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Re:Breeding Journal, Species: Pseudochromis tapeinosoma
Monday, March 5, 2012 8:56 PM
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Stitched image of a larva at 12 hours post hatch. You can see rotifers and copepod nauplii in its gut:
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Re:Breeding Journal, Species: Pseudochromis tapeinosoma
Tuesday, March 6, 2012 1:20 AM
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The seed flat heaters are doing a great job. They are keeping the BRT between 79 and 81 F all day long. These larvae seem to really love to eat Apocyclops copepods! The copepod population has pretty much been consumed. There are very, very few copepods left after 24 hours, but still quite a few rotifers. Fortunately, I was ready with a bunch of rotifers, grown with RGComplete, so they have the rots as a backup food source, while I ramp up more copepods for them to eat. I added about 500 ml of dense Live Isochrysis, about 25 drops of RotiGreen, 10 drops of AmQuel Plus, and about 20 drops of RGComplete, all mixed together with about 500 ml of fresh, aged ASW and slowly dripped all of the above into the BRT. I also fed some more sieved rotifers and a few more sieved Apocyclops copepods. I do have an airstone with very gentle air bubbling in the BRT, and the food mix described above is being dripped directly into the airstone bubbles, to mix it as thoroughly as possible. Still hundreds of larvae swimming and striking at food in the greenwater in the BRT. Lights staying on 24/7.
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Re:Breeding Journal, Species: Pseudochromis tapeinosoma
Tuesday, March 6, 2012 10:56 PM
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Well, this is getting really annoying. I woke up this morning to a large number of dead larvae. Did I overfeed? I don't know. I did drip in the feed last night very slowly -- at a rate slower than 1 drop per second. I examined the guts of some sampled larvae - both those still alive and those dead on the bottom, and found them all to be full, so I really don't think they are starving. Could it be pH change from the additional live Iso? If so, then why don't I get a big dieoff when I first add Iso immediately after hatch? I probably have 50 - 100 larvae still alive. I added more copepods this morning. The rotifer population in the BRT stays high, and they look nicely enriched, and have lots of eggs.
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Re:Breeding Journal, Species: Pseudochromis tapeinosoma
Wednesday, March 7, 2012 10:01 AM
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I would say maybe DO, but you are running lights 24/7, correct?
Jonathan Foster FishEye Aquaculture
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Re:Breeding Journal, Species: Pseudochromis tapeinosoma
Wednesday, March 7, 2012 2:03 PM
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This morning, very, very few alive. Yes, Jonathan, I am running the lights 24/7. It's not ammonia or temp. I measured the pH this morning, and it is a bit low: about 7.4. Bacteria, perhaps? Maybe I need to use some Erythromycin? Geez -- I haven't gotten them past 48 hours yet. My fish sitter at least got some to 4 days! {rolleyes}
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Re:Breeding Journal, Species: Pseudochromis tapeinosoma
Wednesday, March 7, 2012 3:59 PM
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I've been having some issues with waterborne bacteria in my tanks. I had a couple of clownfish batches have massive die-off and the survivors waste away to nothing, despite ample enriched rotifers, and die before meta. They were just skinny, like they were starving. This last time, after 3 days, they looked really thin, so I moved them to a clean tank (not chlorine sterilized) with UV sterilized water from the system, fed them, green watered them, and heat and air as usual. They now look plump and are eating like crazy. I'll do it again if I have to. I think this may be the problem for a lot of us with die-offs early in the process. It seems like it was the culprit for me. I'll probably have to do it again, if I don't put them on the flow thru system water, which I think I can do pretty soon. In the transfer, some of the fouled water HAS to transfer with the larvae, so I am not out of the woods yet.
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Re:Breeding Journal, Species: Pseudochromis tapeinosoma
Wednesday, March 7, 2012 4:04 PM
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As some background, I had not connected my UV to the big new system yet, as I put the finishing touches on it. I noticed the water looking a little cloudy, so I hooked up the UV, and now it's clear again. There is strain of bacteria that is going around my basement, blooming in the water. I've seen this in all my systems recently. UV is the only thing that clears it up. Well, bleach would, but that would be a drastic solution.
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Re:Breeding Journal, Species: Pseudochromis tapeinosoma
Sunday, March 11, 2012 9:57 PM
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I've been privately emailing some experienced breeders, and have some suggestions that I will document during the next hatch and larval rearing cycle. Meanwhile, I opened the gate to see what would happen today, since it is now 11 days since the last spawn, and they usually spawn every 11 or 12 days. She came over to his side immediately, but didn't seem to be "ready", and after just a few minutes, she went back onto her side without spawning. I decided to clean up their tank some (there was a lot of cyanobacteria all over the back, sides, and the divider) to try to make it more "presentable" for some photos I wanted to try. Wow! What a difference in their behavior with the algae and cyano removed from the divider! They can see each other again! Immediately, they started "facing off" at the divider again, much like they did when they were new arrivals. The male was really, really trying to lead her over to his side. I opened the gate again, but this time, with the divider quite clean, the hole in the divider did not stand out, and neither one of them seemed to be able to find it. She clearly wanted to get over to his side, but could not figure out how. Here is a video of the male courting her, and "leading" her with his body language, and tail quivers. You can see the hole in the middle of the divider that is clearly open, but it is invisible to them: And here are some pictures of them while courting. The male's colors get REALLY, REALLY bright:
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Re:Breeding Journal, Species: Pseudochromis tapeinosoma
Sunday, March 11, 2012 10:13 PM
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So, I decided I had better replace the old divider with one that has a hole in a place they would more likely find it. Since they seem to spend a lot of time at the lower back corner of the divider, I took a new divider, and put the hole near the lower back corner. This time, she found it almost immediately: http://youtube.googleapis.com/v/t61YDoCvcwY
<message edited by JimWelsh on Tuesday, March 5, 2013 6:04 AM>
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Re:Breeding Journal, Species: Pseudochromis tapeinosoma
Sunday, March 11, 2012 10:35 PM
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What happened next was quite unexpected. Instead of leading her to the capped PVC on the far right, like he usually does, for whatever reason, he led her to the top, uncapped PVC. That gave me a chance to observe (and photograph and also video) the actual spawning behavior. (Time for the Parental Controls to kick in!) Basically, the female spends most of her time upside down, releasing the eggs very slowly. The egg mass stays attached to her until the very end. During the entire spawn event, the male repeatedly fertilizes the eggs as she is extruding them. Sometimes, she will just lay on her back on the bottom of the PVC, breathing heavily, and if I didn't know better, I'd think she was in trouble! But at the very end of the spawn, the egg ball is freed from her, and she swims away just fine, and in this instance, she immediately returned to her side of the divider. Here are some images of the spawning: This was snapped of the female less than one second after she finished, and was exiting the PVC: And here is the video: http://www.youtube.com/v/U1o25srUP3o
<message edited by JimWelsh on Tuesday, March 5, 2013 6:12 AM>
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Re:Breeding Journal, Species: Pseudochromis tapeinosoma
Sunday, March 11, 2012 10:41 PM
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Cool stuff! Great documentation.
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Re:Breeding Journal, Species: Pseudochromis tapeinosoma
Monday, March 12, 2012 6:24 AM
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Wow, just Wow!
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Re:Breeding Journal, Species: Pseudochromis tapeinosoma
Monday, March 12, 2012 7:00 AM
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Great stuff!! Thanks for sharing.
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Re:Breeding Journal, Species: Pseudochromis tapeinosoma
Monday, March 12, 2012 7:06 AM
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Originally Posted by JimWelsh
I added about 500 ml of dense Live Isochrysis, about 25 drops of RotiGreen, 10 drops of AmQuel Plus, and about 20 drops of RGComplete, all mixed together with about 500 ml of fresh, aged ASW and slowly dripped all of the above into the BRT. I also fed some more sieved rotifers and a few more sieved Apocyclops copepods. I do have an airstone with very gentle air bubbling in the BRT, and the food mix described above is being dripped directly into the airstone bubbles, to mix it as thoroughly as possible. Still hundreds of larvae swimming and striking at food in the greenwater in the BRT. Lights staying on 24/7. To me that seems like a good bit of food if the RotiGreen and RGComplete are anything like Rotigrow plus.
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Re:Breeding Journal, Species: Pseudochromis tapeinosoma
Monday, March 12, 2012 7:30 AM
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Hmm.... I _guess_ I'll have to approve your spawning report now. Nice photos, Jim! I'm off to watch the video now.
--Andy, the bucket man. "Not to know the mandolin is to argue oneself unknown...." --Clara Lanza, 1886
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Re:Breeding Journal, Species: Pseudochromis tapeinosoma
Monday, March 12, 2012 8:03 AM
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Oh, very cool documentation Jim, thanks so much for taking the time to document so well and share it with us! What do you use to cover the hole in the divider?
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Re:Breeding Journal, Species: Pseudochromis tapeinosoma
Monday, March 12, 2012 10:39 AM
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Thanks, everybody! I cover the hole with the same PVC contraption shown on the first page of this thread. I could simply use a PVC cap / plug combination, but I already have the street elbows and cap....
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Re:Breeding Journal, Species: Pseudochromis tapeinosoma
Monday, March 12, 2012 11:28 AM
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Awesome pics and videos Jim. I believe you set the bar for documentation quality for the rest of us. You inspire me!
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Re:Breeding Journal, Species: Pseudochromis tapeinosoma
Monday, March 12, 2012 6:25 PM
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Oops sorry I missed the details on the plug Jim! I'll go back and look. What brand of heat mats are you using? Or did I miss that too?? lol
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Re:Breeding Journal, Species: Pseudochromis tapeinosoma
Monday, March 12, 2012 11:35 PM
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No, sorry, I did not specify the heating mat that I'm using. It is a HydroFarm brand, 17 watt, 120 Volt mat, model # MT10006. The website is www.hydrofarm.com. I'm using two of them under my BRT -- each covers approximately 1/2 of the BRT area. They are based in Petaluma, CA, which is just a few miles from me. I found them at a local Orchard Supply store. Perhaps they are available in a wide range of markets, or perhaps they are only available in markets close to their home base? I don't know.....
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