Banggai Male w/ eggs

[rhwimmers]

Well I had a post on the main board here, and it was confirmed that my male had eggs in his mouth..its probably day 5 or so after he didnt eat, last night i noticed it looked like either his jaw had gotten smaller (lost some eggs?) or the females had gotten larger to make the Mlaes not looks as large...
he still is not eating, but it just didnt look like such a "mouthful" as it was before, do they tend to loose their eggs often?
Thanks
Ross

[FMarini]

Ross:
so a few things....
1)-the male is still not eating...good sign...means hes still carrying some eggs.
2)-male still has something in his mouth...another good sign.
So to address your question directly,
This is what happens... the female will release between 40-60 eggs at which point the male will gulp them up, the eggs go thru a swelling period where they are activated and dividing and they grow a little in size. After 1 or 2 days the unfertile eggs or the eggs which are genetically unstable die out and are reabsorbed thru the egg mass, this causes the egg mass to shrink in size. This egg mass shrinking and growing will now go on as genetically unstable eggs will die off and the fertile growing eggs will replace them in size.
Expect the male to "yawn" and shift this packet of eggs every hour or 2, and don't be alarmed if the male quickly spits out said egg packet and quickly recovers it. Now you are still very early in the pregnancy, so at any time the male may spontaneously abort this batch (this occurs up until 10) -no worries thou as these fish once paired will bred every 25 days(or 5 days after the premature release) If all goes well about day 10-12, free swimming planktonic fry can be seen in the mouth of the banggai, and by day 15 little eyes will be peering out. Pretty cool
make sure you've read up on those banggai articles and have your baby foods ready.
Hope this helps
frank

[rhwimmers]

okay, so it sounds like its working like it should, ill double check tonight and see if he is eating, i thought he did eat yesterday and then spit the food out...but that might have been the female, hard to tell apart!
you think i should setup a 10 gallon or just a net for the 1st time?
also, catch him when i can see the eyes in his mouth right? then seperate him? i thinkt hats what i remember from the articles!
Thanks a ton

Ross

[rhwimmers]

# : (

He ate last night.... what causes this to happen?

[FMarini]

Sorry:
but this is fairly common....lots of things cause the male to drop the eggs.
busy tanks, lots of movement, stress, harassment, infertile eggs, etc
Don't worry they breed again....

Just keep em fat and happy
if you want more info on why do a search for this in this forum i've answered this question a few other times as well.
Good luck
frank