimp.  I had 2 cleaners and 3 peppermint going and the bangaii's would eat their young and hover around them when they got time to release.  I never witnessed the cleaners eating the baby bangaii.  Usually the parents would eat them if you didn't feed the tank right after the male got rid of the young from his mouth or remove the young.

That is what I was thinking would happen.  I could just have the kids isolate the femal once they  see her carrying eggs.   

i know it only has been a couple of days but the male is still holding and i can see that his jaw has gotten a little larger. this is day 4 since i have noticed he was holding. i am still looking but have been unable to find mysis eggs to hatch for the fry when they are born. i do feed my tank cyclopes along with mysis shrimp. do you think cyclopes would be ok?

Neckelhead76 said :

i know it only has been a couple of days but the male is still holding and i can see that his jaw has gotten a little larger. this is day 4 since i have noticed he was holding. i am still looking but have been unable to find mysis eggs to hatch for the fry when they are born. i do feed my tank cyclopes along with mysis shrimp. do you think cyclopes would be ok?

I fed my babies Cyclopes and also frozen baby brine when they were born when I first started but I would have only a 25% success rate with them  Meaning I'd get 20 babies and in the end I'd only have 5 make it to a young adult size.  Feed live food when they were young had the success rate around 80%  Which was the last batch had 32 babies and 24 are still alive and doing well.

If you want to have a better success rate then I would recommend feeding live foods.

Keep us posted on how they're doing.

i got some brine eggs. after i get back from vegas this weekend i am going to set up a tank for them. i have a 20g long and a 12g nano cube. which would you suggest i use? and all i need is a heater, light and something to keep the water moving. correct?  im not sure ive never bred live food.

Neckelhead76 said :

i got some brine eggs. after i get back from vegas this weekend i am going to set up a tank for them. i have a 20g long and a 12g nano cube. which would you suggest i use? and all i need is a heater, light and something to keep the water moving. correct?  im not sure ive never bred live food.

just a quick update. my bangaii is still holding. day 14.

finishing up day 24. male is still holding. i have tried to catch him. i really dont want to tear my rock work apart. i believe that to be the only way i may be able to get him out. i know the deadline is getting closer. anyone who can offer any ideas or help. it will be much appreciated.