Breeding Journal, Species: Chrysiptera parasema

General
Species:  Chrysiptera parasema, Yellow-Tailed Blue Damsel.
Social Structure:  Pair.  There was a third, but that one was smaller and weaker and never thrived.  It perished after about a month in the reef tank.
Size of Individuals:  Female 1.25" and male 1.5" TL.
Age of Individuals:  Unknown, bought as large juveniles.
Date added to Tank:  March or April 2012.

Broodstock Tank Details
Size of Tank:  90-gallon SPS dedicated reef tank.
Substrate Details:  Just live rock, no sand.
Filtration Details:  SWC 180 Cone, filter sock for 12 hours after waterchanges.
Water Changes:  10 gallons weekly, 50 gallons 4x per year.
Water Temperature:  80-84F
Lighting:  2x250w halides, 2x54w T5
Lighting Cycle:  T5s run for 12 hours, halides run for 7 hours.
Other Tank Inhabitants:  Pair of Tomato Clowns, Hawaiian Flame Angelfish, male Sqarespot Anthias, Tailspot Blenny, Yellow Coris Wrasse.  Many inverts.

Broodstock Feeding Details
Food Types:  Homemade frozen mash, PE Mysis, TDO EP1.  Frozen and pellets fed 50/50.
Feeding Schedule:  Once per day.

Spawning Details
Date of First Spawn:  Possibly as early as fall 2012.  Territorial breeding behaviors observed, but eggs not found.  I was away from the tanks for weeks on end, so I may have missed the spawns.
Spawn Time of Day:  Varied - usually morning or early afternoon.
Dates of Consecutive Spawns: 
Feb 13, 2013?  First eggs found evening of Feb 14, 2013.  Around 24 hours old?...will revisit this estimate.
Mid-March.
01/01/14.
01/19/14.

Courtship Details:  Early observations:  I've been away from the tanks for weeks on end, but noticed the Damsels were guarding a cave in a rock under an Acropora coral back in October 2012.  They chased other fish away, and bit my hand if I came near the cave.  They displayed this same behavior at Christmas 2012, but I didn't find any eggs.
Later observations:  The male would try to entice the female towards the cave by swimming up to her, displaying, and swimming slowly back towards the cave.  He would repeat this until the female would follow him back to the cave.  They would do this many times before the actual spawning event occurred.

Egg Size:  Approx 1.5 mm by 2-3 mm.
Egg Color:  Clear, greyish tint at first.  Later, eyes are clearly visible and appear shiny.
Egg Count:  Several hundred, likely pushing a thousand.

Hatch Details
Hatch Date:  Feb 18, 2013
Hatch Time of Day:  Night
# Days after Spawn:  5
Larvae Description:    To the naked eye they are difficult to see, quite clear with two black eyes when viewed from above.  Viewing from the side reveals bright blue eyes.  Fully developed mouth.  Can't comment on gut and cloaca...I'm not learned on that yet!  Measured at 3.6 mm TL.
Consecutive Hatch Dates:     
03/20/13.  Larvae not retained, no food cultures at the time.
01/05/14.  Not collected.
01/23/14.  Larvae collected.

Larval Tank Details
Temperature:  80
Size of Larval Tank:  9-gallon BRT
Substrate Details:  None
Other Tank Decor:  Airstone, heater
Filtration Details:  None
Lighting:  Little dim LED light.
Lighting Cycle:  14 on, 10 off.
Water Changes:  TBD.

Larval Feeding Details
Food Types:  Rotifers "L" type.  Will need to confirm the larvae's ability to eat these. [EDIT:  The larvae did not consume these rotifers.]
Feeding Schedule:  Continuous.

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
 
Feb 15, 2013.  I will be away from the tanks for another month or so.  I plan to start collecting the larvae after that.  I think raising these damsels will be good practice for more challenging species, and will allow a greater array of species to offer to my buyers.

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

Feb 15, 2013.  7:30 pm.
 

 

 
 
 
Here are some (not very good) full-body photos of the broodstock:

 
You can see the male up on the left of the photo and the blue blur near the middle bottom of the photo is the female:

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

I think Andy Rhyne is looking for broodstock of this species...

check out Kathy's Clowns, llc website:
http://kathysclowns.com
Captive bred clownfish and more
(Wholesale to the trade.)

Nice!

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

Kathy, in this lone experience, they were incredibly easy to pair up.  I don't think Andy would have to wait long for a breeding pair if a small group is purchased.
 
I'm home for the next couple days, and if they hatch while I am home I will collect with Chad's larval snagger.  I have no hope of raising them right now, but if possible I will take pics and post them up.  I need to do lots of research on this species.  It is the most challenging species that I have breeding right now so it will be a good experience.

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

Feb 16, 2013.  Eyes clearly visible.  9:30 pm.
 

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

Nice!

Feb 18, 2013.  10:30 am.  I think they are getting close to hatch.  Maybe tonight?  I hope so because tomorrow morning I go back up to camp (work).  However, for the life of me I can't find my snagger!

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

Well, they hatched lastnight (Feb 18th)!  I couldn't find my snagger anywhere, so I put a filter sock on the drains and hoped to catch a few live ones this morning...and I did!  I think the eggs were close to 24 hours old when I found them on the evening of the 14th.  My first photos in this journal are from the evening of the 15th.  So I believe they were laid on the 13th which would make the eggs hatching on the evening of the 6th night (give or take a day). 
 
Sorry my photos are terrible, I just have a USB microscope that takes very small file photos.  However, the USB microscope does allow me to enter the magnification and then measure the specimen accurately. 
 
They look fully developed and ready to eat to me, yes?  Given the mouth size, I believe rotifers will be small enough (although maybe not nutritionally rich enough), although I've been known to convert microns to mm very poorly.  Haha!  Rotifers are approx 120 microns by 180 microns if I remember correctly, which is 0.12 x 0.18 mm, right?
 
Feb 19, 2013.  8:30 am.  Could be 1-10 hours post hatch depending exactly what time they hatched.

 

 

 

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

They look awesome, well done Mindy.  I really like the second photo, its great.
ps. and your size calculation looks right to me.

Thanks Darren!  So, you think rotifers will fit in their mouth then?  If so, I will try enriched rotifers first.  Even though I know a person doesn't need to enrich rotifers grown with RotiGrow Plus, I have become proficient at enriching them with N-Rich PL Plus and keeping a supply of well enriched rotifers available to fry.  I do plan to get a culture of Apocyclops panamensis going in the spring, but it could be some time before I am able practiced enough to produce a stable culture.

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

Not sure if the rots are useful, but whats the worst that could happen?

Haha, waste of efforts? 

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

These fish are either not very prolific, or they changed spawning locations.  I've seen the bigger one hanging out on the back side of the same rock, but so far I have not seen any spawns in that cave.  I will be ready to work with these mid-May.  I'm trying to source S-type rotifers, and have my LFS looking for some copepod cultures...

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

Well, I've been ready to work with these guys since mid-May, but I haven't seen any eggs since February. 

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

I finally found some eggs lastnight!  They hatched lastnight, but I didn't collect them.  Now I know where they are, I will grab the next batch. 

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

Well, I didn't see another batch until January 1st.  This batch hatched on January 5th.  I couldn't collect that day.  I'm really hoping to get started on these guys soon, but they haven't been very prolific.

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

Ok, I found a spawn on Jan 19th.  They should hatch tomorrow night, but I'm going to set up the snagger tonight just in case.  I only have "L" type rotifers, but maybe they are small enough.

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

Good luck!

Thanks Shannon!  Fingers crossed...
 
No hatch lastnight - didn't expect it.  Got my snagger in there again tonight.  I'm kinda hoping they don't hatch tonight because I have to work an extra early shift tomorrow, but they should. 

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

Here goes attempt #1! The eggs started hatching immediately after lights out. My Vossen larvae trap collected probably 300+ larvae in about 1 hour. I didn't collect any longer as I don't think my brt could handle any more than that anyway. I put the larvae into sterilized reef tank water in the brt for the night. I will add rotifers and greenwater in the morning.

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

I'm not sure if they are eating the rotifers (yet?).  Maybe they don't eat right away?  Maybe the rotifers are too big or not attractive?  I expected the rotifers to be cleared from the water column by this afternoon, but there are lots of rotifers still in there.  I'm going to pull a larva tonight and look under the microscope.
 
Here are a couple pics from lastnight.  I took a video of them getting sucked up the Vossen larvae trap too, but I haven't checked it out yet [EDIT: video quality is terrible!].  I'm not sure if anything can be seen.
 

 

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

Ok, well I can't get my microscope to work right now (hard drive is dying on puter) so I had to just use my camera.  After looking at them up close, I still have no idea if they are eating or not.  I don't think so...
 
Tomorrow I will try to get a pic with a rotifer in it to compare to the larva.  I didn't think of doing that tonight.
 
23 hours post hatch:

 

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

?Well, I just found this:  http://www.tfhmagazine.co...ajors-full-article.htm
 
Looks like I'm hooped until I establish some copepod cultures.

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

That's a bummer, they look cute. Thanks for finding that article, I'm going to add it to the library.

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

That's a bummer, they look cute. Thanks for finding that article, I'm going to add it to the library.

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

Seems likely. They are probably way too small for rots. Good job catching them, though.
 
You only need 20 days of food (if these act like sergeant majors). Maybe just order in a couple of batches of copepods and some algae to keep them nutritious?

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

 
Yes, indeed the rotifers look quite large beside the larvae.  It was definitely a dread feeling when I saw that.    I see earlier in my thread I thought rotifers were 180 microns, but reading Witt's book I see adult L-type rotifers are 300-340 microns.  I think the nauplii hatch around 180 microns which should fit in their mouth, but that obviously has extreme limits.


 
I have not been able to get my hands on Parvocalanus crassirostrus in Canada.  Reed's has them drop shipped, and the company that does so won't drop ship to Canada.  My LFS hasn't been able to find any suppliers listing or able to get them from AlgaGen either.  I put an email in to AlgaGen lastnight asking if they will ship direct to me, or if they know any LFS or wholesalers in Canada carrying them.  If that doesn't work for me, I will be asking some MBI members to help me out. 
 

 
Thanks Tal.  Yes, they are cute and very active.  I didn't see any striking in the larvae tub, so I guess I knew the answer already.     Looks like I also need to use a much bigger larval tub too.

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

Sorry. I didn't look and missed that you were in Canada. How are the Blades doing this year?
 
Getting any package across the border either way sometimes (all the time) seems like such a nightmare. I'm a typesetter and I remember back when your courts first enacted your new obscenity laws: It used to take months to get manuscripts (basically stacks of paper) across because the border guards were checking everything. Getting correction pages to and from authors was a nightmare.
 
From what I recall, there are some folk who make a living having an address on the U.S. side and on the Canadian side, driving packages over the border, and then re-shipping. Maybe that would work if you could find someone?

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

Most of them were dead by day 3, and on day 5 they were all dead. 
 
It turns out AlgaGen with direct ship Parvocalanus to me, and apparently I can get them through ORA (through my LFS) too even though they aren't on ORA's list.  Not that I want to encourage my LFS to order from ORA though... 

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

thats exactly what hapens to me with 3 diferent types of damselfishes
5 days they all dye
as mathew says i need copepods too
but here in mexico city there is no way of geting them

 
What is the problem with getting them?  Are they not allowed to be imported into Mexico or is it just that you can't get anyone to send them to you?

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

Last week I found the male cowering in the corner of the tank breathing heavily.  On close inspection, he had some white thing on his forehead.  I wasn't sure if it was parasite or fungal.  He was looking terrible, and didn't even swim away from the net.  I gave him a Formalin bath to try to help.  In the morning he was a goner.
 
I will try to re-pair the female.

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

Mindy, look back to Wittenrich's book - I do not think Chrysiptera required copepods (they'll HELP, but they are not required).  WE shouldn't make assumptions across genus lines; my understanding is that Sergeant Majors were one of Witt's "nemesis" type fish...one he had to chase a long time before succeeding.  C. paresema doesn't seem to be in the same category (eg. look how much more developed they are than Chromis offspring, which hatch as prolarvae).
 
Good luck with the re-pairing...this is one you should pull off with patience and practice!

Hey Matt.  Yeah, you would think rotifers should do the trick, but so far I have not been able to find success using rotifers.  Witt's book says about 50% of the larvae show full guts from small-strain rotifers, but high mortality on day 8.  Wild plankton tows got larvae to day 20.  Witt says there is at least one successful report for each Chrysiptera species and each was using rotifers and brine shrimp.  Witt's book also says Chrysiptera larvae are 2 mm at hatching, and I measured mine at 3.6 mm which I find interesting.  At the writing of his book, it appears Witt did not have personal success with Chrysiptera species.
 
My LFS hasn't had any Yellowtails in lately, but I will grab one from the next batch. 

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

Yeah, I always was under the impression that Witt had done everything in the book successfully, although looking back on this now, 7 years post publication, it indeed looks like perhaps he didn't personally complete the work with Chrysiptera.  Thankfully I know others have.

Looking back, check the Nov/Dec 2009 issue of CORAL - that includes a quick synopsis of a few successful runs with Chrysiptera from the 2000s. Luis of course is well known for his work with Damsels, having done a few firsts IIRC, and copepods always helped (Acartia tonsa, Pseudodiamptomus) and 24 hour lighting seems a critical component to successful rearing in my brief skim.

Thanks for the info Matt.  I will check back in my collection of CORAL mags, and see if I have that one.  I didn't have any plans for Acartia tonsa cultures, as I didn't think I had need of them.  I will be ordering a Parvocalanus crassirostris culture from Reed's soon, I will try that first.

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

What are you doing with the rotifers in terms of enrichment / gut loading?  Perhaps you could make the rotifers "better" than you're currently doing?
 

I was gut-loading with N-Rich PL Plus.  However, the problem I had was the larvae were not eating the rotifers.  There were a handful of larvae that had semi-round bellies, but that's it.

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

L rotifers, I'm assuming?  Could you get your hands on S (or SS) rots?