Breeding Journal, Species: Cypho Purpurascens

General
Species:  Cypho Purpurascens
Social Structure:  Pair
Size of Individuals:  F 3.5" M 3"
Age of Individuals:  Unknown
Date added to Tank:  March 2011

Broodstock Tank Details
Size of Tank:  H800mm x W500mm x D500mm
Substrate Details:  None
Filtration Details:  Central filter, Bio balls Foam skimmer small amount live rock
Water Changes:  None
Water Temperature:  80f
Lighting:  Ambient fish house lights
Lighting Cycle:  14 on
Other Tank Inhabitants:  1 cardinal

Broodstock Feeding Details
Food Types:  Home made gel
Feeding Schedule:  3 times daily

Spawning Details
Date of First Spawn:  April 15th 2011
Spawn Time of Day:  Morning between 8am-1pm
Dates of Consecutive Spawns:  4/19/2011 (male ate nest that night)
Courtship Details:  Didn't seem to be much Male occassionally chased female.
Egg Size:  less than 1mm
Egg Color:  White
Egg Count:  50-100

Hatch Details
Hatch Date:  04/18/2011
Hatch Time of Day:  9pm
# Days after Spawn:  4
Larvae Description:  Large bodies with large eyes.


Larval Tank Details
Temperature:  80f
Size of Larval Tank:  5 litre
Substrate Details:  none
Other Tank Decor:  none
Filtration Details:  none
Lighting:  Ambient fish house lights
Lighting Cycle:  14 on
Water Changes:  none yet

Larval Feeding Details
Food Types:  L strain rotifers
Feeding Schedule:  Constant

Metamorphosis/Settlement
Date of Settlement Start: 
Days after Hatch: 
Date of Settlement End: 
Description of Fry: 

Grow-Out Tank Details
Temperature: 
Size of Grow-Out Tank: 
Substrate Details: 
Other Tank Decor: 
Filtration Details: 
Lighting: 
Lighting Cycle: 
Water Changes: 
Size at Transfer: 
Age at Transfer: 

Grow-Out Feeding Details
Food Types: 
Feeding Schedule: 

Additional Information

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



You will be required to provide photographic or video evidence in this thread of each event submitted for the MBI Program.
If your thread does not contain these photos the MBI Committee will not be able to approve your reports. PHOTOS AND VIDEO S MUST BE PLACED IN ADDITIONAL POSTS, NEVER IN THE FIRST POST IN A JOURNAL.

Found a small nest of eggs today in a pipe hanging from side of tank about 2/3 of way up side of tank. Only a very small nest. Very reluctant to pull nest up again as male is very nervous and may eat the eggs.
I noticed the female had got thinner so checked all the pipes as male had not appeared for feeding.

Need pictures man!  Congrats!

Yessssssssssss I know. Eggs seem to be attached to the string which runs through the pipe, so don't want to risk damaging them (anymore than I already have). I will just make sure the male is settled and may try again tomorrow Heres a pic of the male.
 

 
I havn't had a divider in for a couple of weeks as it was a waste of time. Putting a spare cardinal I had from a trio in there (after seeing the dither fish idea) seems to have worked a treat. The fmales fins are much healthier now and the cardinal has some fin damage but seems to feed happily now with the famale. The male seems to be much more elusive and only dashes out to attack or eat food.

You should send those ugly red fish to me- I'll send you back some nice pretty neon gobies!
 
Cool idea on the dither fish - I'm sure those cardinals fins might make a tempting target!  You might have stumbled onto something here - there isn't much of ANYTHING be written on dither fish while breeding hyper aggressive dotties.
Having said that, my elongates pretty much just chase each other, leave the others alone

When I first got them the females fins were pretty much torn up. Seperating them helped and she packed on the weight but I spent every morning trying to get the male back in his half of the tank. I gave up with the divider then read about the dither fish and it does seem to work. The Cardinal (Apogon Chrysopomus) had it tough in the first few days and his caudal fin was reduced by half, but he is big around 3" and now seems to understand he needs to move before the male hits him. His fins arn't too bad now and he gets lots of food with added vitamins so he seems ok.
Also they have a pretty large tank to themselves about 50 us gal.

I'd try this with my P. tonozukai if I had a bigger tank for them. Gonna have to come up with something for them since they do not play nice.  

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

Haha...tell me about it. My male tears chunks of every time he attacks.

Managed to get some shots of the female today. Not great because the position of the tank is hard to get to and there's lots of reflection off the glass. Not bad though! You can see how well her fins have healed particularly the caudal, which was in tatters when I got her. The red you see on her sides comes and goes depending on if she can see the male or not. It can appear and disappear in a matter of minutes. She looks full of eggs again! will pull the nest the male has tonight, if there's any eggs left! hopefully they will spawn again before the end of the week.

Gravid for sure.

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

Well I pulled the eggs tonight. Looked to be about 30 left attached to the string. Here's a pic.

 
Placed the eggs in a 5 litre tank and aerated them about 10 mins later a couple hatched. They are very large about 5-6mm. Much bigger than I have been working with recently here's a pic.


 

Nice.  I know up in the journal you said 4 days, but by my count it's actually 3.5 days (15-16 = 1, 16-17 = 2, 17-18 = 3, 18 AM to 18 PM = .5).  Are you sure on the spawn time being in the AM?  I ask, because less than 4 days between spawn to hatch just seems tremendously fast!!!

Funny, that's the first thing my wife said to me! Truth is I can't be sure. I will have to see next time they lay eggs. Hopefully this week.

I think I definately pulled the eggs a day too early. Still only got the two hatched that happened during the transfer. I am aerating the eggs and hopefully the fungus won't get them before tonight.
 
On a positive note.........My female is a star!!!!!
 
Checked the same pipe at 3pm today and as I lifted it out rolled an eggball!....About 300 eggs I would say. I had to quickly get a pippette and retrieve them from the bottom of the tank. I placed them back in the pipe and the male is now back in there. Fingers crossed I will hatch them Saturday evening.

Having a mare of a day today. All the larvae are dead. I think it must be the 5 litre tanks im using. Going to go back to hatching in BRT's.
Also pulled the pipe to check the new egg ball today and its gone! I checked all other pipes and caves and its not there. I think the male is eating the nests which would explain why I had so few eggs first time and they were attached to the string in the pipe..........Bugger it!

Thought I would have one more look in the larvae tank before emptying it.
 
 Did my eyes decieve me? here before my very eyes was but one lone larvae! "I'm here i'm here" he cryed, "please don't flush me". I took pity on the poor soul, to suffer such torment as to lose one's siblings at such a young age and be left alone wandering in the mist of uncertainty and emotional turmoil.
With purpose and haste I spritely gathered my syphon to alight the foulness and degredation that had carpeted the depths of the larval vessel.  With bewilderment and the joy of excitement I beheld another four larvae glorious in their struggle for life.
 
Sorry just felt a bit poetic.
 
Basically I found 1 larvae and after syphoning the bottom found another 4.  The struggle goes on!

Bravo!

Chad Penney - MBI Council
Agis quod Adis

Counted 3 still alive today and could see them feeding on rotifers.

well done!

Very bad news!. Woke up this morning and both the fish are dead......
 
My prognosis is that I neglected to understand the temperatures these fish are comfortable with. In the last week we have had some great weather and the system temp has hovered between 30 and 32. From what I can get of Dr Google these fish are found at depths of 5-20 mtrs and temps averaging 22-24.
Both fish seemed well conditioned and their colours were still very bright when I removed them from the tank this morning. So I don't think they had been dead too long. No signs of stress although the female had not eaten much in the past 3 days. The males fins were torn but not overly and no signs of any infections or parasites.
These were awesome fish and I'm kicking myself for not paying more attention to detail. Only svaing grace is that I still have 3 larvae swimming around although to get these through meta may be difficult.  I will however be trying my damdest to raise them.
What really irks me is that I cleared the biggest hurdle of managing to get them to live together and then lose them tthrough my own incompetence! Arghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.
 

Oh, sorry to hear that. They seemed like pretty amazing fish. Good luck getting the little ones through.

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

Oh, man! What a bummer, I know how you feel.

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

It's not the fact that these were expensive fish I'm so pi**ed about, its just the fact that I could have prevented it. I have to save the babies to justify my taking these fish.......

Aww Hun, that just suckssss.  Really sorry to hear that. 

Here's a pic of the small larval tank I have the 3 remaining dottys in. They are 7-8 days old now.
 

 
And here is a shot of one of the larvae. Not very good but with only 3 I don't want to risk damaging any of them by removing them.

how are these dudes doing?

Still 3 going strong. Added nhbs yesterday. I've seen them circling around them but not actually taking one yet, but their stomach are full so there prob eating rots still.

Still 3 going strong. Added nhbs yesterday. I've seen them circling around them but not actually taking one yet, but their stomach are full so there prob eating rots still.

good luck

Only 1 fry left this morning...
Can't see what he's eating? Spends most of the time picking at the side of the tank. Takes an interest in the nhbs but only circles them and then swims away. Occassionly I see him pick at one but not actually eat any. I'm concerned now he wont make it as I can't see how nutritionally he is surviving.

Hay Dale, not "seen" you around for a bit?  You havent done yourself in, in a fit of depression have you?

No not quite but nearly! Been really busy this week. I have been asked to do some consultancy at a local bakery so it's taking up alot of my time. The last larvae died yesterday so thats the end of this journal until I can get another pair. I need to pay more attention to my rots and pods as I don't think they got enough food. All my cultures keep crashing so Im gonna set them up in the sump shed where its alot cooler. I think the cultures are reproducing too rapidly in the fish house and then crashing.
Also had my female striped fang blenny take a dive this week and my last dracula goby, even with netting over the tanks. I don't know how they manage to find the holes. My blue streaks spawned again today but the male still hasn't stepped up to the plate as I found 2 small eggballs on thebottom of the tank. Put them in a cup and aerated them but doubt there even fertilised.

aww mate sorry to hear that.