Robthorn
Well-Known Member
I have seen thread after thread on many sites trying to pick pairs of bangaii's and how to tell if they are male or female. By physical looks on fish that have never bred before is at best guess work. On juveniles it appears to me next to impossible. Although I have done it I think it was more guess work again and I simply got lucky. Still I bought 3 because I wasn't sure and of course I had 2 males and 1 female because I ended up with 2 in the end which bred for me many times. I sold that complete system and soon after decided I wanted it all back so I started over.
I was in a local store and wasn't even looking for Bangaii's that day but something struck me so obvious that I couldn't pass them up because I felt 100% sure I could pick a pair out of about 5-6 bangaii's in the one tank. It was between 50-75 gallons so there was some room for all I am about to explain. This pair 2 weeks ago started breeding. The male ate the eggs after 2 days but I saw the eggs in his mouth so I know it really happened. IT's only a matter of time before the male can carry the eggs and fry until a proper time of release.
This will most likely not work for small immature fish. The captive bred normally seen in stores are a little small and they all hang in little groups not doing a whole lot. This would be to me immature. The ones I chose from are just smaller than a quarter when only measuring the body and not the fins. When the Bangaii's start to mature the males get more aggressive towards each other and one will start to dominate. You want this fish. You want the meanest Bangaii you can find. At this point you have half of your pair. This mean guy will only be mean to other males. There will hopefully be another Bangaii that gets no aggression from any other Bangaii. This fish should not be hidding anywhere but should be right at the front of the glass unstressed. If it was stressed it would be behind the rock or a pipe or something. Right in front with people walking around is a good sign of a healthy fish. This fish will most likely be a female. This is the other fish you want. It will help if you have a friend there trying to keep an eye on one of the fish while you keep and eye on the female. It seems the females are the hardest ones to come up with. Most people end up with males that kill each other and end up with 1 fish and can't figure out why in the world they can only keep 1 Bangii in there system. Have the store worker go after the female first since to me it seems like the one you want most.
If you see a lot of chasing starting with the pair you end up with you most likely do not have a breedable pair. You should catch one, return it and try for another female because you will end up with 1 in the long run anyway.
The day I got my pair in my tank they instantly hung out together about 90 % of the time. There has never been any aggression towards each other and no chasing of any kind except during the matting process which isn't aggressive chasing but looks more like play chasing. Sounds stupid talking about it like this but it is very clear when you see it happen. The pair have been best buds ever since.
As always you want to make sure the fish are healthy and eating before spending any time trying to figure out which is male and female.
Good luck with your pairing,
Robert
I was in a local store and wasn't even looking for Bangaii's that day but something struck me so obvious that I couldn't pass them up because I felt 100% sure I could pick a pair out of about 5-6 bangaii's in the one tank. It was between 50-75 gallons so there was some room for all I am about to explain. This pair 2 weeks ago started breeding. The male ate the eggs after 2 days but I saw the eggs in his mouth so I know it really happened. IT's only a matter of time before the male can carry the eggs and fry until a proper time of release.
This will most likely not work for small immature fish. The captive bred normally seen in stores are a little small and they all hang in little groups not doing a whole lot. This would be to me immature. The ones I chose from are just smaller than a quarter when only measuring the body and not the fins. When the Bangaii's start to mature the males get more aggressive towards each other and one will start to dominate. You want this fish. You want the meanest Bangaii you can find. At this point you have half of your pair. This mean guy will only be mean to other males. There will hopefully be another Bangaii that gets no aggression from any other Bangaii. This fish should not be hidding anywhere but should be right at the front of the glass unstressed. If it was stressed it would be behind the rock or a pipe or something. Right in front with people walking around is a good sign of a healthy fish. This fish will most likely be a female. This is the other fish you want. It will help if you have a friend there trying to keep an eye on one of the fish while you keep and eye on the female. It seems the females are the hardest ones to come up with. Most people end up with males that kill each other and end up with 1 fish and can't figure out why in the world they can only keep 1 Bangii in there system. Have the store worker go after the female first since to me it seems like the one you want most.
If you see a lot of chasing starting with the pair you end up with you most likely do not have a breedable pair. You should catch one, return it and try for another female because you will end up with 1 in the long run anyway.
The day I got my pair in my tank they instantly hung out together about 90 % of the time. There has never been any aggression towards each other and no chasing of any kind except during the matting process which isn't aggressive chasing but looks more like play chasing. Sounds stupid talking about it like this but it is very clear when you see it happen. The pair have been best buds ever since.
As always you want to make sure the fish are healthy and eating before spending any time trying to figure out which is male and female.
Good luck with your pairing,
Robert
