I think my Banggai has eggs

[Laura D]

I noticed yesterday night that one of my banggai's had a very full mouth. He seemed to move his jaw about from time to time, maybe shifting the eggs? I couldn't actually see any eggs, he was staying near the back of the reef.

The weird thing is this was the fish that I was almost sure was a female. Frank I don't know if you remember that I posted a while back about a LFS that sexes cardinals by examining their vents. Well he sold me this one as a female, so if it's true that (s)he is holding eggs, I guess that discredits that theory somewhat. Either way, if I get babies from this I think I may take photos of the vent from underneath the fish while they are in a specimen container to see if I can note any distiguishing characteristics.

So I have marked my calender and I have all the appropriate articles bookmarked on the computer, so know I just wait and see.

[FMarini]

laura:
I do remember your post and sexing theory. Believe me I am hoping that your LFS sexing technique is correct, as currently there is NO way to accurate way to sex these beasts.
W/ that said, is there any evidence that female banggai will carry eggs?
Well Yes and No. K Clarke posted about 2yrs ago pictures of his female carrying her own eggs, she did this when she had more eggs than her male could carry. She however only held the eggs fo 1 days. Since then 2 others have reported their female carrying eggs, again the female aborted prematurely(Most likely unfertile eggs). So there is evidence that suggest this can happen.
However if you have a pair of banggai, and only one of them is carrying eggs. I would bet you a coke-acola that the male is carrying the eggs. Saddly this may discredit the "females w/ a bigger package" theory.
Feel free to email as the pregancy develops

frank
PS Laura may i ask what research your assisting on?

[Laura D]

Well, for sure only one was carrying eggs, the one I thought was a female. As excited as I was about seeing it, I also must admit I was kind of disappionted to see that it was the one that I was sure was a female. Just kind of humbling, I guess I don't know my fish that well after all:( .

I will be very happy if I can raise these babies, does anyone give out merit badges for raising marine fish??;)

As for the type of research we do, I work for the Iowa Birth Defects Registry, and one of the things we are working on is the National Birth Defects Prevention Study, a five year, nationwide study to discover the environmental and genetic causes of a wide variety of birth defects.

[FMarini]

Sorry laura.....
No merit badges for breeding fish. However is you send me $50 i will readily send you a plaque and certificate stating you as a master fish breeder. You know the plaque and signature alone is worth a full 25 cents. (its a joke-please don't send me money -okay on second thought).
Just keep an eye on the fish, as excited as you maybe now, please don;t be disappointed is the fish aborts. Its very common for the first time. But no worries as once you have a mated pair they'll breed every month.

You research sounds very interesting, I'm always weary of longterm studies, only due to the act that by the time the study is finalizied the intial hypothesis is usually very outdated and shown to be wrong(or right). But w/ birthdefects and enviromental factors 5yrs is probably not long enuf.
Good luck
frank