Breeding Journal, Species: Synchiropus sp. Ruby Red Dragonet

General
Species:  Synchiropus sp.  Ruby Red Dragonet
Social Structure:  1:1
Size of Individuals:  male:1.5 inches  female: 1.25 inches
Age of Individuals:  unknown
Date added to Tank:  Both male and female 25.01.14

Broodstock Tank Details
Size of Tank:  54 litre connected to 300 litre main reef system
Substrate Details:  1 mm gravel
Filtration Details:  jeabo wp 25 and newwave 3000 and main system, TMC  9w UV steriliser, Deltec mc 500 skimmer, 30 kilos of live rock
Water Changes:  25 litre weekly water change
Water Temperature:  24^oc/75^of
Lighting:  Arcadia Strech LED light 40cm
Lighting Cycle:  11 on 13 off
Other Tank Inhabitants:  1 pair Synchiropus splendidus, 1 Oxymonacanthus longirostris, 1 Suttonia suttoni, Hippocampus erectus pair

Broodstock Feeding Details
Food Types:  Aloe vera enriched brine shrimp, omega 3 enriched brine shrimp, sprinula enriched brine shrimp, garlic enriched brine shrimp
Feeding Schedule:  twice to three times a day mixed diet.

Spawning Details
Date of First Spawn:  27.02.14
Spawn Time of Day:  11pm GMT
Dates of Consecutive Spawns:  27.02.14 - 09.03.2014 so far 
Courtship Details:  Similar to most Synchiropus species, pair up and swim towards the surface releasing sperm and eggs at the top before dashing back to cover.
Egg Size:  under 1mm will measure next time the microscope is out
Egg Color:  White/clear
Egg Count:  7 found, presumes there are more being released though it is a  small female

Hatch Details
Hatch Date:  01.03.14
Hatch Time of Day:  5 pm GMT
# Days after Spawn:  18hrs
Larvae Description: around 1mm yolk sac with a tail
Consecutive Hatch Dates:  none as of yet waiting for equipment to proceed to the next stage of rearing.           


Larval Tank Details
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Larval Feeding Details
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Metamorphosis/Settlement
Date of Settlement Start: 
Days after Hatch: 
Date of Settlement End: 
Description of Fry: 

Grow-Out Tank Details
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Grow-Out Feeding Details
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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.

 
First Documented courting between the pair, filmed on the 27.02.14 at 11pm GMT, no eggs collected or  release of gametes seen.

Gorgeous pair!

They spawned again last night, I collected what appear to be eggs being totally new to this any advice is greatly appreciated.
 
 
 

 

These are pictures of the two remaining eggs I kept overnight in the beaker on top of the tank. The picture was taken 17 hours post hatch, it would appear something is happening within the egg, next time i will store the eggs within the tank to ensure stable water temperatures.


Egg one:
 
 

 
 
 
Egg Two:

 

After talking to Matt Predersen the two eggs picture above our dead by now I should have expected to see a larvae in the eggs by now. He has given me a few tips to increase my chance of a successful spawn so I shall preserver and cross everything that I get one.

you're on the way ....
have fun .
 

tu quoqué mi filii ........argggghh !!

This spawned occurred on the 28/02/14
After collecting eggs from their third spawn and incubating them in the tank for 18 hours I can happily report that several eggs have hatched. Below are two images and a video of the larvae, the second image was pieced together from three to allow for such high mangification. 
 

 

 

All spawning behaviour has stopped since the addition of a pair of Hippocampus erectus, hopefully both pairs will settle down and they will start spawning again 

Can you tell us more about how you are actually collecting the eggs?  Are you using a collector or are you doing it manually?  Do you turn the pumps off around the time of the spawn?

And when you say you are feeding enriched brine, is that LIVE enriched brine, or dead?  

Prior to any spawning i turn the pumps off to stop any eggs being sucked into the overflow. When it comes to actually collecting the eggs I have so far tried three different methods.
 
My first attempt to collect eggs was with a pipette, this was successful but I feel may have damaged some of the eggs.
 
My second attempt was a piece of air line pipe used as a siphon to try and keep the eggs together again this proved successful but did break the strings of eggs up.
 
My latest attempt at collecting eggs was with a Petri dish  that i submerged near the eggs and resurfaced under them, this has yielded the best result when it comes to keeping the eggs together and hopefully will yielded a higher hatch rate due to less damage to the eggs.

All the brine shrimp fed to these fish is dead.

Wow, those are some gorgeous fish!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ken

any news....,?
new attempts .?
 

tu quoqué mi filii ........argggghh !!

The pair have been spawning pretty much every night since I started this journal, but due to college and other commitments I haven't really got anywhere when it comes to trying to rear the fry.