Breeding Journal, Species: Gobiesox punctulatus

General
Species:  Gobiesox punctulatus
Social Structure:  peaceful
Size of Individuals:  3 inches
Age of Individuals:  unknown, wild caught
Date added to Tank:  January

Broodstock Tank Details
Size of Tank:  29 gallon - in a LFS The Hidden Reef in Levittown, PA
Substrate Details:  crushed coral
Filtration Details:  HOB penguin
Water Changes:  weekly
Water Temperature:  72
Lighting:  Normal output fluorescent
Lighting Cycle:  8 am - 9 pm
Other Tank Inhabitants:  none

Broodstock Feeding Details
Food Types:  mysis
Feeding Schedule:  daily

Spawning Details
Date of First Spawn:  Feb 14th
Spawn Time of Day:  evening/early morning
Dates of Consecutive Spawns: 
Courtship Details:  two females, one male. male spawned with both a few days apart
Egg Size:  2mm?
Egg Color:  clear
Egg Count:  150?

Hatch Details
Hatch Date:  Feb 25th
Hatch Time of Day:  early morning/evening
# Days after Spawn:  11
Larvae Description:  pelagic


Larval Tank Details
Temperature:  68 - 70
Size of Larval Tank:  5 gallon bucket
Substrate Details:  none
Other Tank Decor:  none
Filtration Details:  air sponge filter, greenwater
Lighting:  LED
Lighting Cycle:  24 hours a day
Water Changes:  daily 90%

Larval Feeding Details
Food Types:  first foods: newly hatched bbs, Tigriopus copepods After a week, added 48 hour artemia enriched with Selco and Dan's feed
Feeding Schedule:  twice daily

Metamorphosis/Settlement
Date of Settlement Start:  3-22-11
Days after Hatch:  25
Date of Settlement End:  4-2-11
Description of Fry:  fry go from rounded, bullet shape to flattened with suction cup fins to cling to surfaces.

Grow-Out Tank Details
Temperature:  room temperature ~75 varies throughout the day
Size of Grow-Out Tank:  5 gallon salt bucket
Substrate Details:  no substrate
Other Tank Decor:  no decor
Filtration Details:  air driven sponge filter
Lighting:  small LED strip
Lighting Cycle:  8 hours a day
Water Changes:  daily 90%
Size at Transfer: about 2 inches transferred to 55 gallon tank at 60 days post settlement
Age at Transfer:  over 3 months old

Grow-Out Feeding Details
Food Types:  frozen mysis shrimp
Feeding Schedule:  daily

Additional Information

(No Pictures or Videos in the Section Please)
Miscellaneous Information: 



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Pictures:
 

Clingfish with Eggs by Felicia McCaulley, on Flickr
 

Clingfish-Eggs by Felicia McCaulley, on Flickr
 

clingfish-larvae day one by Felicia McCaulley, on Flickr
 

Clingfish-4-days by Felicia McCaulley, on Flickr
 

Clingfish-7-days by Felicia McCaulley, on Flickr
 

Clingfish-10-days by Felicia McCaulley, on Flickr
 

Clingfish-15-days by Felicia McCaulley, on Flickr

Great shots!

http://www.fishtalpropagations.com/#!home/mainPage
"Making captive breeding easier."

23 days old today photo update:
 

Clingfish-23-days by Felicia McCaulley, on Flickr

Hmm...not that different than earlier, but nice fin development!

Hard to tell in the picture, speed racer here gave me a hard time, but it kinda looks like there is more going on in the suction cup pelvic fin area...

We have one that settled. The biggest one was on the floor this morning, and I freaked out a little thinking it was dead. I watched it for a few seconds, and he was kind of lazily clinging around. I poked him a little and he zoomed off, strong and healthy! only to go back to clinging. Smaller brothers and sisters, come on and settle already! I'll try to get a pic later.

argh! He almost went down the drain! I feel so dumb. I didn't see him because he was at the bottom of the bucket, and the green water makes it hard to see down that far. I just about dumped him in the sink. Luckily I looked in the bucket after I dumped it, and there he was! I had to poke him to get him into the clean bucket. He is so "clingy," he didn't want to budge, and actually clung to my finger. I hope he's ok, he's breathing pretty hard right now. He was out of water for a good 20 seconds. It's only a matter of time til his smaller siblings start to cling now. I'm shocked at how quickly it happened, I was expecting a more gradual transition from pelagic to benthic.

Very cool but be careful!

http://www.fishtalpropagations.com/#!home/mainPage
"Making captive breeding easier."

Not a macro shot, but still shows the clinging. Only a few are clinging totally yet. Some are still swimming, and it's not just the small ones.
 

Clingfish-30-days by Felicia McCaulley, on Flickr
 
I don't have many left, less than 10. Their bucket was very dirty, so I put them in a new bucket with the same sponge filter and no more of a water change than normal, but still lost a bunch. Sigh. so I don't want to take them out to photograph them much.

Settlement!

Congratulations!

--Andy, the bucket man.
"Not to know the mandolin is to argue oneself unknown...." --Clara Lanza, 1886

Four clingers now, a total of 7 left. Hopefully I can get a pair out of these to try again.

I recounted, there are 8 left, not seven. Hard to see them, and some like to hang out on the sponge filter.
 
Update pic
 

Clingfish-38-days by Felicia McCaulley, on Flickr
 
I'm not sure why, but some are black and some are brown. All seem to be healthy and are eating a lot. They've been getting a lot of Tigger pods lately. Soon I'll try some Cyclop Eeze with them.

That's really cool, Felicia! Congratulations!

--Andy, the bucket man.
"Not to know the mandolin is to argue oneself unknown...." --Clara Lanza, 1886

Sweet.

They vary quite a bit in size, but the biggest one has a head about the size of my pinky fingernail! He has a big mouth, he he.

46 days today,
 

Clingfish-46-days by Felicia McCaulley, on Flickr
 
size comparison, this is a medium sized one posing by a rubber band
 

Clingfish-46 by Felicia McCaulley, on Flickr

wow great job!

RLTW

180 Gallon Mixed Reef

Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?" And I said, "Here am I. Send me!" Isaiah 6:8

The biggest one is chasing the second biggest one around a lot...

clingfish by Felicia McCaulley, on Flickr
 

clingfish by Felicia McCaulley, on Flickr
 

clingfish by Felicia McCaulley, on Flickr

clingfish by Felicia McCaulley, on Flickr
 

clingfish by Felicia McCaulley, on Flickr

I ended up with only three. But they're doing well, about two inches long now and over 3 months old. I'm moving them to the display tank today.

Congratulations Felicia!  Time to write the article!

article?

UPDATE! On June 3rd, I moved the little Clings out of their Instant Ocean bucket home and into my main 55 gallon fish tank. I knew it would be tough to catch them and photograph them again, so I took some shots before moving them. There are only three left out of the eight that settled. I think they are aggressive toward their own kind. I believe I ended up with a male and two females, but I'm only guessing.
 
edit: I already uploaded those pics. Here's a more recent pic of one of the clings in the 55. This one lives in a PVC elbow toward the front of the tank. It's tough to get photos in this tank, I don't have a light on that side of the tank, and there's a lot of rock and PVC pipes for things to hide in. I'll try to get better pics next time I see the clings.
 

clingfish 6/14/11 by Felicia McCaulley, on Flickr