Breeding Journal, Species: Mithraculus sculptus

General
Species:  Mithraculus sculptus
Social Structure:  Two females, one male    
Size of Individuals:  ~1 inch carapace width
Age of Individuals:  Unknown, wild caught
Date added to Tank:  January 2014     

Broodstock Tank Details
Size of Tank:  Breeder basket in 20 gallon tank (plumbed into a larger system) 
Substrate Details: None  
Filtration Details:  Live rock, live sand, protein skimmer, bioballs 
Water Changes:  As needed  
Water Temperature:  ~80F
Lighting:  Fluorescent strip light  
Lighting Cycle:  6AM to 9PM           
Other Tank Inhabitants:  Four Thor amboinensis  

Broodstock Feeding Details
Food Types: Pellets, live blackworms, frozen mash, mysis             
Feeding Schedule:  At least 2 times a day

Spawning Details
Date of First Spawn:  Unknown
Spawn Time of Day:  Unknown
Dates of Consecutive Spawns:  Estimate Mid-march (3-17-2014)
Courtship Details:  None noted
Egg Size:  ~1mm, slightly smaller
Egg Color:  Unknown what color initially, they turn dark as they get closer to hatch
Egg Count:  ~100

Hatch Details
Hatch Date:  12-18-2013; 3-30-2014, 4-13-2014, 4-14-2014       
Hatch Time of Day:  After lights out
# Days after Spawn:  ~14 (estimated)
Larvae Description:  Ball shaped head, with a small tail.  Attracted to light. 


Larval Tank Details
Temperature:  ~80F
Size of Larval Tank:  Inverted 3L water pitcher
Substrate Details:  None
Other Tank Decor:  None
Filtration Details:  Live phyto (or RG complete)   
Lighting:  Fluorescent strip light
Lighting Cycle:  6AM to 9PM
Water Changes:  As needed to remove live prey items that are too large

Larval Feeding Details
Food Types:  nhbbs 
Feeding Schedule:  Constant

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 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.

I don't have many pictures of the adults handy, so I snapped a couple crappy ones this morning:


 
I had three, but one died last week.  I knew one was female since I had seen her fan the eggs not too long ago, but I don't know what the remaining crab's sex is.  It may also be female.  So, I plan to get two more adults so I can be more sure I have at least one male.
 
This morning I found a few larvae swimming around.  I knew the hatch would be small since the one time I glimpsed the eggs with the female there didn't appear to be too many.  I would estimate less than 50, but I am not certain because I didn't really count closely (I was sort of rushing).
 
I snapped a couple pics right away this morning:


 
They look very similar to M. forceps larvae (as one would expect) and quite similar to the Lybia tessellata larvae as well.  
 
They were set up in an inverted 3L water pitcher and given nhbbs, Apocyclops (not too many) and Iso this morning.  I have a rigid airline tube in there bubbling to keep them out of the cap on the bottom and the water pitcher is set in a heated dishpan.  These should be nearly the same as M. forceps in terms of development, but seem to have a lower % survival.  I'm starting with less than fifty, so I am not too hopeful this run will be successful, but it should be a good start!

I finally have these crabs somewhere I can keep a better watch on them. One of the females has her egg pouch open more than usual, and I can see dark eggs inside. I'm guessing they will hatch soon. I better remember to turn the snagger on tonight!





Also, here is a pic showing the difference between the males and the females. The male is on the right.

Hatch last night!  I will try to get microscope pics tonight.  I set them up in my usual inverted 3L bottle with rigid airline bubbling, nhbbs and I added RG complete instead of live phyto.

Pics from last night:



 
 

Quite a bit of die off, maybe a third of them. Ugh. 100% water change done, added some Apocyclops copepods along with nhbbs.

Scratch that. 100% die off. I accidentally dumped them :O

Great pictures! you will get them again, I am sure.

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Hatch last night with some Thor larvae.  I collected both and put them in the same container (at least until the first water change).  I added nhbbs and RG complete to the inverted 3L bottle and set it to bubbling in the water bath.  Hopefully I won't dump them this time

Had another hatch last night.  I took these and set them up in a 3L bottle as per usual, but this time I added only Apocyclops copepods instead of newly hatched baby brine shrimp.  

All dead!  There are a couple things I want to do differently next time.  First, I will do better about maintaining water quality and, second, I think I will use live phyto instead of RG complete.

Small hatch last night, but I collected it and put them in a 3L bottle anyway.  I added live Iso and nhbbs and bubble with rigid airline tubing as usual.

Bravo on the sexing photos - that makes it super easy!