Breeding Journal, Species: Ecsenius Midas

General
Species:  Ecsenius Midas
Social Structure:  pair
Size of Individuals:  Male app 4", Female app.3.5"
Age of Individuals:  Male app.1 yr, female 8 mon.
Date added to Tank:  male 6/21/2012,female 9/21/2012

Broodstock Tank Details
Size of Tank:  120 gal. 48"x24"x24"
Substrate Details:  1" live sand
Filtration Details:  Running a refugium with mud and growing chaetomorpha 24 hr lighting, MRC Skimmer
Water Changes:  32 gal. 1/month, using natural sea water
Water Temperature:  78-79
Lighting:  2- 250W metal halides, 2 65W PC
Lighting Cycle:  PC 10am-9pm, Metal Halide noon-6pm
Other Tank Inhabitants:Corals:LPS's, Zooanthids, Leather, Mushrooms, Fish: 3 Tangs, 2 Perculas, 2 Flame gobies, Royal Gramma, Barred Gobie, 1Blue/Green Chromis, Mandarin, Flame Angel, 2 neon gobies
           

Broodstock Feeding Details
Food Types:  Nori Seaweed, Mysis Shrimp, Brine Shrimp
Feeding Schedule: Hang seaweed every day all fish eat throughout entire day including Midas Pair, Frozen Mysis and Brine shrimp 1x in evening. Live brine 1xweek.           

Spawning Details
Date of First Spawn:  Around May, 25, 2013
Spawn Time of Day:  Around 1030am shortly after lights came on
Dates of Consecutive Spawns:   6/13/2013, 6/17/2013,6/24/2013,7/2/2013, continuous spawning varying every 4-8 days, multiple mixed clutches.  
Courtship Details:  Courtship was observed in Male Midas lair(spawn site) on 6/22 app. 1030 am, a video of the event captured, Male's head a dark color and dark blotches on body. Both fish tailing into crevase in coral base. This was the first of only 2 times the female was seen at spawn site. The other time was on 6/25/13 also in am, 1 day after eggs were laid on 6/24/13
Egg Size:  app 1mm round, 
Egg Color:  Start off clear to beige, changing to brownish as they mature, a copper glow is apparent close to hatching date. 
Egg Count:Most clutches have been over 200, but ranging around 250. Not all eggs have been hatching, and the left over ones, remain on the rock and are mixed in with new spawns.
 

Hatch Details
Hatch Date: 6/29/13           
Hatch Time of Day:  Midnight
# Days after Spawn:  6
Larvae Description:  Tiny, elongated , visible silvery eyes, pectoral fins visible when viewed from surface
Consecutive Hatch Dates:  6/17/2013,6/29/2013, these are the hatches I have witnessed. Another hatch probably occurred the night of 6/24/2013, at the time, I thought incubation to be 7 days, but have learned with last spawn 6 days incubation. Witnessed and unwitnessed hatchings have continued since June, with last hatching occuring on 9/05/2013 1030pm. There is another batch waiting to hatch in the nest sometime the week of 9/09/13.  It is difficult to determine the exact date of spawns, +or- a day, the eggs start off clear and are difficult to see against the white coralbase.
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Larval Tank Details
Temperature:78-80F
Size of Larval Tank:  1.5 Gal
Substrate Details: none
Other Tank Decor: none
Filtration Details:  Water is taken from within 120ug mesh pen in main display's refugium. It  is dripped into larval tank at variable drop/sec or closed off completely. An overflow/skimmer with 120 micron mesh and sponge to reduce suction effect drips 1 drop/sec into main sump below. A gentle blowing rigid air tubing has been added to the center of tank.
Lighting: Indirect refugium lighting (65W) PC app. 15" away
Lighting Cycle: 24 hr, but larval tank covered at night
Water Changes: Just vacuuming bottom to keep clean, main display gets 32gal/month.

Larval Feeding Details
Food Types: Rotifers (L strain) 
Feeding Schedule: I have fed rotifers immediately after hatching on 3 different hatchings. I don't know if they are preying on L strain rotifers, may be too large.  
A culture of s-type(rotundiformis) rotifers was received on 9/25/2013. As of 10/2/2013, I have increased them to a very dense population in 4gal. I have established a 2nd culture in 5 gal container and that one is about half way(2gal). I am expecting a hatch on 10/04/2013, I will see and document if these rotifers are successful.
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.

Nice slide show! How are things coming with raising the larvae?

Rich,
I finally got the videos to work on my phone - great stuff! Have you attempted to feed the larvae yet?

Congrats,

John

Thanks guys;
I feel really good being involved in all this! The hatchlings from 6/29/2013, all died on me by the evening of 7/1/2013. I put together a larval tank, 1.5 gal, and I supplied it with a syphoned water from my refugium, I placed another syphon through yellow sponge in the larval tank and drained that to the pump sump below it. I am moving about 10-12 gal/hr through it. I had placed an airstone in the larval tank at a very slow rate, but I discontinued it because the tiny bubbles were beating up the larvae, and they were constantly trying to avoid them. I am still trying to tweak this thing. I had an issue trying to properly adjust the water level with a valve I placed on the drain side. I solved it by drilling the top of the tank and placing an elbow through. I gated down the drain valve, and now,the surface water is being skimmed through the elbow I placed. I placed a piece of media bag over the elbow with a rubber band to keep the larvae from getting out. I tried to feed them with Dr.g's rotifers on Sunday evening but by this time a lot had died and kept dying overnight. I should have another hatch on Sunday. And I think the larval tank is running much better now. We will have to see. Open for suggestions guys as this is totally new to me.

Rich

1.5 Gal. Larval tank. water pumped from within mesh pen installed inside refugium. Water leaves larval tank through yellow sponge, and dumps into main sump below. A 3/8" surface skimmer has been added clean up the surface water and prevent overflow. A piece of fine media bag mesh covers the orifice of the skimmer to prevent rotifer and larval loss.

Had another hatch on 7/8/2013, 1040 pm. Siphoned estimated 300 larvae into small nursery tank. I've lost most of the hatch by 5 pm on the next day. Someone warned me this would be the hard part!

http://s1293.photobucket....8_zpsa4d5822f.mp4.html
Above is a video of courtship activity observed on 6/22/2013 app. 1030 am. Male showing darkened head and dark blotches on sides.
 

http://i1293.photobucket..../image_zps518f012c.jpg
This picture showing male Midas with eggs was taken on 6/24/2013 at 6pm. Interesting to note the picture shows 2 clutches the one higher above are from a previous spawn that did not hatch. The eggs directly behind the tail are new spawn occuring some time between 9am-5pm 6/24/2013.

http://s1293.photobucket....9_zpsb27be1e9.mp4.html
This video was taken on 6/25/2013 app 1100am. It shows both fish at spawn site one day after eggs were laid. With the exception of courting behavior observed on 6/22/2013, this was the only other time the female has been seen at the spawn site during the entire cycle. The eggs hatched on 6/29/2013 at midnight.

http://s1293.photobucket....7_zps48185cf1.mp4.html
6/29/2013 app 12 am. This video shows how I syphoned the larvae out of the main display and into larval tank. I gated down the hose to try to reduce larval stress. I cant think of any other way to do this but they seemed alright once in larval tank.  Interesting to note during the hatchings there is a strong fishy odor coming from the water.

http://s1293.photobucket....3_zps4e966eec.mp4.html
Here is video of newely hatched Ecsenius Midas Larvae. I would say app. 250. Larvae thin and elongated and are quite capable swimmers. Silvery eyes visible. When viewed from the surface pectoral fins are visible. I have lost two groups of hatchlings, both within 48 hrs. This is where I could use help from you breeders out there. I have a good amount of water movement in larval tank in a counterclockwise direction. The water exits the larval tank through yellow sponge and surface skimmer I added. I also bought two bottles of Mr.Gs Rotifers and added it to refugium and inside mesh pen. Don't know why they're dying?

Congratulations on getting good big spawns! The larvae do seem like capable swimmers, but the usual method for raising marine larvae is very different from the setup you have there.
 
Large black round tubs with 10 gallons or more of saltwater are most successfully used. Some folks use a sump with a standpipe, and some just leave the tub static.  Gentle flow comes from air bubbled from the bottom of the tub through airline tubing. 
 
Rotifers are cultured separately and added live, directly to the larval tub. Rotifers placed in the sump without phytoplankton will die quickly.  Live or dead phytoplankton is also added to keep the water tinted and opaque, and the rotifers fed.  Some larvae need lots of light, and some do not.
 
May I suggest that you read Matt Wittenrich's book to get a feel for what has worked with marine species and what has not?
http://www.amazon.com/Complete-Illustrated-Breeders-Marine-Aquarium/dp/1890087718
The fish you are working with is not easy, so you might as well find out what has worked in the past before you spend a lot of time trying to reinvent the wheel.  Good luck!
 

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

Thank you so much KathyL! I will look at the book and see what I can learn. I would also like to visit a breeder down here in Miami to see what else I can learn.

Hey you all;

Just lost another batch of larvae that hatched on Tuesday night. I bought the book mentioned above and have been learning, in general what raising larvae is all about. I also picked up rotifers and phytoplankton from a local clownfish breeder here in Miami on Wednesday morning. I learned even more from him. He told me what I have set up for a larval tank, although small, should work, but to reduce the exchange of water to 1 drop/second and add a gentle blowing airstone in the center. I was also told to get rid of the yellow sponge at the bottom, through which water was leaving the tank, and let it exit only through the top overflow pipe I added.By the time I got home to make the changes, and turn off the small power head feeding the larval tank I had lost most of the larvae. With the ones still alive I made the changes and added phytoplankton and rotifer mix. They seemed to be chasing and eating but I don't know if they will make it. The rapid water exchange may have done its damage already to the larvae. Well, the spawning has been ongoing, I lost count, but maybe 6 or 7 clutches of eggs produced so far. I hope they keep going as I am learning and getting more competent at this.

Can't wait to see you succeed. I want to see pics of tiny settled bennies! Being in Miami, do you have any way to collect some wild copepods from an estuary, etc? Seems other breeders have done this to help with difficult species.

Keep at it!

Keep on trying! It'll come one of these days! Keep posting pics! 

http://s1293.photobucket....3_zps497b7202.mp4.html
Had another hatching last night 8/14/2013, gonna get one of those chad vossen larvae snatcher. Transfer is too stressful! Here is video of male initiating spawn, "Come to my Lair"

IMG_4879_zpsd3b96110
Here is the newest improvements to the 1.5 gal. larval tank. I believe this should work out good.
 

IMG_4897_zpsd53c0ca0.mp4
The following video link shows the current 1.5 gal larval tank set up. I set it up as seen last hatching and lost all the larvae within 48hrs. Another hatch occurred on night of 9/5/2013. This time I increased the drip rate and blew the surface with a rigid air tubing ( not submerged) causing a ripple effect on the surface. I still feel the bubbles rising and popping on the surface cause larval trauma. I added rotifers at app. 15/ml. Lots of larvae dead in the am 9/06/2013, but not all. Can someone help please?

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This larval snagger I created works very well the larvae gently swirl around getly inside. I place a light at the entrance to the u-tube and they get gently sucked up.

I created this snagger using a FAF 250um collection sieve and top of a 2L bottle. The cut bottle fits snuggly around the sieve. The valve on top is to fine adjust water level to top of cut u-tube inside. It is also used to gently remove larvae from inverted bottle. I lost some larvae the 1st time I used it stuck on the screen possibly by their tiny pectoral fins. I corrected this by simply changing the sieve collector to a 120um one. This also reduced the flow through rate. This makes the device cool in that you could even change to a 53um and collect rotifers.

This link shows video of Ecsenius Midas Larvae Hatched on 9/05/13, 1030 pm. The video was taken the following morning app 6 am, 30 min after first rotifers were added to larval tank. No green water was added this on this initial feeding. I think the strain of rotifers I am using is too big. Losing all larvae within 48 hrs.

I had gone to work (24 hr shift). Came back 09/07/13 800am to find app 6 larvae still alive. took them to local fish breeder, fed roifers and water greened. Realized this really takes a lot of dedication. I've learned a lot from my new friend the local clown fish breeder, he has many years of experience breeding many different species, including neon gobies. Had another hatch on 09/09/13,1030pm, a large amount of larvae 200+. Collected using larval snagger and taken in larval tank to breeder on 09/10/13, 0900am. Fed enriched rotifers and water greened. Larvae appeared to lunge forward and possibly consuming prey. Breeder also comment on rotifers maybe being too big for tiny larvae.  Spoke to breeder today 09/13/13, stated all larvae had died. Tonight had a huge hatching 250+! Larval collected with snagger video included. Going to breeder tomorrow morning . Keep you posted. Help appreciated.
 
 

I gotta say, this is some of the most creative thinking I've seen in a while from a breeder.  You DESERVE some success.

I wonder if you should reach out to Jonathan Foster, Fisheye Aquaculture...he's at least in the same state.  Might be worth a road trip... 

Here are the larval Ecsenius Midas being collected by larval snagger(my version) at work!. Son involved too! Lots of larvae. How many consecutive times can a pair spawn??? In captivity? These have been going since May. And still another batch for later this week! Keep you posted. Anyone know where an S-strain rotifer or smaller prey culture can be aquired.

Let me know Matt. I could at least contact him. And see what he has to say?
 

So where can I get a small strain rotifer? I read on M. Wittenrichs article in Coral magazine about Colurella Adriatica rotifer used for tang larvae. I think this is what they need. Nothing else is smaller, right?

Or cyclopoid copepod Oithona colcarva?

I just got the 1 million "s strain" rotifers from reed mariculture. 

I looked up the s-type strain of rotifer in reedmariculture.com they are B. Rotundiformis They are said to be from 90um-150um. These Colurella Adriatica rotifers mentioned by M. Wittenrich are 45um wide and 90um long. I was wondering if it is possible to get a culture of Colurella Adriatica from someone who has a culture established? Or maybe the B. Rotundiformis is small enough?

mmm. ok I gotcha. well good luck! 

Image showing Male Midas Blenny. Male is larger and more slender throughout than smaller more robust female. Lighter colored cheek area and more prominent yellow band behind and under eye. Light colored (smiley face) markings around mouth also more prominent in male. Antennae are also more apparent and lighter bluish color than female.

Image showing full body of male Midas Blenny at spawn site guarding eggs,(note different colored eggs from seperate spawns). Vertical bands and rays on fins more prominent than female.

Image of female Midas Blenny, exhibiting a more uniform yellow color throughout body. Head features on male not as apparent. I will try to post a full body image to note diameter and overall length and genital papilla.

Image showing Midas Blenny Pair at spawn site. These eggs were spawned 2 days prior. The female was back in the nest for unknown reason, possibly for another consecutive spawn? The male is seen in the back with dark coloration to head area. Female showing yellow coloration with eye pupils appearing to dilate. The robust belly and shape of genital papilla can be seen on female.