First pair, Premnas biaculeatus

Say hello to the newest members (and my first mature pair of clowns) of my household:



I am picking them up in about 5 hours!  I cant wait!

Welcome to the club!

Don't tell me your gonna try and make more of those guys!!  Isn't there already enough of those mean SOB's??? 
J/K, those are some good lookin clowns. 
GL

Thanks Tal

Yep, if you think the market is flooded now wait till I start just giving these things away lol.  I have no idea what i am going to do with the spawn, everyone i talked to say "thanks, but no thanks" lol...

Maybe marine feeders?

I have a pair of gold stripes.  Love them.  I wish I could get them to spawn.  Mine have been together for several years and yet have not gotten into the mood.

Rook

I was told they have spawned 3 times (that he was aware of), so hopefully they will remember what to do in a few months after the big move.  Very few people feed there fish enough to spawn (thanks MP for that lesson), so im thinking its a miracle the fish im picking up have spawned at all.

I used to feed mine like crazy.  Now that I have a smaller filtration system, I don't.  I need to work on that again so I can feed more again, or get better at target feeding.

Rook

Cool, I love GSM's.  That's a good looking pair you have there.

Steve

 
It's my understanding that the heavy feeding doesn't directly induce spawning but rather makes the eggs that are produced more likely to be viable. 
 
The type of foods is important as well for the eggs to be viable.

I got'em!

They are acclimating now, and boy do they look much better in person than i thought they would.  The female is brick red, and the male is blood red and the males has some great gold stripes.  The females stripes are lacking, but i wont hold that aggainst her

Pics to come once i get time and more of them.

Cool!  I can't wait for pics.  I used to have a GSM that had awesome yellow stripes.  Unfortunately he jumped last year while I was on vacation.   Make sure you cover the tank.

Here they are in the bucket:



And in there new home:







Yes...i know i need a larger pot.  lol

Nice!  Yes, it looks like you'll need a bigger pot.  

They looked good this morning on my way out, so all is well still.

Although i did figure out i need larger food.  Maybe a bigger pellet for now, then when i run out of that i will have figured out what to feed them.

Any ideas?  Brine seems way to small, and mysis does not seem to interest them.  Krill pacifica maybe?  With some clam every now and then?

If you want them to have good spawns make sure they're getting foods with high fat content, esp. squid.  I got a pound of it at Meijer for $3.

Thanks!  I have been using a hufa supliment, but i dont know how affective that is at getting into the fishes gut.  How do you process the squid?  Chop it or blend it?

I got a pic of them when i got home, they are both crammed into that tiny clay pot.  lol....ill get time to upload it tomorrow.  My wife had a 5th anniversary party from her employer so i was unable to monitor these guys tonight.

Someone else was asking about squid on MR.  I just chop it with a sharp knife when frozen.  You can also use a tough cheese grater.  The same method works for frozen, uncooked, shrimp.

Well after a week of marginal (not poor, just not what you would expect from a larger fish like the female here) eating behavoir I finally stumbled across there secret.

The love pellet.  Plain, old formula 1 pellet is there favorite but they will take other pellet as well.  The way they chase the food down and scavenge around for more is amazing.

The only problem i really see here i dont know if pellet will be able to sustain breeding efforts.  I have been soaking the pellet in hufa/amino/vitamin supps but they dont eat the pellet with the same gusto after the soaking. 

The pair has become more of a bottom feeding fish than anything.  They will pick some pellets out of the water as they fall, but prefer to take there time and eat them off the bare bottom of the tank.  Thats fine with me as they seem to eat more when they food has settled down their.

Im still trying to get them interested into a higher fat food like Tal mentioned, but they are very reluctant to eat anything other than pellet.

They look good.  I'll be watching with keen interest

Rook