The parental damselfish continue to be the easiest fish to spawn in the world. I put a white wall tile in the tank after the previous hatch, and they spawned on it the next chance they got. They fight the grabber device I used to retrieve that tile, but it was easier to do than scraping off the wall, and may be easier on the eggs.
This time I put the tile in the BRT that hosted the most successful run from last time, and with no particular interventions to get the water to flow over the eggs, other than the airstone providing circular flow to the whole tank, distant to the tile, all the eggs hatched, and there are an abundant number of tiny swimmers in the tank an hour after lights out. Easy peasy. Then I turned on, and left on, the light at the ceiling above their tank, for 24/7 illumination.
(Before adding the tile, I did scrape the bottom, swirl the water, allow time for settlement, and siphoned out the crud. I then searched the siphonate for damselfish bodies and observed several under the scope with pigmented eyes, protruding lower jaws, and something green in the guts. Perhaps they ate something, and it is almost certain that they did, since they lived to day5, and starvation is at day 3 with no eating. )
The new larval culture is also with a larger volume, closer to 10 gallons than 5. I thought since I would be adding more larvae, more volume was warranted. Also, I effectively did a water change on the tub simultaneously. I guess, a water supplement.
<message edited by KathyL on Tuesday, July 1, 2014 9:20 AM>