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Re: Breeding Journal, Species: Dunckerocampus baldwini
Monday, February 11, 2013 1:01 AM
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The one fry remaining from the January 8th hatch is growing like a weed now! He/she is about 2.5 cm long now, and has probably grown about 0.75 cm in just the last week.
The male in Tank #1 has already absorbed a number of the eggs from the spawn just two days ago, but there is good news. He has started taking food (frozen cyclops and also Moina salina) out of the water column! I saw him eating cyclops three different times today, so I'm encouraged that soon, he'll be nourished enough to be able to hold a whole spawn to term.
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Re: Breeding Journal, Species: Dunckerocampus baldwini
Tuesday, February 12, 2013 3:37 AM
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I just wanted to update a day later that I'm VERY encouraged at the way the male in Tank #1 is eating now! He eagerly eats frozen cyclops from the water column, just like the other fat, heathy relatives of his are doing. He also enthusiastically snicks live Moina salina and Tigriopus from the water column. I don't have high hopes for the brood of eggs he is carrying, but I am optimistic for the next brood, given the positive change in his eating habits.
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Re: Breeding Journal, Species: Dunckerocampus baldwini
Tuesday, February 12, 2013 1:38 PM
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Good. That's very, very good to hear.
--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: Dunckerocampus baldwini
Thursday, February 14, 2013 1:31 AM
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Re: Breeding Journal, Species: Dunckerocampus baldwini
Thursday, February 14, 2013 1:34 AM
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Excellent!
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Re: Breeding Journal, Species: Dunckerocampus baldwini
Thursday, February 14, 2013 9:07 AM
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Nice! Looking good, man!
--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: Dunckerocampus baldwini
Saturday, February 16, 2013 10:29 AM
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I'm am happy to see your continued successes with this species Jim!
Don't let fear and common sense stop you! =]
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Re: Breeding Journal, Species: Dunckerocampus baldwini
Monday, February 18, 2013 8:51 AM
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It's a pipefish! Congrats! "She's" looking great!
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Re: Breeding Journal, Species: Dunckerocampus baldwini
Monday, February 18, 2013 10:25 PM
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What, 23 days to go Jim??!?
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Re: Breeding Journal, Species: Dunckerocampus baldwini
Monday, February 18, 2013 10:47 PM
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Well, I called End of Settlement at January 28th, 2013 (being conservative here). That would make 60DPS = March 29, 2013, which is 39 days from today.
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Re: Breeding Journal, Species: Dunckerocampus baldwini
Wednesday, February 20, 2013 1:05 PM
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Cool! You can do it!
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Re: Breeding Journal, Species: Dunckerocampus baldwini
Wednesday, February 20, 2013 2:13 PM
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Are you guys designing a new icon yet? 
Don't let fear and common sense stop you! =]
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Re: Breeding Journal, Species: Dunckerocampus baldwini
Friday, February 22, 2013 3:28 AM
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The male in Tank #1 continues to eat well. That pair spawned again on the morning of 17 February, about 6 days ago. So far, he is still holding a very complete complement of eggs. I see perhaps two eggs that have "disappeared" since that spawn. Considering the slight increase in temperature I've implemented recently, I'm hoping for a hatch on Day 9 instead of Day 10, which will be Monday night if I am correct. I don't want to jinx it, but I think I may actually get a decent hatch out of this male this time!
Meanwhile, the two fry, one born on 8 January and the other born on 6 February, are both doing well. I have moved the younger one into the same fishbowl as the older one, where they both have ready access to an assortment of Tigriopus californicus, Apocyclops panamensis, Nitokra lacustris, and Moina salina.
The pair in Tank #2 still has not spawned since a very weak spawn on 5 February. I'm pretty sure the issue there is the poor eating habits of the female in that tank. The other two fish of indeterminate gender in Tank #3 are both eating well, but since I'm pretty sure they are of the same gender (whatever that is!) there has, of course, been no spawning. I am still tempted to move some fish around between Tank #2 and Tank #3 to try to get a different, more healthy female paired with the healthy male in Tank #2. The thing that keeps stopping me is that, frankly, once I move the fish around, I don't know that I will be able to reliably tell the different fish apart if things go awry, and I need to move fish back to where they were before. Between the four fish in Tanks #2 and #3, the only one I can reliably identify is the poorly eating female in Tank #2, due to the asymmetrical bump on her abdomen.
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Re: Breeding Journal, Species: Dunckerocampus baldwini
Sunday, March 3, 2013 9:53 PM
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Now, for a long overdue update.
First, all the good news. The two fry from earlier hatches continue to do well. The oldest, hatched Jan. 8th, is 4 cm now! The other one is more like 3 cm. I've been working on trying to coax the adult Redstripes onto mysis instead of the tiny cyclops they have been eating -- and it's working! My method has been to only feed a mixture of frozen mysis and frozen enriched brine in the morning, and withhold the cyclops at first. I've seen the female in Tank #2 starting to aggressively go after the mysis as of today. My experience with pipes in general is that once they start to take mysis, the don't look back, and for some reason, they become much more aggressive "hunters" of this food. In other words, when they are eating the smaller cyclops, the have a more relaxed, "snick" .... wait ... "snick" ... wait ... "snick" attitude, but when they are eating mysis, it becomes "FOOD!!!!" ... CHASE IT! ... "SNICK!!!" ... "OMG LOOK AT THE SIZE OF THAT ONE - DON'T LET IT GET AWAY - SNICK!!!!" This has been true of the Bluestripes, the one Banded I have, and now, the Redstripes, too.
The pair in Tank #1 had a good hatch last Monday, 25 February 2013. I snagged 14 fry. I was expecting more, but waited for almost an hour after I saw the last fry, and no more were forthcoming. Nonetheless, the male had empty pouch flaps the next morning, and they had a weak spawn almost immediately. The 14 fry have been eating well, and as of last night I had only lost one of them until.....
Now, the bad news. Somehow, I managed to kill off all the fry from last Monday's hatch. I awoke to a bunch of white-looking, dead fry on the bottom of their fishbowl. The one thing out of the ordinary that happened last night was that I used some older live Isochrysis that was definitely past its prime to top off their phyto. I guess it must have been beyond "plateau" phase, and in the beginning of "crash" phase, or something like that. It also took out some of my older Bluestripes in growout. Crap. Oh, well, live and learn. The progress getting the broodstock to eat has me encouraged. I'll have another brood to work with soon.
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Re: Breeding Journal, Species: Dunckerocampus baldwini
Wednesday, March 6, 2013 11:33 PM
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I wonder if you could isolate the male into a breeder trap meant for livebearers. Something that would immediately separate the fry from the father. I considered trying to train a blue stripe male to sleep in one, though I never got past the pondering stage.  I'm thinking something like this: http://www.petmountain.co...tanks/aqua-nursery.jpg
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Re: Breeding Journal, Species: Dunckerocampus baldwini
Wednesday, March 6, 2013 11:43 PM
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Thanks for the suggestion, Tami, however, I'd be worried about 1) stressing the male as he bangs against the sides of the small enclosure trying to escape, and 2) these fry are so small, that I bet they could escape through the slits in the right-hand chamber. But do please keep the ideas coming!
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Re: Breeding Journal, Species: Dunckerocampus baldwini
Thursday, March 7, 2013 12:22 AM
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yeah, you'd have to glue mesh over the slits, or possibly even make a larger hole and cover that with mesh so the water pressure wouldn't be too strong. As for the banging on the sides - the easy answer to that is black krylon fusion. Like I said, I've thought about this. I wasn't kidding about the training part either. I was thinking if I made it like an overhang or dark cave, I might be able to convince a male to use it as a sleeping spot. Maybe drill a hole in the side or even just cut out one side, and use the suction of the baby chamber to pull them in. But I've never tried it, just thought about it a lot. Many of my ideas sadly end up that way. 
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Re: Breeding Journal, Species: Dunckerocampus baldwini
Thursday, March 7, 2013 9:42 AM
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Could you DIY a larger enclosure so that the male would have sufficient room to feel comfortable but that the fry can swim out of? Or perhaps make a larval snagger that has a larger holding area so that the fry could stay in it for several hours? It could be designed such that the inlet is on one side and the fry would enter and could transition to an area of their preferred flow.
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Re: Breeding Journal, Species: Dunckerocampus baldwini
Saturday, March 16, 2013 8:54 PM
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Well, shoot. You would think that I would be able to count to 9, now wouldn't you?
I missed a hatch last night because I somehow thought they were going to hatch tonight instead of last night.
One of the "spare" fish has had a tragic disaster. His/her tail must have gotten sucked into the inlet on the HOB filter in their tank, because it was broken, and rotting by the time I noticed the problem. I've separated the other "spare" fish by moving it into the 65 gallon tank. As an aside, the 65 has a large banded pipefish (Dunckerocampus dactyliophorus), and I was a little worried about whether or not they were going to fight, but they appear to be hanging out, in the same general area, and pretty much ignoring each other. Maybe an eventual hybrid pipefish (I can hear Matt cringing as he reads this)?
I'm trying to figure out what to do with the injured pipe. It's pretty bad. It is missing something like about 1 1/2" of tail. Treat or euthanize? I need to make my mind up quickly. I'll also need to set up a separate tank if I'm going to treat, because I don't have enough Furan-2 to treat 40 gallons. Crap. And this on the same day that I lost my female Bluestripe to a similar accident in a completely different tank. It has been a really, really bad day in my fish room today.
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Re: Breeding Journal, Species: Dunckerocampus baldwini
Saturday, March 16, 2013 9:25 PM
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Sorry to hear your bad run Jim. I look forward to your continued successes. You have accomplished so much on the pipes.
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