Breeding Journal, Species: Atelomycterus marmoratus

General
Species:  Atelomycterus marmoratus
Social Structure:  pair
Size of Individuals:  M: 53cm, F: 60cm (both approx)
Age of Individuals:  Unknown (wild caught)
Date added to Tank:  M: 10/20/2010, F: 2/02/2012

Broodstock Tank Details
Size of Tank:  180 US Gallons, 180 x 60 x 60cm
Substrate Details:  Agramax sugar-sized oolite #00930
Filtration Details:  live rock in sump, protein skimmer
Water Changes:  25 US gallons per week
Water Temperature:  24.4 C
Lighting:  Marineland double bright LED
Lighting Cycle:  8 on, 16 off
Other Tank Inhabitants:  cortez ray, two lookdowns

Broodstock Feeding Details
Food Types:  mix of fish flesh, shrimp, squid, crab
Feeding Schedule:  3 - 4 times per week

Spawning Details
Date of First Spawn:  1/26/2013
Spawn Time of Day:  late night/ early morning (middle of night sometime)
Dates of Consecutive Spawns:  2/19/13, 2/20/13, 3/05/13, 3/16/13, 3/22/13(wind egg), 3/28/13(wind egg), 3/29/13
Courtship Details:  Male follows female around tank and also swims parallel with female around the tank. When female stops, the male will nudge his head into the female by the gill region. He will also nip on the sides, the top, and tail region. During mating witnessed 2/26/13 @ 5:28 pm, the male bit onto the female on the top of her body, above the pectoral fins. While attached to her and swimming around the tank, the male claspers erected outward in opposite directions. The male then curled his body around and inserted one of his claspers. This mating event lasted approx 30 - 60 seconds. I have witnessed the courtship behavior lasting longer, but the total time has been unverified.
Egg Size:  7cm
Egg Color:  light brown, egg shifts to dark brown as it ages
Egg Count:  22 as of 7/02/13. Egg #5 laid 3/05/13 first viable one

Hatch Details
Hatch Date:  7/02/13
Hatch Time of Day:  Middle of night (Found out of egg casing around 2:00 am)
# Days after Spawn:  119 days
Larvae Description:  Shark is born fully developed. This shark was hatched at 10.5 cm and weighed 5.3 grams
Consecutive Hatch Dates:      

Larval Tank Details   Not Applicable, these sharks hatch fully developed, larval stage occurs inside of egg casing
Temperature: 
Size of Larval Tank: 
Substrate Details: 
Other Tank Decor: 
Filtration Details: 
Lighting: 
Lighting Cycle: 
Water Changes: 

Larval Feeding Details Not Applicable, these sharks hatch fully developed, feeding occurs inside of egg casing via yoke sack
Food Types: 
Feeding Schedule: 

Metamorphosis/Settlement
Date of Settlement Start:  7/02/13
Days after Hatch:  0
Date of Settlement End:  7/02/13
Description of Fry:  born fully developed and independent

Grow-Out Tank Details
Temperature:  24.4 C
Size of Grow-Out Tank:  9"x"6"x6.5" critter keeper, placed inside main tank. The size of this is for ease of feeding and cleanup.
Substrate Details:  none
Other Tank Decor:  small amount of live rock to weigh down critter keeper and provide sense of security
Filtration Details:  live rock, protein skimmer, large canister filter
Lighting:  Nearby window
Lighting Cycle:  natural light in room
Water Changes:  25 US gallons per week (from total system water volume)
Size at Transfer:  10.5 cm
Age at Transfer:  119 days / 0 days. After 119 day development period in egg casing, shark is born fully developed and independent, and was immediately transfered to grow-out tank upon hatch.

Grow-Out Feeding Details
Food Types:  live feeder shrimp (Penaeus vannamei), thawed frozen mysis
Feeding Schedule:  twice daily

Additional Information

(No Pictures or Videos in the Section Please)
Miscellaneous Information:  At the end of May, sharks and eggs were moved from Chicago to Minneapolis with zero losses. They currently reside in two large stock tanks linked together. Parents are in one, eggs, live rock, skimmer, are in the other. Additional filtration provided by a large canister filter. Note: this is a temporary setup until residents can be moved into a much larger 500 gallon pond setup which is waiting completion. Everyone is happy and there have been six more viable eggs in this setup.



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Broodstock pair

 
egg

 
development one month post-spawn

 
development at two months

 
At three months

 
Taken 6/22/13, almost 4 months. Yoke sack almost used up

 
Hatch: Late 7/01/13 - Early 7/02/13, found middle of night, completely out of egg casing around 2:00 am

 
Neonate weighs in at 5.3 grams

 
60 days post settlement: 7 grams, 13 cm

This is awesome. 
How long until hatch? What do you anticipate they will eat upon hatching? 

Should be around 6 - 8 months from laying until hatching from what I can find. Will post actual hatch dates and total time when it happens.
 
After the yoke sac is used up, they will be offered mysis and squid. Ocean Nutrition's squid cubes break up into nice tiny pieces that a 6" neonate will easily be able to eat.

6"! Hahahaha Big baby! And you have to wait so long
 
Where are the eggs in the meantime? Do the parents take care of them in any way, or have you removed them?  Are the parents typically together like in the picture?  Were you able to sex them before putting them together?
 
I guess I have a lot of questions and know next to nothing about these.  Perhaps I should google a bit...

They should hatch a little smaller than 6", probably about 4-5", but they grow super fast at first. They can be sexed immediately after birth.
 
The eggs are abandoned immediately after they are laid. I keep the eggs in the sump of the main display because of lack of a separate system at the moment. There will be some big upgrades coming in the next few months. I keep them separate because there is a chance they will be eaten by the parents. 
 
The parents are usually together in their cave during the day. Similar ones in the wild can be found in groups huddled together like that. I only have the two at the moment. I hope to add more females within the year, once they have more room.

Dibs on babies if the price is reasonable!  I'll come pick 'em up even  Or, for that matter, if you want to sell egg cases, I'd gladly buy a few! This has been on my list for a LONG time - 300 gallon pond is waiting. 

Very cool, congrats.

Thanks guys! Matt, I'll keep you in mind for later on for sure.

Congratulations!  Way to go!

The shark hatched today!

Excellent! Man that lil guy sure is cute!

Nice !

Anderson.

Bravo!  How many more eggs still in incubation?  What was the sex of your first born?

I have six eggs in incubation at the moment. The first born is a male. He is doing great and isn't far from hitting the 60 day mark.

Cool!!

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

How are those other eggs doing?

I've had a couple more hatch and the other eggs are doing good so far. I had thought I was at the end of the breeding season, but after a couple months of nothing they just starting laying eggs again.

Let me know if or when you're ready to part with some.  Willing buyer here!  I'm shooting for a pair
 

I haven't forgotten about you, Matt. You'll have to let me know when the next time you'll be in the twin cities and we'll see if we can work something out.

I'm coming down for the swap

Matt, I sent you a pm

Two of Riley's girls now dwell in Duluth! Thanks Riley, they're great!

Pretty awesome, do you have any vids anywhere? I'm on my phone so perhaps you have them posted and I'm just not seeing.

No vids anywhere. At some point i'll get into that - maybe a Go Pro or something like that.
 
Matt, I'm glad you think they are cool and I hope you have great luck with them!

They got their first feeding of PE Mysis this afternoon.  Man it doesn't take much to fill them up.  The one girl went so crazy when she realized there was food in the tank that she wound up swimming around on her back, upside down, more than once; even ATE upside down (but did get herself back right-side-up of course and settled down to digest the meal).
 
 

Shark number four at 60DPS:

 
Here's a lineup of development. Basically about zero to four months:

Riley they're looking great - any new photos?

New photos? Sort of:
 
Currently working on some major system upgrades. Twin 500 gallon round tanks with a dedicated adjacent filter room. Will be only running one leg at first, the other will sit empty until needed.

 
Left to Right: Aquadyne 4000 bead filter with dynamax, 120W UV, Aquarium Engineering protein skimmer with 12x48" body, Aquarium Engineering sulfur denitrator to be put online later, 1.8kw inline titanium heat exchanger, low space bioreactor with 2 - 2.5 ft3 of kaldnes, 74 gallon aquaculture sump tank.

 
Still have a lot of work to do, and based on available free time, I hope to be online by this winter.

willing to trade?

Wow, stunningly nice job Riley!