Bangaii Breeding Journal

Myka · #1 04-30-2008, 03:41 AM

Ok, so the Bangers are getting good at this breeding thing, although it sure took them a LONG time between batches this time. It's 5 1/2 weeks since I stripped the male last, and the time before that it was only 1 1/2 weeks between stripping. I wonder what they'll even out to... The female was looking huge, and this morning Mr Banger is ridiculously full of eggs!!! I don't think he could possibly hold one more in there.

On the other hand, the babies who are now 5 1/2 weeks old are doing well. I'm fairly certain there are 23 of them in there today. I'm having troubles getting them onto dry food. They're pretty keen on the BBS, and if I try to starve them into eating dry food they start dying. Not sure what to do about that...I'm going to try just feeding BBS twice per day, and feeding dry the rest of the day. The next batch I'm going to get onto dry sooner in hopes they'll get used to it easier. They're starting to get pretty crowded in the breeder "trap" thingy, so I'm going to have to figure out something to do with them soon because Mr Banger is going to be needing to be stripped in 25 days, so I'll need the breeder trap for them. Maybe I'll set up my 40g...

Myka · #2 05-02-2008, 02:12 PM

So yesterday morning I was thinking Mr Banger's mouth wasn't as full, but his belly was bigger than usual. Lastnight his mouth didn't look "pregnant" at all, and his belly was really full. So I fed them lastnight to see if the Mr Banger would eat. He did. Which means he aborted or swallowed that last batch of eggs. I'm going with the latter by the size of his belly!

I had dramatically cut back how much I was feeding due to massive hair algae growth in the tank due to it being UBER overstocked with all the Banger fry. So, I think Mr Banger was just too underfed, and found the eggs to be a little too tempting! Lesson learned...keep the Bangers well fed. *grumble*

Myka · #3 05-11-2008, 08:50 PM

The baby Bangers are dropping off like flies! I'm down to 18 now. I think it's partially due to trying to get them onto dry food, which I gave up, and partially due to the major overcrowding in the little floating breeder thingy. SO...the baby Bangers get a new home!!! I'm right in the middle of plumbing up my 40g breeder for them. I really wanted to set it up as a FW planted tank, but the Bangers need it more right now.

Pics to follow.

Myka · #4 05-12-2008, 04:40 AM

Stupid plumbing...I have a leak between the sump and the pump that I've fiddled with for the last 2 hours. I give up for today! I'm also waiting on RO/DI water...

I haven't done anything in the sump, I'm just going to put a noodle strainer in there with a sheet of filter media to catch detritus and act like a filter sock. There are no baffles in the sump yet. I will drain the sump down the road and fix it up right. I'm going to fit the tank with a Herbie overflow at the same I do the Herbie on my 75g. It's just a strainer on a bulkhead right now. For now, I just need to slap this together ASAP for the baby Bangers.

Myka · #5 05-21-2008, 03:34 AM

So it's quite a tight fit for the pump and the sump under the tank. I should have figured it out better. I couldn't get in there good enough to tighten it up where the leak is. I hard plumbed between the sump and the pump with threaded pipe. Bad idea!!! Stupid leaks!

So I ripped it all apart and decided to hard plumb with PVC and glue, and installed a union between the sump and the pump as well as between the pump and the 40g. I thought I had it figured out, but when I tried to fit the pump in the stand I couldn't shut the door!!! Ack! Back to the hardware store!

So...third try is a charm? I hope so!! I should get it all plumbed up tonight...hopefully.

In the meantime, mama Banger is getting pretty fat with eggs again. She probably has another 10-14 days to go though.

Myka · #6 05-21-2008, 05:15 AM

Oh ya...I think I made a biiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiig mistake by not introducing frozen foods to the babies right away.

I took some PE Mysis, blended it up, put some Selcon and a couple drops of Garlic Extreme in it, then refroze it in a thin little sheet for the baby Bangers. Some of them are taking to it, but most of them seem to have no clue that it is edible!!

This next batch...I'm gonna have it all figured out!! (hoping)

Myka · #7 05-30-2008, 01:00 AM

Ok, so Mr Banger is pregnant this afternoon - exactly 30 days after the last batch. This is odd because he wasn't pregnant ths morning, so that means they got nookie during the day. They've never done that before. I think Mrs Banger was just so fat with eggs she couldn't keep her fins crossed anymore! Mr Banger's mouth is so full he can't even close his mouth all the way.

I just noticed ths morning how big the Bangers are getting, they're almost full size now I think.

The babies on the other hand grow soooooooooooooooooo slow!!! Including all finnage, they are about the size of dimes, and they're 10 weeks old now.