Breeding Journal, Species: Pterapogon kauderni

General
Species:  Pterapogon kauderni
Social Structure: 
Size of Individuals:  approx 2-2.25" each
Age of Individuals:  18 months
Date added to Tank:  18 months ago

Broodstock Tank Details
Size of Tank:  12 US gallon
Substrate Details:  aragonite sand base, small amount live rock
Filtration Details:  Red Sea Prizm Pro with GAC
Water Changes:  20-25% monthly
Water Temperature:  79 degrees F
Lighting:  19 watt CFL, 5000K
Lighting Cycle:  Lights on 0900-2100
Other Tank Inhabitants:  peppermint shrimp pair

Broodstock Feeding Details
Food Types:  mysis and enriched adult brine (both frozen)
Feeding Schedule:  once daily (early evening) until full

Spawning Details
Date of First Spawn:  1/22/2013
Spawn Time of Day:  unknown
Dates of Consecutive Spawns:  4/6/2013(?), 6/9/13, 7/22/13, 9/9/13! 10/31/13, 12/8/13, 12/28/13, 2/7/14, 3/25/14, 4/23/14
Courtship Details:  none witnessed
Egg Size:  approx 2mm
Egg Color: grayish when finally glimpsed (day 20 of holding)
Egg Count:  unknown

Hatch Details
Hatch Date:  2/19/2013
Hatch Time of Day:  pre-dawn
# Days after Spawn:  29
Larvae Description:    6mm replica of adult
Consecutive Hatch Dates:     


Larval Tank Details
Temperature:  79 degrees F
Size of Larval Tank:  2 gallon kreisel
Substrate Details:  bare bottom
Other Tank Decor:  plastic plant
Filtration Details:  rigid airline bubbling enough to keep water circulating
Lighting:  indirect light from adjacent frag tank (led)
Lighting Cycle:  on 0900, off 2100
Water Changes:  approx 50% every other day with ASW from main display tank

Larval Feeding Details
Food Types:  BBS, enriched with phyto and selcon
Feeding Schedule:  twice daily

Metamorphosis/Settlement
Date of Settlement Start:  2/19/2013
Days after Hatch:  same day
Date of Settlement End:  2/19/13
Description of Fry:  tiny replica of adult

Grow-Out Tank Details
Temperature:  79 degrees F
Size of Grow-Out Tank:  2 gallon kreisel
Substrate Details:  bare bottom
Other Tank Decor:   fake sea urchin
Filtration Details:  rigid airline bubbling for sirculation
Lighting:  indirect light from adjacent frag tank (led)
Lighting Cycle:  on 0900-2100
Water Changes:  50% every other day with ASW from main tank
Size at Transfer:  5-6mm
Age at Transfer:  1 day

Grow-Out Feeding Details
Food Types:  enriched bbs, and introducing finely diced mysis
Feeding Schedule:  once daily (bbs remain in tank circulating all day)

Additional Information
This pair was raised from 3 or 4 day old fry that I got from a friend, and was lucky enough to get a male & female from the deal!  They have lived their entire lives in the current broodstock tank.
(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.

First time spawning for this pair.  These 2 were given to me at age of 3-4 days old by a friend, raised in this current tank.  By chance I appear to have raised a male & female!  A short video and lousy picture of the male holding are below.  He really gets nervous when I try to get close to the tank with my camera.  The video is approx day 6 holding, the picture is day 12.  His full mouth is best appreciated in his reflection to the left.  Today is day 15 of incubation.
 

 

 
 

The male is still holding, spending his days facing the back of the tank. Female hangs near him, but eats well. I built a fake urchin yesterday with epoxy putty and weed eater nylon string, and have it "curing" in the sump of my main reef tank. I'll be putting it in the brood tank in a couple of days.

Today is day 24 of incubation.  The male stays constantly at the back of the tank near the fake urchin, with his tail to me.  Hopefully will see some babies in the urchin within the next week!

Good to see. The more captive Banggais the better!

At day 29, checked the tank and the male looked like his mouth was empty. I was totally disappointed, then found a lone baby hiding beside the heater. He is now in the kreisel with bbs. Amazing how finding a single baby elated me! I post pics later today.

Pic, Day 1.  Robustly goes after the bbs!

Little thing is growing fast, already probably 10-11mm. Seven days old today.

Just got back from a week in Germany today to find the male holding eggs again. Could have spawnd anywhere between 3/30 & today. The juvenile from the first spawning continues to well, 7-8 weeks old now, and eating finely chopped frozen mysis.

This is day 63 DPS for this lone baby from the first spawning by my pair.  It is about 20-21 mm in length now, big appetite for most anything I feed it.  I still have it in the 2 gallon kreisel, but have added a small piece of live rock, a clump of chaeto, and a snail.  Here is a very short video...
 

 

So cute!

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

The pair just spawned again today, sometime between 1 & 2 PM.  They have grown substantially since the first spawn, so I hope the male holds more this time.  He has been eating like a true hog the past week, and has a good belly on him at this time.  He didn't hold the last spawn more than a few days, but I had been on vacation during that time so he didn't get fattened up much. 

Got any pics of your kreisel? Would love to see a whole picture as to what he's in.

Here's a short video of the setup, at the time containing peppermint shrimp larvae.  With the banggai, also had the "fake urchin" in it.
 

Is that literally just a bubbler on one side of the bowl? I can do that! lol! -do correct me if I am wrong. It seems people always explain it as more complicated than that so I have been deterred up till now!

Day 14 holding of the current spawn. Male looks pretty thin. I don't think he got a chance to put on much weight between spawns this time. I will be surprised if he holds any to release.

You should strip him of the eggs. At this point you should easily be able to incubate them successfully. Keep up the good work.

oh yeah at day 14 most of the tough work is done for you! I'd say try and get him to day 18 if you can, then strip him. At day 18 they barely have a day or so left in the egg, and usually will begin to 'unravel' from their crunched egg position...and just carry their sac. Wouldn't be tough at all then! 
 
Then separate that male and fatten him up!!!!  
 

The male has held to term, and may still have a couple in his mouth (still has the plumb chin). I found one fry in the tank 8/17, and 4 more this morning. Here's a short video of them sharing quarters with month old peppermint shrimp that are in the process of settling (about 50% have settled to become tiny shrimplets!).

http://www.youtube.com/wa...e=youtube_gdata_player

looks good!  

Wow!  The male spit out a few more the next day, I had 5 collected.  Then today I came home from work and the number had tripled.  I count 17-18 babies now.  Here's a shot of them all in their fake urchin with lots of rotifers & bbs.  The male went to town when I fed him this evening too.
 

Cool to see an anemone full of the little buggars!

nice....

Hey Daniel,

Once they grow up a bit I can bring you some.

Here's a short video of the juveniles 10 minutes after their transfer to the growout tank from the kriesel tpday.  Already off exploring their new digs, and hoping I might feed them!  All nineteen continue to thrive & grow.
 

I was surprised to see my male holding again yesterday. He just released his largest clutch (23 babies) about a week ago. I kept the partition in to separate him from the female for about 5 days after release so he could eat all he wanted. The day after I removed it, there he was with a big mouthful of eggs again. I had to give this last clutch away for others to raise as I've run out of room!

dang- time for me to visit IN. lol.

Male only held the 12/8 clutch 2 days. Then he ate like there's no tomorrow for about 2 weeks and has a big mouthful as of 12/28.

Male was holding again on 2/7/14. New clutch just released over past few days (ended 3/12/14, my male always releases over about 3 days). Sixteen more cute happy babies in the kreisel. With this group I am going to try to get them on TDO-A within a week or so if possible.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ken

Found a pleasant surprise in my sump this evening. This juvie was lost over a month ago just after I moved the most recent batch to growout. I thought maybe one had died and been eaten by the little hermits. They were all only about 10-12mm long back then. Now they are all +/- 2cm. This one must have gone through the overflow into my main sump, and has been able to find enough to eat. It is also about 2cm in length now, I suspect he will be in there for a long time, since I would probably have to dismantle the sump and move about 75lbs of rock!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ken

At feeding time this evening, I tossed a bit of diced mysis in for the "loner" I found in my sump, and another juvie appeared joined the first one for dinner! So now I have 2 juvies about 2cm long that have my 75gal sump as a home to themselves! Not a surprise they could find plenty of food in there with the chaeto crop and live rock as a source of pods. They seem as healthy as the rest in my growout.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ken