How soon do you wean banggai's

[Sally]

For those of you who breed the banggai's how soon do you wean them off of BBS(baby brine shrimp)? I've lost a substatinion amount of my last two broods trying to wean them at 2 weeks. They just disappear and there are no predators in the tank other than bristle worms. Would bristle worms kill baby banggai's? When I do try to wean at 2 weeks they will go for days to a week or more not eating then some finally eat. I try to wean them on shaved mysis. I may try frozen cyclopeze. Any success with that? How soon would they eat after stopping the BBS. Thanks!

[loui]

I feed them baby brine, until I see all of them eating frozen food. Some times this can go on for months. If you stop feeding the baby brine and they do not eat frozen, well i don't have to tell you what happens.

[Sally]

Wow..you feed them BBS for months? I have been weaning them off BBS at two weeks. Maybe that is why I am losing so many. When I do feed both they just ignore the prepared foods and go for the live. So, when you feed both eventually (after months?) they all take to prepared?

[StephenH]

I wouldn't withhold live food for the first month. This is not to say that you should not start supplementing with frozen at two weeks. Some will take to it, and some will not. When they are a little older, you can withhold the live stuff for a day or two which is usually enough incentive to get many, but not all, to start eating frozen.

To me, weaning is a very tedious task and I have not figured out how to do it without monitoring each fish individually. In a group which is given only frozen, there always seems to be those who refuse the offering and would rather starve. You have to identify these picky eaters, put them back on live food, and try again later. The older they are, the longer you can withhold live feed without affecting their health.

For me, it is cheaper to feed them live stuff with some frozen supplement until they are sold. To house and monitor each individual long enough to make sure they are weaned to frozen would double or triple the production cost. Its hard enough to compete with the cost of wild fish as it is. I figure the new owner can wean them more effectively than I can - and might even enjoy the process.

That said, I will note that I once moved market-size fish into an aquarium to purge them for shipping and then found that they would need to be held there an extra two days (because of a shipping delay). After a 36-hour fast, a little krill flake was sprinkled in the tank and they were all over it. It seemed like everyone was eating, but I can't be sure it was 100%.

steve hopkins

[Sally]

Thank you Steve. I will follow your advice and see if I cut down on the mortality rate.