Breeding Journal, Species: Pterapogon kauderni

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reeflover
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Breeding Journal, Species: Pterapogon kauderni - Friday, January 27, 2012 6:48 PM
Breeding Journal DataSheet
This first post should be updated regularly to include new information as events take place or changes are made to your system

General
Species:  Pterapogon kauderni
Social Structure:  Male/Female pair
Size of Individuals:  about 3" each
Age of Individuals:  unknown
Date added to Tank:  12/28/11

Broodstock Tank Details
Size of Tank:  75 gallon
Substrate Details:  None
Filtration Details:  Wet-dry with small HOB filter
Water Changes:  15% monthly
Water Temperature:  77.7 degrees F
Lighting:  13 watt CFL
Lighting Cycle:  14:10
Other Tank Inhabitants:  Maroon clown pair and PJ cardinal pair

Broodstock Feeding Details
Food Types:  Variety of frozen and pellets
Feeding Schedule:  2+ times per day

Spawning Details
Date of First Spawn:  12/6/11
Spawn Time of Day:  unknown (night or evening)
Dates of Consecutive Spawns:  1/28/12
Courtship Details:  Not observed
Egg Size:  not observed
Egg Color:  not observed
Egg Count:  unknown

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


Larval Tank Details
Temperature: 
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
Food Types: 
Feeding Schedule: 

Additional Information

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



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<message edited by reeflover on Saturday, January 28, 2012 10:42 PM>

reeflover
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Re:Breeding Journal, Species: Pterapogon kauderni - Friday, January 27, 2012 6:57 PM

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EasterEggs
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Re:Breeding Journal, Species: Pterapogon kauderni - Saturday, January 28, 2012 8:35 AM
Are you catching the babies?

reeflover
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Re:Breeding Journal, Species: Pterapogon kauderni - Saturday, January 28, 2012 8:47 AM
Not sure just yet.  I'm thinking about catching the male the day after they hatch (when little fins are sticking out of his mouth) and moving him to the nursery until he spits them, then return him to the main tank.  This time I am going to plumb the nursery into the same water system as the main tank, so there is no difference in water or temp between the two.  I figure a stand pipe with window screen over the top in a circular black tub sitting above the level of the tank, with a maxijet to pump water to the nursery should do the trick.  And anything the babies don't eat in a certain amount of time will get flushed into the larger tank were the adults and pods can get it.

reeflover
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Re:Breeding Journal, Species: Pterapogon kauderni - Saturday, January 28, 2012 2:00 PM
I don't know if this is typical post-spawning behavior or not, but today both the male and female are swimming very close together all by themselves.  The female stays along side the male, and quivers very rapidly (fins and all) along side the male.  The male appears to have something orange to amber in color in his mouth as his mouth is just slightly held open, but I can't really make it out (my guess is eggs).  Neither of them are eating lunch (prawn eggs - on of their favorites).

reeflover
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Re:Breeding Journal, Species: Pterapogon kauderni - Saturday, January 28, 2012 4:54 PM
I feel silly, but I jumped the gun.  Everything that I reported above was pre-spawning behavior.  They spawned today between 2 pm and 5 pm, so I must have missed it, but now there is no doubt that the male has eggs in his mouth.  He can't even close his mouth now (pics below).  I'm going to fix my report.
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rgrking
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Re:Breeding Journal, Species: Pterapogon kauderni - Saturday, January 28, 2012 5:11 PM
Well that's great news though!!!! At least you're getting to know your fish more!
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

reeflover
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Re:Breeding Journal, Species: Pterapogon kauderni - Monday, January 30, 2012 5:33 AM
Still holding eggs.  The male must have rearanged the egg mass a bit, because now he can get his mouth closed, but he still has a buldge in that little pouch between his lower jaw bones.

reeflover
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Re:Breeding Journal, Species: Pterapogon kauderni - Tuesday, January 31, 2012 1:06 PM
Today I saw 3 of the eggs that the male is holding when he spit out 3 and then snapped them right back up again.  The eggs are no longer in one big clump, but are individual eggs.  They are round an a light tangerine to red-blush color about 2 mm in diameter.  The still appear clear so I don't know if they are fertilized or not.  The temp in the tank is a little on the low side at 76.1, so I might try to raise it up to 78, but I don't want it to overshoot, and the heater is in the tank and I don't want to disturb the male very much.

reeflover
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Re:Breeding Journal, Species: Pterapogon kauderni - Wednesday, February 1, 2012 6:44 AM
Why is it that things can just be humming along without any problems for months or years, but yet when your fish breed.....things start going wrong?  Well this time it was the tank heater.  I noticed 2 nights agp that the temp went from 77.7 to 77.1 the night before, but the light was still on, so I figured it was just in a phase of heating things back up.  Well last night it was down to 76.5, so I adjusted the control knob, and the light went on, but then I couldn't turn it back off no matter what direction it turned it in.  So I took out my old back up heater and plugged it in (and by this time I was setting the alarm to wake me up every 2 hours to check on the tank.  So the tank temp continued to drop even with that heater running down to 76.0.  Long story short, the male is no longer carring eggs, and I am sleepless in Minneapolis and need to buy a new heater.  Well the good news is I still have my broodstock!

EasterEggs
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Re:Breeding Journal, Species: Pterapogon kauderni - Wednesday, February 1, 2012 9:25 AM
The male eating the eggs could have nothing to do with the heater, in fact I doubt it had much to do with the heater at all or at the temperature.  He could have swallowed the eggs because you disturbed him though.  I've found a lot of male Banggai to be horrible brooders, especially the more skittish ones. 
 
For heater issues, I like to keep heaters in my mixing buckets for two reasons; they keep the new saltwater at the same temperature as the fish systems, but also so that if a heater fails I know I have a back up heater set to the right temperature.