Breeding Journal, Species: Synchiropus stellatus

General
Species:  Synchiropus stellatus
Social Structure:  Male / Female pair from Diver's Den
Size of Individuals:  Currently about 2" for the Female, and 2 1/2" for the Male
Age of Individuals:  Unknown -- Ordered from Diver's Den on 11/18/2011
Date added to Tank:  11/22/2011

Broodstock Tank Details
Size of Tank:  65 Gallons
Substrate Details:  Live sand
Filtration Details:  Live Rock, Protein Skimmer, Some Bio Balls in Sump
Water Changes:  Small and frequent.  About 10% or so every 1-3 days.
Water Temperature:  Around 78F
Lighting:  T5 fluorescents, Actinic and Daylight
Lighting Cycle:  Appx. 14 H on / 10 H off.
Other Tank Inhabitants:  Three seahorses, two Neon Gobies, several Peppermint Shrimp, and one recently added Male Black Margin Dottyback.

Broodstock Feeding Details
Food Types:  Various Frozen.  Mostly, they eat the PE Mysis that the Seahorses did not eat.  Also Spirulina Brine, other brands of Mysis, Marine Cuisine.
Feeding Schedule:  2-3 times a day.

Spawning Details
Date of First Spawn:  First Documented Spawn was 1/26/2012
Spawn Time of Day:  Late evening -- about 10:30 PM
Dates of Consecutive Spawns: 
Courtship Details:  Late in the evening, the male flashes his dorsal at the female, and the female "rides" the male, hovering over him.  They each encourage the other to swim upwards in the water column. When ready, they ascend together, side by side, releasing eggs + sperm at the top of the ascent, and then both dash downward very quickly to the substrate.
Egg Size:  Very small.  Less than 1mm
Egg Color:  Clear and translucent
Egg Count:  This spawn: relatively few.  Certainly less than 100.  Probably more like 25 or so.

Hatch Details
Hatch Date: 
Hatch Time of Day: 
# Days after Spawn: 
Larvae Description: 


Larval Tank Details
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Size of Larval Tank: 
Substrate Details: 
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: 



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I got this pair from Diver's Den with an eye towards breeding them.  Tonight was the first night I've seen any pre-spawning behavior.  When they arrived, they were fairly small -- only about 1 1/2 inches or so.  They've grown a lot since then, and the male has grown more than the female.  Tonight, they were clearly getting "frisky".  They were staying very close to each other near the back of the tank, with the female often almost "riding" the male, aligning herself parallel with him, and even climbing literally on top of him.  The male was also making frequent, sustained dorsal fin displays.  They both kept trying to lead each other in starting an ascent.  They did do one small ascent of about 10" or so.  At one point, the female did a slow ascent all the way to the top of the tank, and then shot very quickly down to the bottom, but, alas, the male did not ascend with her.  I think they're ready!  Time for me to start watching them more closely, and to get ready to collect some eggs.  Exciting news on this pair!
 
EDIT:  After reading Matt Pedersen's various journals about these, I have placed some glass on top of the eggcrate on top of the tank that should prevent any jumping!

great news!!!!
 
I really miss mine. I had them before breeding them was even a thought. They are really fun fish. Lots of personality.
 
Are they always together?

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

@Glen, sorry -- I just saw your question.  No, they are not "always" together, but they do spend a LOT of time together, and in particular, late in the day/evening, they are almost inseparable.
 
I've seen lots of spawning behavior out of them lately, and have, frankly, been too busy to document any of it.  Basically, late in the evening, they spend lots of time together, the male will frequently flash his massive dorsal at her, and she will "mount" him, swimming over the top of him and hovering there.  They will then start their ascent, and swim upwards, side by side.  Before tonight, I've not witnessed anything that looked like an actual spawn, although admittedly, most nights, I'm just not into the Synchiropus porn.
 
Tonight, however, I was doing tank maintenance, and vacuuming the gravel, and had the pumps turned off.  Even with all the disruption and all the gunk stirred up from my gravel vacuuming, they started up right in front of me.  And, lo and behold, I watched an ascent, and saw the actual spawn happen at the peak of the spawn, with the rapid descent of both fish afterwards.  I was able to catch a few eggs in an API test kit vial I had sitting on a shelf nearby, and here is the picture of those eggs:
 


 

Attached Image(s)

Thats great Jim, well done!!!

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

So do you have time to tackle raising them I hope? 

oh wow. how lucky to be there to watch it!!! You got me wanting to get a pair again!

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

Raising them is next on my "to do" list in the fish room.  They engage in courtship behavior every evening.  Whether or not they spawn every evening, I'm not sure.  I'll be focusing more attention onto them in the very near future.

WTF!?!?!?  I came home today, and the male was sitting on the sand, his color was kinda odd, off, pale looking.  Not moving much.  In fact, not moving at all.  I wave my hand at him.  Nothing.  Yep.  Dead.  WTF!?!?!?
 
The seahorses in this tank have also stopped eating for the last two days.  The female red scooter blenny so far, is still OK.  The only thing that happened right before this was a second sand vacuuming.  I've been having a bit of a cyanobacteria problem on the surface of the sand in this tank, even though I've done frequent water changes, and the nitrates are very near zero.  So last Thursday (see egg pics above) I vacuumed the gravel, and when some more cyano came back, I did so again Sunday night.  I did notice (my wife noticed it too) that there was a fair amount of black gunk, and a kind of anaerobic smell to the water that came out both times I vacuumed.  The sand bed is a little deeper than most of my other tanks, but nothing extreme.  Maybe 3-4".  It's relatively coarse aragonite sand.  Anyway, the only thing I can think of is maybe some hydrogen sulfide poisoning?  I did notice that the male who died stayed half buried in the sand yesterday morning, when he would usually have been out and about.  But he was looking OK yesterday evening.  Frankly I was in too big a hurry this morning, and didn't really pay attention to him, but obviously I wasn't that worried about him, or else I would have been obsessing about him.
 
I hate it when things like this happen.  It always depresses me when I lose a fish.  Now, I'm worried about the seahorses and the remaining female.  The seahorses haven't eaten at all in two days -- very unusual.  Not even interested in food.  Crap.

Aw, sorry to hear about the loss Jim.    Did you shove the vacuum into the sand?  I don't vacuum deeper than 1/2" which is one of the reasons why the sand is no deeper than 1/2" in any of my tanks (including the reefs).  Try fresh carbon and a waterchange...?

ah I hope they start eating for you. i would do a water change and run carbon. the gunk stuck in your sand bed is horrible when it's released. Nitrates could be through the roof.

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

Well, it's not nitrate.  Nitrate was unmeasurable before the gravel vacuuming, and also unmeasurable after the male died.  With my work schedule, the first chance I'll have to do a water change is tonight.  The seahorses still aren't eating, but the female scooter blenny is looking fine.
 
I think there is something evil about this tank.  I've had too many mysterious deaths of seahorses in particular, and also other fish, in this tank.  It isn't water parameters, at least not anything that I can test for.  This is the same tank that I nuked with chlorine and restarted a few months ago, precisely because of this problem, but I recycled the sand and rock.  I'm quite tempted to do another nuking, but next time, I'll start over with fresh sand and new live rock.
 

If this was a case of toxic tank syndrome,you should see every fish pale and fast breathing,and recovering soon if moved to another tank.

Another thought I had:  A recent article in Volume 8, Number 6 (the November / December 2011 edition) of Coral Magazine alludes to the potential toxicity of this genus to other fish, especially when they die.  For the purposes of this discussion, let's ignore the question of why the male scooter blenny died -- suffice it to say that, for whatever reason, he died.  Given the anecdotal reputation that this genus has, isn't it possible that he released toxins into the tank that have had adverse effects on the seahorses in that tank, and that those toxins would be undetectable to my testing?  Isn't it also possible that the female of the same species might be immune to these very toxins, and, thus, not be exhibiting any symptoms?  Just a thought.
 
The seahorses seem to be, very slowly, coming out of it.  Two of the three of them did express at least a passing interest in food tonight.  Another one of them was actually observed snicking food.
 
I'll keep you all posted as things develop in this tank.
 

Back when I was an importer we'd have DAA of mandarins in the same tanks of other fish.  We wouldn't see any real problems from them passing on in the same tank, cube, QT, etc.  Ditto when I was in retail.  I doubt that is the issue.  I doubt Hydrogen sulfide was the issue either.

Any update?

-Adam

Well, we lost one seahorse who just would not eat and never came out of it.  The other two seahorses and the female red scooter seem fine.
 
There is something evil about this tank.  I suspect it may be this one large, unusually dense rock -- perhaps it leaches some heavy metal or something -- but I don't really know.  When I can get around to it, I intend to tear the tank down, bleach it again, and then restock it with fresh live sand and fresh live rock.