Breeding Journal, Species: Ecsenius midas

General
Species:
Ecsenius midas


Social Structure:  pair
Size of Individuals:  male 3.5", female 3"
Age of Individuals:  unknown
Date added to Tank:  3/14/13

Broodstock Tank Details
Size of Tank:  75 gallon (QT tank)
Substrate Details:  no sand, a few pieces of live rock for cover, flower pots, and pvc pipes
Filtration Details:  ASM skimmer, live rock
Water Changes:  none since QT tank was established on 3/10/13 with 90% new water
Water Temperature: 83 F           
Lighting: ambient room light supplied by shop lights           
Lighting Cycle:  14 hours on, 10 hours off; reverse photoperiod
Other Tank Inhabitants:  two A. frenatus, until spawning event.  Now no other inhabitants.

Broodstock Feeding Details
Food Types:  BSD Mariner Plus Flake, occasional Rod's Original
Feeding Schedule:  twice daily

Spawning Details
Date of First Spawn:  4/29/13 
Spawn Time of Day:  11 pm (approximately 3 hours after lights went on)
Dates of Consecutive Spawns:  4/29/13, 5/3/13, 5/6/13, 5/11/13, 5/18/13, 5/22/13, 5/26/13, 6/1/13, 6/5/13 6/10/13   
Courtship Details:  Male's head became almost black, very pronounced considering he is a canary yellow fish.  Female darted back and forth between live rock and flower pot.  Female turned upside down to lay eggs on the top inside surface of the flower pot (much like clownfish would).  Male would dart back and forth between live rock and the flower pot to attempt to fertilize the eggs.  There was lots of aggressive interaction between the two with the smaller female being chased sporadically.
Egg Size:  approximately 1 mm
Egg Color:  clear to beige
Egg Count:  approximately 100

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

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: 



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.

Here is a picture of the male:

 
Here is a picture of the female:

 
And here are a few pictures of the two together:


 
 
 
I had to cut a smaller video way down, but I think that this one gives a good indication of the behavior and display of the male. 
 
 
Here are the eggs
 

 
Unfortunately, I don't think that the eggs were fertile and they were gone after 48 hours.  I have started feeding them more of a conditioning diet rather than a QT diet since the spawning event.  So hopefully there will be more to come.
 
John

Here is a picture from the second spawning event 5/3/13.  I didn't witness the spawning this time, just the eggs afterwards.
 

 

 
John

The second spawn is now gone from the pot, 24 hours later.  From what I've seen, there has been no parental care so far from the pair.  Perhaps that is the problem.
 
John

The male found a new hiding spot, a 3/4 diameter piece of PVC pipe.  I decided to take a look at it and sure enough, there were eggs inside.  I took a few pictures to show that the male is tending to these eggs.  He did not do this to the eggs in the flower pot, perhaps it wasn't a good strategic spot - too large of an opening to protect.
 

 
You can barely see his head here, sorry for the salt crust and lime on the glass.

 

 

 

 
John

John, in your journal you noticed these were purchased from Live Aquaria - did you buy them as a "pair" (eg. out of the Diver's Den) or just off the regular site (eg. just purchasing 2 random blennies)?

Live Aquaria had small Midas blennies on sale so I purchased 5 hoping to get a couple of pairs, maybe a trio. Three died within 8 hours of receipt, the remaining two paired up. I've never seen a listing of a bonded pair for these before. There was some significant aggression at first but that has subsided now that they each know their role.

John

Nice! Are you planning to raise them at this point? I've read that blennies can be a challenge.

So far none have been fertile. I am also without ritifers or any other zooplankton at this time. My next goal is to get fertile eggs through better feeding and giving the pair time to mature. Then find out the incubation period. My guess is that they are harder than the fang blennies, as they have surely been tried before yet the fang blennies have been on the market for years. I was thinking about trying to time a shipment of A. tonsa and/or other pelagic pods to coincide with a hatch. This is all s pipe dream, though, until the eggs start developing.

John

I should have a rotifer culture up and running within the next couple of weeks for my percs, you can have a starter if you want. I'm hoping to start culturing Apocyclops panamensis this summer too. My pipe dream is to get Coral Beauties spawning (first have to get a successful pair or trio!).

Ken

Ken,
I may take you up on that offer if I can get fertile eggs. Good luck with the coral beauties - I briefly tried flame angels but got nowhere.

John

They are still spawning regularly, but none have been fertile.  I put a larger diameter PVC in their tank just in case there isn't room in the smaller one for him to fertilize the eggs.  After all, their first spawn was in a rather large flower pot.
 
John

John, are you taking them out and looking at them under a scope to determine fertility?  Losing clutch after clutch makes me wonder about 2 other possibilities (in addition to fertility problems in a heterosexual pair):
 
1.  Pathology of the eggs (eg they're being attacked by bacteria / fungus and dying).
2.  Sex of your pair - could you have 2 females?"

If you can get one of those eggs out of the next to examine under a scope, you should be able to discern whether cell division is taking place.  If it is, then you have a fertile male/female pair, and the problem lies in egg viability.  If that's the case, you could try artificial incubation.  From a production standpoint, I artificially incubate all my Angelfish (Pterophyllum sp.) eggs...and not every one makes it, but then again, most of the time if I leave a nest with the parents they do all die (broodstock water potentially too dirty) or get eaten by the parents or go free swimming and get eaten by other fish.    

 

Thanks for the thought Matt.  I took a few pictures tonight of the current spawn.  What do you think?  If artificial incubation is the way to go, is there a protocol?  New SW?  SW with antibiotics?
 
Thanks,
 
John
 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 

The next day the eggs from the same spawn looked like this:

 

 

 

 

 

 
And the day after that they were gone.  The pair had spawned again (in a different piece of pipe)... see next post.

The new spawn looked like this (day 1?, I believe so, male had black head, but did not witness spawning event):

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
John
 

Note to future Midas Blenny breeders: this pair definitely prefers 3/4" PVC pipes to 1" or 1.5" pipes.  Start there.  Also, from what I've seen they prefer that the pipes are laying horizontally on the bottom of the tank.  Pipes at a 45 degree angle are ignored.  Have not tried "suspending" pipes in water column as male seems happy with pipes on the bottom glass.
 
John
 

I am starting my first attempt at artificial incubation.  I put a new piece of 3/4 inch pipe in the tank on 6/9/13 and they spawned in it on 6/10/13.  I am going to try a very simple incubation protocol of simply using newly made (but aged) SW instead of tank water.  I am bubbling air through the pipe constantly (pipe is in a vertical position).  If this fails, which I expect it to, I will try sterilizing the water with bleach and then de-chlorinating prior to putting the spawn/pipe in the culture water.
 
John

Good luck. And let me know if you need rotifers. Mine are doing well, and no clownfish larvae right now!

Thanks Ken, once I get some viable larvae I will definitely take you up on that offer.

John

Hey John whats up.
 
I am new to this site and came here to report my recent spawning and hatching events with Ecsenius midas! I read your communication reference your spawning events. I have had perculas spawn in my reef tank in the past, but as far as breeding fish, I have no experience. I noticed the third batch of eggs last wednesday 6/12/13, so as with last spawn, the hatching occurred about the 7-8 day, about 2 hrs after the lights went out. I managed to scoop out a good amount of larvae last time and kept alive in a net placed in my refugium, when I came back from work(24 hrs) they were all but a few dead. Any info/help would be greatly appreciated.
 
Richard

Richard,
If you have Midas Blenny larvae, then you are further along than I am. I can't get the eggs to last the 7-8 days of incubation. You should really start a breeding log with detailed information so that we can compare your situation to mine (or others). Please post pictures of your pair and the developing eggs - would be a great reference. If I had to venture a guess at your issue I'd say that you are seeing "transfer stress". Next time try moving the eggs on day 7 or 8 to a clean container with "aged" newly made saltwater. Hang the container in your sump so that it will be the same temperature and run a gentle stream of air over the eggs. Now raising the larvae is a whole other set of issues.

Good luck,

John

John;


They hatched last night and I missed it! The nest was nearly empty this morning, some still stick on the rock but appear dark in color lacking the shiny copper luster I saw last night. I don't think it's possible to remove the eggs, the 18 yo pearl bubble is huge! Besides I was able to net them last time the transfer I can probably do within the fish tank after netting to reduce stress! I am trying to post a 30 sec video of female with eggs, but I haven't figured out how? I will kelp you posted. As for now I will await the next batch of eggs hopefully.

Rich

Rich,
If you don't mind the clutter in the display tank, place a 6 inch length of 1' PVC near where the pair are currently spawning (mine prefer the pipe to lay horizontally on the bottom of the tank). If you can get them to spawn in the pipe, then transfer and hatching will be much simpler.

Looking forward to that video...

Take care,

John

I will try the pipe. But I have to set up a seperate tank. If they dont take to the pipe, I'm gonna try to catch the larvae again. Turn off the pump, and try to scoop them with a light. Then ill try to transfer them to a plastic container within the tank, not exposing them to air. Let me know what you think. By the way, I started a journal with my parameters and set up, - the photos I am working on that.
 
Regards,
Richard 

Just uploaded some more pics on photobucket. Got 4th clutch of eggs on monday, expecting hatch this sunday, but im gonna watch every night. Gonna try a video.

Click on picture above to access additional photobucket pics .

I got midas blenny larvae!!! They hatched last night at midnight. Incubation period is 6 days from last Monday 6/24/2013. I set up a gravity fed nursery using my set ups water supply. It is working out nice, nice gentle current! Gonna post video on photobucket. Now I need food for them. Does anyone know a breeder here in Miami that could help me out with rotifers or other cultured live food?

IMG_4773_zps39c02dd8.mp4
Here is video of Ecsenius Midas Hatchlings.

http://s1293.photobucket....4e.mp4.html?sort=3&o=1

There we go, this should be the correct link.

Awe hell yeah!

John,
Your journal has been highjacked, (but that is a sweet video of Midas larvae!)
Any luck with the artificial incubation?

No luck with artificial incubation. After seeing Rich's videos my guess is that my male isn't fully functional and isn't fertilizing the eggs. My male looks smaller than Rich's and also seems to spend less time tending to the nest. I am going to just keep on feeding and checking the nests for progress.

John