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Re: Breeding Journal, Species: Paracentropyge multifasciata
Monday, May 12, 2014 8:23 PM
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4/24/2014 Two week update (slightly early): Both appear healthy so far. However, I noticed today that one has some kind of abnormality on its anal fin that was not present Tuesday (had school and work yesterday so my brother fed them and he didn't pay attention). It looks like a small bubble on the end of two anal fin spines, or possibly a cyst. Whatever it is, I can't get a picture of it with the fish in the water and I'm not sure I can catch it without stressing both out too much. I think I'm going to just observe it over the next few days and see what happens. They are still eating mysis and brine shrimp well and I'm thinking about trying nori soon just to give them some more variety. One has some interest in Cobalt Flake food, and will take a few small bites from one flake. Also, looking at the two fish closely, they have different patterns of color. One has some yellow bars between the brown barring in the white area, and the other does not. I find this interesting since both were collected from the same area (Vanuatu) and aren't that different in regards to size. Just a short video of the two since they didn't want pictures taken: [youtube]XEST8eweXvo[/youtube] 4/28/2014 I have good news! The presumed female of the two is developing a very nice plump belly. The male isn't getting near as round. I think this is a sign that they are doing well since thy are obviously able to put in weight. The next battle will be to get them eating a wider variety of foods. 5/1/2014 Fantastic news to present for the three week update. I witnessed some prespawning behavior between the two of them. They formed a T, with the male's nose near the midline of the female's body. He did some minor showing off as well. I should have figured something was up with the female continuing to get plumper each day.
<message edited by kthomas on Monday, May 12, 2014 10:50 PM>
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Re: Breeding Journal, Species: Paracentropyge multifasciata
Monday, May 12, 2014 8:25 PM
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5/12/2014 It's been just over a month with the new pair. They are doing great now, but I almost gave up around the third of May when the female was laying on the bottom and breathing heavy as I described in the thread in the fish disease forum. I thought I was going to lose her, but after getting a couple water changes done and shooting Kevin an email on the issue, she recovered with no other action taken. Kevin told me this can happen when some chemical that isn't supposed to be present enters the water or a parameter swings too fast. Both are eating very well now and I'm slowly expanding their diet. They both eat PE and Hikari mysis and regular and Spirulina brine with gusto. Since I use a turkey baster to squirt some food into their tank, they will nibble the end of the turkey baster. I have recently began thawing out and breaking up Ocean Nutrition Angel Formula into the mix and they eat it if the pieces are broken up small enough. If it isn't broken up, they don't think it's food since it will look like a flake. During the female's bout of issues, the male ate an entire flake after lessening the feedings with the female not eating. The female is quite fat, and swims just a little odd because of it I think. I'm still unsure if she is gravid, packing in the food, or constipated. Any way to know how to rule out or know if it is constipation? I'm confident that the success will continue now that I've gotten to the one month mark and I can't express how vital Kevin Kohen and his team were in this since they did the acclimation to captivity for me. Some pictures, although blurry, that show some of their personality:
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Re: Breeding Journal, Species: Paracentropyge multifasciata
Monday, May 12, 2014 10:52 PM
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Re: Breeding Journal, Species: Paracentropyge multifasciata
Tuesday, June 3, 2014 4:18 PM
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6/3/2014 Sadly, a few days after I got the pictures and videos above, the female slipped into another episode of heavy breathing and inability to swim. I did water changes as I had before when she recovered, but recovery didn't happen. I notified Kevin Kohen of the situation and he told me they had a shipment come in a few weeks prior with several multibars and he had saved a juvenile in case something did happen. Taking Memorial Day weekend to think about whether I give this one more go or move on to a different species, I decided to go ahead with one last shot. Since I couldn't bring myself to get another free fish, I did cover some of the costs for it since it felt wrong to get a replacement for a replacement. Anyways, the new female/juvie arrived at 10:30am sharp this morning and was in the divided QT tank with the male by 11am. She is smaller than the original female from my first pair, which will add to the challenge in some ways as she will need to be fed slightly more for growth as well. Tal mentioned that some of my conversation with Kevin would be good to include in my journal for anyone else who wants to try any finicky angels in the future: Pairing: Though not just for finicky species, this was part of it. Kevin advised that I divide the QT when the new female arrived so she could adjust to the new environment, and highly recommended she get a larger portion of the tank. After 72 hours of being separated (all while being able to see each other) then the divider (egg crate in my case) can be removed so the two can physically interact without a barrier. At this point, observation for aggression will be needed so separation can be made if need be. Obviously, the divider should not be removed if one or the other is behaving aggressively at the sight of the other. Just the male because it was an okay picture: Feeding: Since pellets and flakes are much easier to use in an automatic feeder, I really want my fish to take dry foods so they can eat more if I have a long work shift or am out of town and the sitter can't feed frozen like I can when I'm around. The second pair had been partially trained on to dry foods with Kevin, but refused to even look at them with me. Kevin suggests withholding all foods but the dry foods for 3 days. During this time frame, only the dry foods should be fed and hunger should overcome the obstacle keeping the fish from eating dry foods. As luck would have it, the male began eating pellets and flakes like a champ on June 1st without my withholding other foods. Not sure what the trigger was, but he has been eating flakes and pellets with gusto since then.
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Re: Breeding Journal, Species: Paracentropyge multifasciata
Wednesday, July 2, 2014 3:45 PM
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7/02/2014 Not much to report other than to say that the new female was readily accepted by the presumed male. The male is getting close to 3 months in my care, and the female is a day shy of 1 month. I'm also happy to report that they should be in their permanent 65 gallon home by the end of this month. The cycle is being a bit unusual by my standards as I haven't gotten an ammonia spike despite throwing in 6 feeder clams (ie clams used to feed fish). Bringing water to an LFS tomorrow for some back up testing and possibly some snails and hermits if all tests are good.
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Re: Breeding Journal, Species: Paracentropyge multifasciata
Sunday, August 9, 2015 4:25 PM
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Any updates?
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Re: Breeding Journal, Species: Paracentropyge multifasciata
Tuesday, August 11, 2015 1:45 AM
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Has been a long time...!
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