Breeding Journal, Species: [Gramma loreto]

General
Species:  Royal Gramma Basslet (Gramma loreto)
Social Structure:  mated pair
Size of Individuals:  male 2.5", female 1.5"
Age of Individuals:  unknown
Date added to Tank:  07/15/2011

Broodstock Tank Details
Size of Tank:  10 gallon
Substrate Details:  barebottom
Filtration Details:  40g sump, filter sock, ATB 840 skimmer, ~40# live rock
Water Changes:  10% monthly
Water Temperature:  78 F
Lighting: 48" shop light
Lighting Cycle:  on:8am-12am off:8hours
Other Tank Inhabitants:  none

Broodstock Feeding Details
Food Types:  Rod's Food(coral,fish only and fish egg blends), Spectrum Thera +A, my home mix with clams,shrimp, and a ton of other stuff, Otohime C2
Feeding Schedule:  2-3 per day

Spawning Details
Date of First Spawn: 02/19/12
Spawn Time of Day:  ~ 7pm
Dates of Consecutive Spawns:  03/23/2012 (FIRST CLUTCH HATCHED)
Courtship Details:  twitching displays by the male before both entering into the PVC tube
Egg Size: ~1.5mm
Egg Color:  opaque, with eyes showing
Egg Count:  ~25

Hatch Details
Hatch Date:  03/30/12
Hatch Time of Day:  during lights out, ~11pm
# Days after Spawn:  unknown
Larvae Description:  ~3mm, clear, darting motions


Larval Tank Details
Temperature: 
Size of Larval Tank: 
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Other Tank Decor: 
Filtration Details: 
Lighting: 
Lighting Cycle: 
Water Changes: 

Larval Feeding Details
Food Types: 
Feeding Schedule: 

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
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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.

My first time with anything but clowns. The male seems to have a little cloudy spot on his eye, any suggestions? I plan on moving out the Hogfish. So far I haven't seen any nest building with the chaetomorpha, maybe I will try some capelara algae soon. I have only found limited info on these, any good info that is a must read?
 

One of my favorite fish! Good luck!

Very pretty fish. Good luck!

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

From what I've read you might want to give them some smaller, tighter areas to make a nest in.  The flower pots may be to large an opening for them.  Can't remember the book (Witts?) but they suggest bricks with those three little holes. 
 
Good luck!

I have a long piece of PVC in 3/4", which the hogfish has taken a liking to. As well as a smaller(4-5")piece of 1 1/4" PVC. The brick idea is a good one. I'll have to pick one up tomorrow.

Thanks for the compliments, I will try my best to produce offspring. Hopefully this journal can be a learning tool for myself as well as others.

Alright, I am new to these guys. I noticed at my last feeding of the day(about 9pm) that the two royal grammas were "interacting". I thought they were fighting at first. They were locking jaws face to face for a second or so. They did this a couple times so I went to grab my video camera. When I came back down stairs they noticed me and didn't lock jaws on camera but I did get some twitching action.  Is the action noted in the following videos and observed by myself considered signs of impending or active spawning?
Watch action around 30 sec. mark

 
Watch action around 23 sec. mark

Well the pair has been moved into the broodstock system for a few weeks now. The male has built a nest in a piece of 1" PVC with reducer end caps. The problem is that he almost never comes out, just briefly to feed. He is much more skittish. I try to shine a flashlight in the tube to see if there are any eggs buy he blocks the whole opening. I have not noticed any spawning behavior but honestly I haven't spent a lot of time watching them. Any suggestions on assessing "my" progress?
 
Here is a picture of the PVC. This shot was taken a few weeks ago. This end(pointed towards the front of the tank) is completely packed of chaeto. The back side is where he camps out.
 

Very interesting!  I would love to breed these someday as well.  I will be following your progress.

Well, I think I might have had a tiny bit of success......if I can call it that. I believe that the male is tending some eggs. I did not see a spawn but the male is fanning the eggs(if that is what they are). It is hard to know for sure without taking out the PVC pipe which contains the nest. So shall I take it out to assess the suspected egg sack?
 
This is how the male spends most of his day. This is why it is hard to see what is back there, little own get a picture of it. Plus he always darts back in when I get anywhere close.

 
Here is the best pictures I could get. Look at the six o'clock position.


 
Here is a side view of my set-up. Dirty glass, I know.

I think you might be right about that being an egg ball!  I will be following along with interest as a friend has just promised me his pair of RGs. 

I used to have a trio of grammas back in the early 90s, and they did spawn a couple of times.  Prior to spawning they would lock jaws and joust back an forth like they were trying to push each other.   Back and forth they would go for I think days or weeks, but just for a minute at a time periodically.  Each had their own little "hole in the rocks"  which back then I made by gluing lava rock together with silacon glue.  the male brought algae into his little cave (I think it was hair algae, but I also had caulerpa at that time) and the female would come visit the male and go into his cave with him for a couple of minute to a half hour for several days in a row, usually at the same time of day (can't remember now if it was in the morning or at night).  Then finally the male would chase the female away from his cave, and just stay in there most of the time for a couple more days.  Then the cycle would repeat itself.  Wish I had that trio today!  I know they like tight spaces to spawn in, and that they do mouth off with each other as part of the spawning or pairing process.  I seem to remember with mine that they must have spawned for a couple to several days in a row at the same time of day (so the eggs are probably laid in small batches over a couple of days) and I think I remember reading that somewhere as well.  Hope that helps.

Briguy - one trick I've learned is to drill a couple of small holes (just big enough so light can get into the tube) into the "nesting" tube.  Makes it much easier to see into the pvc caves!  Of course mine usually end up plugged with gunk  
 
Just a thought!  Also can't really hurt much to pop the tube out and take a look!
 
Great journal, good luck!

Thanks for all the help. As photographed, I keep a ball of cheato inside the tank to allow the male his building supplies. Today I found an egg mass inside. I scan the tube every few days but never thought to check the cheato OUTSIDE the breeding tube. Here are my pictures. I was heading out the door and thought that I would set up the larva snagger before bed tonight. I returned home and the eggs were gone. Luckily, I can see two distinctive eyes so I know for sure they are Royal gramma eggs. Next step is catching some larva.
 

 

 

Awesome!  Great news.

Well, I got about 7 larva in my snagger last night. Shame on me for not having rotifers. My culture crashed and I plan on picking up some more tomorrow. But at least I know they are hatching and that my snagger is working somewhat.

Here is a video from this morning(10am) with about 5 larva left alive. I looked in before I went to bed, 9 hours earlier than this video, and there were about 12 swimming around.
 
http://www.youtube.com/wa...o&feature=youtu.be

Now that I have some rotifers to feed, I set the larva snagger last night and started the green water. I woke up this morning to about 100 larva.......Woot, Woot!

I hope to get a few past a few days on my first attempt.

On a side note: what is the best way to get the larva out of the vossen snagger? It seemed to get about 4-5 on the screen, no matter how gently I tried to transfer them.

Wooohoo!!  Awesome!

Here is a video of the larva at almost 48 hours. The focus is slightly off at some point. I wish I could get micro shots like some but I'm working with what I have. Available in full screen and 1080p for the best viewing.
I will saw the larva are just about half the size of A. percula larva. They also have big black eyes and what looks to be a stripe around the middle of the body.

No vid?

Sorry, It didn't post for some reason. It's posted now in my last post.

Awesome, they look very active!  I thought you were doing greenwater though?

Yes, this was after I came home from work and before I added more greenwater. This was as light as it got so I wanted to take a quick video. All still good on day #3.

Day #5. I think I'm down to ~30 larva. They grow fairly slow.
 

Day #7- Down to 5 larva.
 
I switched from 24 hour lighting 36 hours ago. I now have been running 12on/12off. I also added 1 gallon to the initial 5 gallons to increase total water volume.
 
Next time I will do a BRT and collect 2-3 days in a row. Any other suggestions?

Well, I had three make it to day 8 but that's it. I basically treated them like clowns. No clutch to try again as of now so I have time to adjust my system. Any suggestions or questions?

So did they appear to be feeding on the rotifers?

 
Yes, they did. I saw short darting motions and a decrease in rotifers during the eight days. Also considering they lasted, mostly past Day #5, I am assuming this is a good sign that they were eating.
 

I think you're supposed to do 24 hour lighting until after metamorphosis.  I seem to remember that in my research for Orchid Dottybacks.

They didn't seem as vibrant so I thought they were becoming exhausted. Meta should be around day 20-26. Do you think this is too long to run 24/7 lighting?

 
I have no idea.  I'm really just parroting what I think I've read.  Hopefully someone will either confirm or refute this for you.  Orchid Dottybacks settle in 24-38 days according to Matt Witt so that's even longer than Royal Grammas.  I will look to see if I can find more info on 24 hour lighting for you.

Thank you for your time and efforts helping me with this species.

You're welcome.  I'm not much help though never having done it myself.  I've spent a great deal of time researching about Orchid Dottybacks, and I'm sure raising Royal Gramma larvae are quite similar.  I looked around this morning for about an hour, but I wasn't able to find much information on 24 hour lighting besides people mentioning it.  I wish they would elaborate more!  I'm still waiting for the pair of RGs I was promised from a friend last November!  Maybe one day I can join you in your efforts. 

I've run 24 hour lighting on some fish for weeks and it wasn't an issue.  One of the things I did with the filefish was to fluctuate light intensity, but never turn it off.  That could offer a compromise.  Good luck on the next attempt - these should be within your grasp and they're a fish that I'd like to see done more often!

That's a great idea, Matt. I'll give that a try.

The male almost completely broke down his nest of macro algea about 4 days ago. And he actually slept outside of the PVC tube for one noght, this was the first time I noticed it and it scared me into thinking he was dead. He is fine and he took the time to rebuild and I hope to see another nest soon.

I still need to make a trip to Tractor Supply to pick up a 5 gallon black round tub(BRT). I have read that the circular size(as opposed to the sharp corners of a square aquarium) will offer a safer environment and water movement.

Check out pond supply stores as well.  Laguna brand makes very dark green round tubs in 5 and 7 gallon, and black round tubs in 20 gallon.  Reasonably priced.  The 20 gallon ones are used for lining oak half barrels to turn the planters into small ponds.  The smaller ones I can't remember what the label said they were normally used for...

Awesome journal.  Did you pair the fish or did you get them already paired?

Proud member of the first dedicated breeders site in the UK
Marine Fish Breeders Club - UK
H.Zosterae - 60 DPS

I was lucky enough to obtain this pair that was already bonded. Which, with my work with blue dot jawfish, can be half the battle to getting started.

Yeh, I had a pair that I was convinced were a pair, they lived in the same tank for months, then one day it all went bad (I think the smaller one matured).  Almost like the bigger one was in a bad mood.  Fed them in the morning and when I got back from work, the little one was dead and the bigger one looked like he had been in the wars.  No other tank mates.   Really love these fish, and am always on the look out for a pair.  Can you tell any difference between them?
 

Proud member of the first dedicated breeders site in the UK
Marine Fish Breeders Club - UK
H.Zosterae - 60 DPS