Breeding Journal, Species: Paracanthurus hepatus

Good to see that they are still active.

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

The eggs were hatched today.
Prolarvae are doing their thing.
 
Im not 100% sure but this batch seem easier to spot in the water, it may be a change in this batch or that I am just getting better at spotting them.  But it was quite easy to count 15 of them in a 300ml container without a magnifying glass.

Approx 40 hours post spawn

 
Approx 50 hours post spawn

About 75 hours post spawn

Nice pic! I wish I'd had that one to use in the presentation I did last night.

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

Yes. Very nice! They look quite good.

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

Any more news?

No new news of late.
Im still working on culturing food items for them, so I have skipped a few weeks of spawns.
 
Im hoping to have some progress to report in a couple of weeks, once I have been able to source some ciliates that a local university is culturing.  At this stage it will be at least two weeks before this attempt.

Good luck! It's easy to get distracted while learning to culture food items (I'm several years into it myself).

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

No don't say that, its going to be simple I tell you (crosses all fingers and toes)
 
A friend has loaned me a microscope, so I took the opportunity tonight to play with it a bit and stitch some photos together of a few eggs.
They are about 2 hours post spawn
 

 

With me playing with the eggs pictured above, I played with them under the microscope for too long, they all failed to develop.
 
So I waited for the next batch.
This time my collection resulted in an estimated 500 - 600 eggs in my 5L water sample.
 
So this will give me an opportunity to rerun a few of my previous tests and see if I get any further with larger containers or smaller containers, different food choices.
 
The following videos are via the loaned microscope, 10 minutes after spawn

 
A question I have is why would some of the eggs have a split/line through the oil droplet and others dont.  This was taken between 10 and 15 minutes from spawn, do I would not have thought that it would be about cell division as yet.
 
These eggs were collected from my 5L sample by pipette and placed onto the microscope slide in a single drop of water from the pipette.

double post

With the last few clutches, I have been able to see a severe change in prolarvae development depending on temp of hatch water (and therefor time in the egg)
 
Typically, ambient temp has been fine for hatching the eggs, however this was through summer here in Perth.  As the ambient temp has fallen, the success rate of the eggs has been much lower and deformities have occurred in the hatched prolarvae.
 
By adding a heater at 27c, the development has returned to previously experienced time frames.
 
eg. This video is at about 28 hours post spawn.

 

That is too cool!

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

Can you read the email address? I have: a02111u@cc.miyazaki-u.ac.jp, but the first 2 digits are fuzzy to me.

I don't know if I understood, Kathy. I just told them to pass me their e-mail because I have the paper and could send it to them.
Do you want it too ?

Anderson.

Double post

Anderson.

Latest batch of pro-larvae
With higher temps, the problem of deformed pro-larvae seems to have disappeared but this has had a detrimental affect on the eggs hatch rate, with a major increase in the number of cilliates feasting on eggs.  I dont know if the cilliates are causing the egg failures or are just taking advantage of them.
 

 

CaptCrash
I know it's not the same species but I can attribute at least 3 things which effect the eggs development/not developing in my Flame Angels:
1. PH - I dose Kalk and found that if some of the kalk was acidently dumped into the tank 2-3 hrs prior to spawn I got eggs which only developed so far or malformed pro larvae. I figured that out a couple days ago when someone "helped me" and put about 1/2 gallon of kalk water into the main tank, "cause the sump looked low", then set up a drip - in the main tank and not the sump.   The pH must have risen, then was kept higher then normal at the surface because the kalk wasn't able to mix in the sump 1st and my surface agitating pumps turn off at 8pm. 
2. Temp - I keep the breeding pair at 79-82 degrees F.  The eggs at 80-82 degrees F.  Any colder then 80 degrees and the eggs take much longer to develop.  Colder prolonged temps of 75 or less and nothing happens - no development.  Prolonged temps hotter then 84 degrees F and they develop to prolarvae but 90-100% die shortly after.
3. Unfertilized eggs which still float for 15+ hrs.  I had a couple spawns where the male missed? and only a few eggs ended up fertilized.  This happens when the pair are disturbed around the spawning time.  The fertilized eggs developed but these eggs did not.  They remained clear & floating until I removed them. All other spawns are 90%+ fertile.
 
I've also experienced delayed development in some eggs- as much as 4-5 hours delay - while the other eggs in the same spawn developed as previously, some eggs (only a handfull) had a delayed development and hatching.
 
Cilliates: I think this is opportunistic feeding on non vital eggs.

 
You may be onto something there, my PH was low at the time of the two batches that were deformed. 

 
When I added the heaters I set them at 27c/80f, the same batch also had a container with non-heated water that was at room temp, 24-25c.
None of the eggs in the unheated container hatched.
Some of the eggs in the heated container hatched (40-50% with a mix of eggs from both females)
The majority of the eggs in a heated and lit 12 hours per day container hatched (40-50% with a mix of eggs from both females)
 
I think the combination of the PH being low, temp and lighting have all played a part in my latest batches failing.
Also when the prolarvae are hatching, the oil globule appears smaller than some of my earlier batches.
 
 
Up until the last month or six weeks, I get really good hatch rates from my larger female (also larger eggs, about 0.5mm diameter)
My smaller female, I have been getting on and off fertilisation (50% or so) (smaller eggs 0.3mm diameter)
 
With the tangs, the fertilised eggs continue to float, either at the water surface or just below (less than an inch).  Unfertilised eggs tend to sink quickly and/or turn opaque with Cilliates.  The white/opaque is the cilliates in massive numbers, the egg remains clear, until it goes bag/rots and then changes to a brown/red colour.
I now try to remove any coloured eggs after about 12-24 hours. 

 
I see some variability, but I haven't actually sorted or anything like that, other than if they go bad.
 

Yes, this is defiantly the case, they are present on the developing eggs eg http://www.mbisite.org/Fo...1854&mpage=1#71884 and in various forms, but dont seem to damage the eggs or be present in anywhere near the same numbers.
For non developing eggs, its a different story they swarm.
 
Thanks for all of the information, I think its really good to know.  Even though some of the things are quite different, some are very similar

Thanks Aomont! Yes, I would like the paper.   kathysclowns@sbcglobal.net

Interesting. I wonder if pH plays a part in fish spawning in the evenings when local pH should be at the highest? We, as aquarists, could ensure that pH is high at spawn by connecting brooding tanks to turf scrubbers or other tanks with chaeto or something.

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

 
I wholeheartedly concur with this - I anecdotally found with many of my pelagically spawned eggs (particularly Dragonets) that I needed a slight uptick in temp to get a good incubation and hatch; probably should've put it through scientific rigor but it really seems to be the case.

CaptCrash,
Any updates/progress to report?

Nothing new to report as yet.
 
Im doing some work on improving my collection process to make it simpler and more practical.  This will hopefully let me collect all eggs rather than just a few.

Please take pics of your new collectors when you get it figured out. 

Don't let fear and common sense stop you! =]

The Rising Tide Blog has two updates for August which are interesting for those who have not yet read them.
One focuses on Ocellated dragonets the other on potential prey item (Oithona colcarva copepod) for bannerfish.
http://risingtideconservation.blogspot.com/

Thats an excellent idea that I can try.  Thanks for the heads up.

Any more news?

There needs to be an update on this.

Not a lot of new news with these guys.  I did a couple of batches over summer with no real improvement.
 
They have just moved to a new home as the old tank started to leak.  The old tank was a 6x2x2 the new tank is 8x2.5x2.2.  They got to spend 6 weeks in temporary tanks during the move and have not spawned again since.  But it has only been 15 days so Im not too worried.

Very good to hear from you again, Darren.  Please keep us posted!

Ah man.
Never found that secret food for the babies?
Hope everything survived the tank move!

I wish you could luck in the future with these tangs

I will do Jim.  Life has sort of got in the way over the last few months.  But Im getting back into the swing of things now.

Tonight was a good night with the blue tangs spawning for the first time in the new tank. I didnt manage to see the event, but heard the splash then turned to see the chromis, damsel and cleaner wrasses having a free meal.
 
It occurs to me I didnt really put anything up about the tank change, so heres the detail:
 
The plan was to end up with a tank and stand that look something like the following.

Tank Layout

Two Tunze 6105's will be mounted on each of the angled sections of the overflow.  These will be used to both create flow and to surge the tank water creating movement and keeping as much detritus in suspension as possible.  Control of the power heads will be achieved via the GHL Profilux 3 Ex.
 
Overflow

I will put some dark blue vinyl on the back of the tank as a background.

Sump

 
Water flow through Sump

Sump Section 1
By using the arrangement of the return pipes exiting within the first section of the sump, I am hoping to minimise splashing and to retain any excess food, detritus, Norrie etc. to the filter socks and the first chamber.  The flow in this first section should be significant, helping to keep items in suspension.
The output of the chiller, ATO and Reactors will flow into this section.
 
Sump Section 2
With my current setup I use 2-3 filter socks per week and depending on the day of the week (is it water change time?) the filter socks can get blocked before I change them.  By using three units in parallel, this will allow me to change one sock at a time without the need to fiddle with the return lines (a current issue).  Additionally, if a sock does get blocked, then the remaining socks will still be able to process the water and I shouldn’t lose any large waste into other sections of the sump.
In the worst case, with three socks blocked the water will backup and then overflow the second baffle into the Macro Algae compartment.
 
Sump Section 3
Macro Algae will be run in this section.  DIY LED lights will be moved from the old tank to this new system.
Some Live rock and rubble will be in the bottom of this compartment to provide protection for Amphipods, Mysis shrimp, bristle worm and snail populations.
Egg crate will be used to confine the Macro Algae to this compartment, yet let the water pass.
 
Sump Section 4
Skimmer(s) will be housed in this larger slower moving section of the sump.
Reactors will also be housed in this section.  Output from the reactors will be plumbed into the Sump Section 1
Probes for the Profilux 3 Ex will be housed in this section
Heaters will be housed in this section.  The temp will be set 2C above the ideal for the tank on the heaters.  The Profilux will be used as a primary temp controller and will turn off the power to the heater once it reaches its ideal temp.
 
Sump Section 5
Return Pump and ATO level sensors
Water from the return pump will feed the chiller, reactors and return to the display tank.
 
Layout for filter sock holder for sump
This was routed out of 10mm acrylic with the filter socks resting on the lip.
The goal is to be able to change filter socks without needing to stop the return pump.  Also if a filter sock gets blocked up, then the others can deal with more water.
If in the worst case, all three are blocked, then water will build up in the first chamber of the sump and then overflow to the third.

Stand Layout

 
Looking down into the stand from the Top.
From the Back (Top of Image) to the Front and then left to right,
1. GHL Power Bar to control chiller, heaters, refugum light, ATO, skimmer and fans.  Not UPS protected
2. ATO Tank
3. Chiller and fans
4. Sump with 5 compartments (return, filter socks, refugum, Skimmer/Reactor chamber, return)
5. GHL Power Bar to Power Heads, Lights, Return Pump, UPS protected
6. Shelves for storage (Not shown)
7. GHL Profilux 3 Ex
8. UPS
9. Fans (Not Shown)

Stand

The stand will be made from 50mm square tube with panels that are then attached with magnets to allow all panels to be removed and the stand worked on if required.
 
Tank Automation
The tank will be controlled by a GHL Profilux 3 Ex.  It is the same unit that runs the current tank and my breeding setup.
 
Items that will be controlled/managed by the system
1. Heaters with secondary control in the heater itself, allowing for a failure of the temperature probe on the controller or a heater failing in the on position
2. Chiller with secondary control in the chiller itself, allowing for a failure of the temperature probe on the controller or the chiller failing in the on position.
3. Variation in tank temperature between day and night is allowed within thresholds (e.g. colder at night)
4. ATO
5. Return Pump Control, run low protection, feed pause with auto restart
6. Skimmer Control, off during water change and run low protection
7. Lighting control across all channels, Sunrise, Sunset, clouds, rainy days (dimmed lighting), storms/lightning, control across all channels for colour mixing throughout the day, moonlighting
8. Pump Control, pumps off for feeding, automatic restart after feeding, water surge (small waves), variable flow to maximum during storms to keep detritus in the water column
9. Monitoring of power usage, temp, conductivity (salinity), PH and Redox.  Power usage on pumps is a sign of requiring a clean.  Low power demand on heaters can mean a failed heater
10. Alarm reporting for items outside of the target parameters
11. Manually initiated, automatic water change
12. Tracking of hours of usage for a component (e.g. Lights, UV, pumps)
13. System Reminders

If anyone has any suggestions, comments or thinks that there is a better way to approach any of this then please let me know.  Overall most of the equipment will be migrated from my existing tank, so the upgrade costs should be minimal other than the tank, sump, stand and plumbing.
Note: clownfish in the first image are shown to scale though I swear there were more in there a couple of hours ago.   
 
After a few weeks all of the pieces arrived with some hiccups along the way (like the stand fabricator "loosing" the stand and having to build a second one)

Stand in place with sump and tank platforms in place.

Sitting in the back of the delivery van

Lots of people makes lite work

The doorway was 25mm larger than the tanks width so there wasnt a lot of clearance.

Getting the tank on to the stand from the foor was a bit of an effort, with with six people it was not too bad.

The tank in place
 
The MASWA (Marine Aquarium Society of Western Australia) glass suction cups made this so much easier, thanks MASWA for lending me these, it made the job so much easier and safer.
 
The sump and RO top up tanks then went into place

Overall, the delivery took just over an hour and went really will with everything in place with no damage or accidents and ready for me to start plumbing.
 
Then came the real work.
 
I went over the tank and gave it all a good clean and scrape with a razor blade to clean of any dust/dirt/grime.  Then put a vinal back onto the tank.
It was my first time dealing with a large piece of vinal like this, so it was a bit of a challenge.  But I was able to get it done on my own with the help of dishwashing liquid and a spray bottle.

 
Im really happy with the appearance.
 
Then came the plumbing, so many fumes  :-D


Dry fitting of the parts
 

 
All went together fairly well other than me gluing a union joint and forgetting to put the nut on.   This meant that I had to get to the hardware store at 7am and fix this before the water for the tank arrived at 10am.
 
Speaking of water, its wet and has a massive amount of flow with only two of the four power heads installed.

Over the next few days Im going to tune the drains some more to attempt to further silence the tank, most likely this will be to restrict more return flow and bypass it back into the sump.
Next items on the agenda, will be getting some rock in there plus modifying the DIY lighting from my old tank to fit over the new one.
 
Finally I moved the live stock in from their temporary tanks to their new home
 
Tank video showing the fish all moved in now plus some random corals left from the old tank

Looks like the build went well... nice! Keep us posted on how their doing in the new tank! 

This is a really nice looking tank build.  It looks like you did quite a bit of planning. 
 
One question:  Are you going to leave the plumbing in the overflows visible, or will you do something to hide that?

 
Thanks Jim,
 
Im going to make some replacement plumbing for the overflow.  This will be about an inch taller and will be painted Krylon deep blue to match the background.
Hopefully this will make the pipework blend in a little more.

I was given a great honour recently with the Marine Aquarium Societies of Australia picking the new tank for the Regal Tangs as its Tank of the Future for July 2013.
The award is presented six times a year for the best new tanks with the other six moths an established tank being given a Tank of the Month award.  I even get a prize (Im not sure what it is, but I think its a batch of food.  Always a great choice for the hungry mouths). 

You can see more details and photos of the tank at http://www.masa.asn.au/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=51&t=252834

Stay up to date with my breeding efforts:
Regal Tang RegalTangBreeding
Mccullochi Clownfish MccullochiClownfishBreeding 

Nice, and i'm digging Rex's debut there at the end. Nice! 

Yup Rex is cool, he likes to go have a look and basically get in the way when he can.

Stay up to date with my breeding efforts:
Regal Tang RegalTangBreeding
Mccullochi Clownfish MccullochiClownfishBreeding