Breeding Journal, Species: [Elacatinus Oceanops]

General
Species:  Elacatinus Oceanops
Social Structure:  Trio
Size of Individuals:  1-11/2"
Age of Individuals:  not known
Date added to Tank:  8/10/11

Broodstock Tank Details
Size of Tank:  800mmx300mmx300mm divided into 2
Substrate Details:  coral sand
Filtration Details:  Central Sump, bioballs, Sponge, some live rock, skimmer
Water Changes:  Rarely
Water Temperature:  80f
Lighting:  Ambient fish house lights
Lighting Cycle:  14 on
Other Tank Inhabitants:  none

Broodstock Feeding Details
Food Types:  Frozen mysis mostly, occassional cyclopeeze
Feeding Schedule:  3 times daily.

Spawning Details
Date of First Spawn:  9/25/11
Spawn Time of Day:  Not known
Dates of Consecutive Spawns:  10/12/11, 10/21/11, 11/1/11, 1/3/12, 1/17/12
Courtship Details:  Have not seen the actual event, but witnessed the male hanging about his pipe and trying to entice the female in. I have also witnessed them forming the T shape.
Egg Size:  approx 1mm
Egg Color:  off white to cream coloured
Egg Count:  Approx 200

Hatch Details
Hatch Date:  10/29/11   1/22/12 
Hatch Time of Day:  1pm
# Days after Spawn:  8
Larvae Description:  Long and thin about 2.5mm visible eyes and stomach.


Larval Tank Details
Temperature:  80f
Size of Larval Tank:  10 gallon BRT
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:  Mostly pod naups with some rots
Feeding Schedule:  Constant greenwater method

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: 



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Picked these up today as part of my "diversification" to be able to produce a wider range for local lfs's.

I heard you have to get wild caught in order to breed. For some reason the captive bred don't. Is that true?

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

Not heard that myself. I think it's probably another old wive's tale to be honest. There is absolutely no reason for the fecundity of a captive bred fish to be any different from a wild one unless it is a hybrid. IMO.

that's what I would think too, but I heard that and wanted to ask. I'll try to find some resources on it.

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

Ok had these guys 4 weeks and it looks like the action is starting.  They paired up after about ten days and the third fish was removed as he was being bullied. The male seems to have chosen a pipe and is actively swimming in and out of it. The female also occasionally swims in. The feed very well and like Chopped mysis the best, which I feed as much as they will eat. I did have a setback in the past week when the male caught whitespot which waged war on my fish, but is under control now and no fish were lost.
( Lesson learnt with central sump and no UV. Commercial steriliser now on order.)
You can see on the male the marks left by the white spot. The female was unaffected, which is strange as the clown females were mostly affected rather than the males.......
Anyway I can distinguish the male as he has blue under the central black stripe. The female has much less. Also the male has more pronounced red around the gills, similar to my redheads in breeding colours.
The female is getting fatter by the day and I would take bets she spawns in the next couple of weeks. Water temp has dropped a little in the last couple of days so I have cranked up the heat pump to maintain temp.
 
Ok here's some pics.

 

 

 

Congrats on the pair. Great photos. 

Doni Marie~

Tank bred elacatinus oceanops breed in aquarium.
All my F1 pairs are breeding with temperatures around 30ºC. I know its too hot for them but here in Portugal temperatures are very high this summer.

Seems like wild caught are the same! mine spawned today! 30c

Jeez, is everyone having a heat wave this week?  The whole world?  Haha!  We are having an unusually hot week too for this time of year anyway...
 
Congrats on the spawn!  I will be a regular visitor to your journal as I am considering this specie as well.  Do you mind posting pics of your broodstock tank please?

Pulled the eggs yesterday afternoon because I was working late last night. Nothing hatched this morning so put the eggs under bright light, gave them a shake and managed to get a few to hatch. Hoping the rest hatch tonight and don't get killed by fungus. Here's a pic of a couple that did hatch.
 

Spawned again Thur 12th. Will try and get some pics of the nest this weekend.

Really difficult to get a shot of these are their right in the middle of the pipe.
 

No success with these, I think I may have disturbed them removing the pipe to take the shot. The male ate most of them and the few that were left didn't hatch
 

Spawned again Sunday morning sometime. Male is tending the eggs and reluctant to come out and feed, so I don't think they have been there that long.

Moved the eggs to a BRT Friday night 28th, but nothing had hatched in the morning. I tried the shaking routine and managed to get a few to hatch. Still no more hatched last night although the eggs dont look dead from what I can see. Will leave them tonight and remove any left in the morning. I can see 5 or 6 only swiiming in the tub at present.

Not having much luck with these. Hatches are very poor and the male seems to be eating or loosing alot of them prior to hatch. They spawned again yesterday but they eggs don't look that adhesive and dont seem to be sticking too well to the top of the tube. I will maybe change the tube after these and  rough up the interior to see if that helps.
 
I still have a couple of swimmers from the last hatch and as with the Redheads the larvae appear to be actively hunting on the sides of the BRT. The reason I say this is their heads are nearly always facing the sidewall. I have added some plastic plants ready for the next batch which I think will get populated fairly quickly with pods. From my observations of elacatinus thus far I am sure the larvae hunt on sides and substrate (or at least very close to). I remember the Redhaeds kept the top 2" of the BRT completely clean where they constantly grazed the side.

Had a small amount of eggs hatch last. I found them in the bottom of the BRT when syphoning it. Lets see if I can get any of these through Meta.
 

 

Hopefully you have some luck with this batch!  I haven't been able find E oceanops so I'm not progressing with you.   

That's a shame. I'm not too sure I will get very far with these as I found them whilst syphoning the bottom. Doesn't bode well!

No, that doesn't bode too well at all.

Actually saw a few in the upper water column today, but only a few. Fingers crossed.
 

Hatched some more last night but they look very weak. Most are just floating on the top still bent round. Here's a pic.

Hmm...I wonder what's going on.

I think it was fungus Mindy. I'm so busy presently I never know the actual spawn dates so struggling to know when the eggs need to be pulled. I'm suprised any hatched tbh. They all looked white when I pulled them out the tank.