Bangai's without artemia?

[jaybro]

I've had bangais breeding in my reef for years. I've never attempted to raise them as I've never even 'seen' the little ones that resulted (big reef, lots of anthias, etc... that eat them asap).

Two weeks ago I tore down my reef to concentrate on my clownfish breeding. I did however, keep my bangai's which I put in a holding tank with an akindynos and a chrysopterus. The male was holding when I put them in.

Last night it was obvious that the time had come for the male to spit them, but it didn't even occur to me that this would be a good time to try and raise them so I didn't attempt to collect them after lights out (I'm kinda slow!)

This morning when I went down for the days first feeding, there were 7 bangai babies who hadn't yet been eaten or taken over the overflow, so I pulled them out and put them in with some melanopus who are about to hit metamorphosis. The bangai's immediately settled into a corner and gorged on the rotifers/copepods that I raise my clown larvae on.

My question is this... I do not use artemia with my clownfish. They go straight from rots (to copepods that are co cultured with the rots) around day 9 and on to the powdered mix during metamorphosis. Has anyone tried going from rots to some type of nonlive food with bangais, as opposed to the usual artemia rations I read about here and if so, what kind of results did you get? There aren't enough copepods in the coculture to keep them going for long.

Thanks!

[mark0933]

You may have luck with cyclopeze, mine have been switched at about 10 days in past with OK results.

Mark

[spk]

Jaybro,

If you have a tank that is established and there is plenty of life, then they should be fine.

When my first 6 migrated to the sump, I am pretty sure that they ate more than the BBS that I fed them on. In the evening after lights out, the amount of life in the sump is amazing.

Steve