Female Banggai carrying eggs now?

[gas4544]

Last night I noticed something kind of odd. My Banggai's are three weeks along and now it appears that the female is carrying the eggs in her mouth. They way I tell them apart is that the male has a longer dorsal fin than the female does. Uhhh, do they sometimes do this?

[FMarini]

HI:
yes, while not totally common, it has been reported before. K clarke) has described that his female has carried eggs when her male was already busy. His female aborted the eggs after a day or 2. My guess would be that your females eggs are also NOT fertile and she will abort them. If you want documentation about this check out K Clarkes website, he even has a photo of his female carrying....
maybe Keith will jump in w/ some more insight
frank

[gas4544]

Hmmmmm...
Only one of my Cardinals has the puffy cheeks, and it appears to be the female. Maybe the male aborted his mouthful just before day 21 (like a coupla months ago) and the female is now carrying a new batch?

[gas4544]

On December 30, my roommate Dan called me while I was on vacation to tell me that both Banggai's were eating and there was no sign of baby fish. There's no telling if there ever were any babies released as nobody actually saw them in daddy's mouth or swimming about. Oh well, they will mate again.

[keith clarke]

Sorry for jumping in late. I've seen the female with a mouthful of eggs. Her mate was still carrying with release imminent. In this instance I was certain that it was the female since the pair had marking differences that were readily visible.

She only carried for a few hours before aborting the eggs.

http://www.geocities.com/banggai/bceggsac.jpg

[npaden]

gas4544,
I'm not an expert (still working to get my first batch of fry), but it sounds like your "female" might be a male!
I spent months pairing up my banggai's and then to my shock the one I had originally thought was a female was the one who was carrying the eggs. If you are trying to determine which is male versus female by the longer dorsal fin, my guess is that your female is in fact the male.
Good luck on the next batch. Mine are attempting fairly routinely every month, but the male just aborted for the 3rd time. He carried for 14 days this time though so he is making progress.
FWIW, Nathan

[gas4544]

My male Bangaii has carried eggs several times and has one successful brood under his belt. I know from prior observation that the male does have a longer dorsal fin than his mate does.

[npaden]

oh, sorry about that! It just sounds to odd, especially to try to carry them long term like that. I think Keith's female only carried them for a day or so.
I tell mine apart by their markings (the male has more spots on him than the female) I can't tell which one has the longer dorsal fin!
FWIW, Nathan

[gas4544]

The first time they mated has produced the only brood of babies so far. The second time they mated within a week of release of the babies. The male carried the eggs to the three week point then mysteriously aborted - he got so close to the end!
I'm not sure what happened this most recent time. When I left on vacation, one of them had a mouthful of eggs (at the three week point again). Four days later, both Banggai's were eating and there was no sign of babies. I tried unsuccessfully to move the male to the nursery tank beeefore I left on vacation, but I was unable to catch him in a reef tank full of hiding places.
I know that if I wanted to get serious about breeding and raising baby Banggai's, I would have the mated pair in a tank of their own.