Banggai Dilemma

[Lock]

Hello everyone

Here is the story.

I have succesfuly bred BC's for some time, however earlier this year my brood male died. I dont know how old he was, but all tank perameters and the brood female were fine.

Another mature male was introduced to the female and in short time I had a new set of fry. Then the original female died (again no reason, but I expect it to be age).

The lone male was then introduced to two females in order to form a pair. Now, a pair has formed some what in that the male spends more time in close proximity to one female while the other female spends her time in the corner (no signs of aggression being displayed towards her).

This has been the status qoe for 4 months. I would have expected a spawning by now.

I have witnessed the paired female attempt courting (slight shimmeys when the male is near) but he is not too interested.

Could the second female be slowing things down ?

Could the male miss his dead mate ? and therefor be reluctant to bond to his new suedo mate? or am I giving him to much credit in thinking that he has the mental capacity to morn.

(I have tried to catch the single female, but as soon as a net enters the tank fish swin everywhere and I then can't be sure who is who).

The boards input would be valued.


On a side note. Frank, I have been lurking around for a while, but the tragic death of my sister has kept me quiet.

I know I promised you a video, and I now intend to put it together and get it out to you. I will need to wait until after xmas when the wife and kids head down the beach for a summer vacation giving me the time to record the tape.

The US uses the NTSC format (Australia is PAL), so I need to find somewhere that records PAL to NTSC or it will be useless to you.

If I can get it digitaly recorded that is another option as I can just email it.

Any way Thanks for all your help in the past

Regards

Lock

[bigben]

WELCOME TO THE BOARD LOCK!!!

I'm no Bangaii expert like Frank and the others, but I believe your ideas could be correct. The second female in the tank, though not being threatened by the dominant female, may be distracting the pair enough to prevent a successful courtship. Also, I don't think your idea of mourning by the male is far-fetched. We've all seen the discovery channel shows where the african elephants return to the "elephant graveyards" year after year to sniff and play with the bones of the deceased, although we can't definitely label this phenomenon as mourning per say. So, why not mourning by fish?? I think it's a plausible idea, although I would lean toward some other reason for your pair not breeding (distracting female as a stressor, individual personalities of the fish, nutrition, etc). Just my thoughts,

Ben
PS--I'm sorry to hear about your sister. You have my best wishes :)
PSS--You didn't happen to make the trip for the summer olympics did ya??

[FMarini]

Lock-
Just got back from turkeyday...I want to send my deepest heartfelt sorrow for the loss of your sister. I hope you and your family were able to spend time w/ her.
About your fish q? Yes i suspect the second animal is causing problems. I have noticed that these fish breed when they feel safe and comfortable. I suspect this 2nd female is interjecting in the breeding process and screwing things up. I also wonder about your other tankmates. Too much activity will also make these fish feel unsafe.
Ask me sometime about 2nd male during breeding w/ banggais?
I'll respond more on monday, when i get a chance to percolate thru all this, but no worries about the movie, you can get it too me when you can.
Nice talking w/ ya again.
bigben:
your input is as equally as important as mine or the others, I'm no expert, just got more experience w/ these fishes
frank

[Edited by FMarini on 11-24-2000 at 10:57 PM]

[bigben]

Thanks, Frank. I appreciate it

Ben

[Lock]

Frank and Bigben, thanks for your kind thoughts.

Bigben,
I did get to go to the Olympics, some of the soccer was played at the MCG in Melbourne. Very exciting.

My thoughts on the second female are similar to yours, so I'll attemp to remove her from the picture. As for other tank mates, well just a mated pair of pecular clowns who hardly ever move from their home and a yellow face sleeper goby that spends its time sifting the substrate....no aggression at all.

I have had this male breed in a much more dynamic environment before. (Frank, you'll see this in the movie. a blue tang gets very excited during the mating process.....spose its the smell of eggs / sperm in the water).

I dont think nutrition is a limiting factor. Fed 2 - 3 times daily with enriched brine, frozen mixes,(including selcon and spirulina) and fresh roe. Plenty of hufa's.

So given all these factors, the second female most probably is the cause. (I believe he has had a suitable period to move on from the death of his last mate).

I'll remove the female and see how we go.

Thanks

Lock

[wayne]

Lock, if you can't find a duplication house there that can translate pal to ntsc and you or Frank don't have an objection, I can dub the tape for you. I say that not knowing the shipping charges or any of the particulars of the video. I am a video producer for a Fortune 50 international company and one of our duties at this location is tape duplication. We have a couple of decks that can translate from any to any tape format.

My email is pierce@c-gate.net if I can help, let me know.

I'm also sorry to hear about the loss of your sister, the holidays are a terrible time for this... I work with a lady who lost her husband, and then many years later a son (SCUBA diving incident) during this time of the year.

wayne

[Lock]

Wayne,
Thanks for the offer. I am sure I will find a place in Melbourne that can convertpal to NTSC. If I cant I'll let you know.

More interestingly, can you convert to a digital format so we can post the footage on the BB's for everyones benifit.

(The video is of Banggais breeding and eggs developing / fry morphing etc)

its about 5 minutes worth (or will be once I edit the source tape).
Thanks

Lock

[Tactstat]

Had to add in my thoughts, if you guys don't mind.

I have had at least 4 fish die of what I belive is loneliness. All the circumstances where the same, as the results.

The fish (mainly smaller schooling fish) ended up being the last to be moved, and were in a tank as the only small fish. Within 24 hours they each died. No outward signs of aggression, or lack of feeding. No parasites, or cyst, and the other fish, in another tank with similar sized (old buddies) fish lived fine.

-Tactstat

ps I am following these threads carefully, as I hope to breed BCs (after I get braver).

[wayne]

Lock, alas, I do have the equipment to digitize the video, and the best Non Linear Editor for posting on the web ... Media 100i, but it is not connected to the internet in any way. I couldn't even transfer it to a computer that is hooked up on our network, because our company refuses to acknowledge the benefits of a Mac on the network.

So at this time unfortunately I could not get the video "published" onto the web. We are going to have a work around sometime next year. (The company wont realize there is a mac on the network)

[Lock]

Wayne,
I am sure if I can get it converted to ntsc, I can probably get it digitized some how.

I just need to get the time to hunt around.

Thanks

Anyway

Lock