Breeding Journal, Species: Pterapogon kauderni

General
Species:  Pterapogon kauderni
Social Structure:  Mated pair
Size of Individuals:  Approx 6cm
Age of Individuals:  Unknown
Date added to Tank:  1 February 2014

Broodstock Tank Details
Size of Tank:  450l (120g) mixed reef
Substrate Details:  Marble chips
Filtration Details:  Liverock + Sump with skimmer, GFO and chaeto
Water Changes:  10% Fortnightly
Water Temperature:  26 degrees Celsius
Lighting:  DIY LED
Lighting Cycle:  9 Hours with 1 hour sunrise/sunset ramp
Other Tank Inhabitants:  Yellow Tang, Flame Hawk, Royal Gramma, Red Spot Blenny, Ocellaris Clownfish (x4)


Broodstock Feeding Details
Food Types:  Frozen Lobster Eggs, Red Plankton and Mysis Shrimp + Flake + Pellets
Feeding Schedule:  Generally 2 times per day + 3-4 times on weekends

Spawning Details
Date of First Spawn:  23/2/14
Spawn Time of Day:  Early afternoon - approx 1.30pm
Dates of Consecutive Spawns:  20/4/14, 21/6/14
Courtship Details:  Female would move up beside the male and then go behind him and move up on the other side. This continued for an hour or so before the spawn took place.
Egg Size: Unknown at spawn
Egg Color:  Unknown at spawn
Egg Count:  Unknown at spawn

Hatch Details
Hatch Date:  7 May 14 to 11 May 14
Hatch Time of Day:  Unknown
# Days after Spawn:  21
Larvae Description:    Similar to the parents, although largely transparent except for the black pigment - large egg sack
Consecutive Hatch Dates:     


Larval Tank Details
Temperature:  26 degrees Celsius
Size of Larval Tank:  The fry was raised in a seperate 'tank' made out of a fruit juice bottle located in my main display tank.
Substrate Details:  None
Other Tank Decor:  Fake urchin
Filtration Details:  Liverock + Sump with skimmer, GFO and chaeto
Lighting: DIY LED
Lighting Cycle:  9 Hours with 1 hour sunrise/sunset ramp
Water Changes:  10% Fortnightly

Larval Feeding Details
Food Types:  Newly hatched brine shrimp + brine shrimp enriched with Nannochloropsis
Feeding Schedule:  3 times per day

Metamorphosis/Settlement
Date of Settlement Start:  15/5/14
Days after Hatch:  4
Date of Settlement End:  15/5/14
Description of Fry:  I am deeming settlement to have occurred on the date the egg sac was fully absorbed. The fry was much more adventurous within the rearing 'tank'.

Grow-Out Tank Details
Temperature:  26 degrees Celsius
Size of Grow-Out Tank:  The fry was raised in a seperate 'tank' made out of a fruit juice bottle located in my main display tank. The sides of the bottle were cut out and covered in a 50 micron mesh to aid water flow but still retain the brine shrimp.
Substrate Details:  None
Other Tank Decor:  Fake urchin
Filtration Details:  Liverock + Sump with skimmer, GFO and chaeto
Lighting:  DIY LED
Lighting Cycle:  9 Hours with 1 hour sunrise/sunset ramp
Water Changes:  10% Fortnightly
Size at Transfer:  Not applicable
Age at Transfer:  Not applicable

Grow-Out Feeding Details
Food Types:  Newly hatched brine shrimp + brine shrimp enriched with Nannochloropsis
Feeding Schedule:  2 times per day

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.

I have a few months to catch up on and so things will move along quickly for a while
 
My newly acquired mated pair (obtained 1 February 2014) - this pair had successfully produced at least one juvenile in the previous owners tank so I knew they were a proven pair.

The male is on the left.
 
Just over 3 weeks later (23 Feb 14) I managed to record their first courtship - unfortunately I missed the actual egg transfer !
http://youtu.be/rf7e9DK7vlw
 
And some photo's

 

 
 

A week later the male was still holding - you can see a couple of the eggs in this photo

 
Another week on and the male was still holding. However, yesterday when I got home (Day 16) I noticed that he was up at the top of the tank waiting to be fed.

I don't know if it was just a coincidence but I had a nest of clownfish eggs hatch the previous night - I wonder if the temptation to eat some newly hatched clowns was just too great ??

I will see how things go over the next few weeks but I am seriously thinking about relieving him of his duties after 14 days next time - my reading suggests that the eggs will have a great chance of survival at this stage and I enjoy a challenge.

The second spawn occurred on 20 April 14 - it looks like he may be carrying a few more eggs this time

 
And, Day 9 post spawn

 
I am seriously thinking about stripping him soon.

Based on the design used by an acquaintance, I started building my egg tumbler - all the bits gathered together


I decided that if I was going to collect the eggs then tonight (2 May 2014) was the night - we are currently at 12 days post spawn - last time he made it to 16 days (before eating the eggs) but I was interested in documenting as much of the egg development/hatching as I could.

So, I changed the timer so the lights turned off at 7.00pm and left the tank for an hour or so in darkness - I had read that if you do this and then quickly turn the lights on full, the fish are temporarily blinded and you have a chance to catch them. Whilst I was somewhat dubious, it does actually work and I was able to catch him relatively easily.

Now, to get the eggs. From my reading, it seems that on most occasions the male will spit the eggs as soon as it is in the net - mine did not. One suggestion is to pick the male up gently by the tail and dip it in and out of the water and he will release the eggs - mine did not. Another suggestion is to gently pry open the mouth with something like a paper clip and dip the fish in the water - the backwash is meant to dislodge the eggs - that didn't work. After about 10 minutes I still hadn't managed to dislodge the eggs I continued these various methods and eventually a few eggs come to the front of his mouth and then he spat them all out - success

So, this is what we have - I count approximately 30

Similar to the clown fish fry, I am amazed at how soon in the egg development the eyes are pretty much fully formed.

I am pretty excited at the prospect of trying to get these through the next 3 weeks.

Almost had a major disaster last night (2 May 14) - woke up this morning to find the bottom 'plug' of foam in the tumbler had shifted overnight - it had turned 90 degrees and the eggs were hanging out the bottom of the tumbler . Luckily they are still sticky and held together on the filter material I had used. I have no idea how they were not eaten, especially given that my Coral Banded Shrimp is active of a night time.

So, I managed to find some of my wife's stockings and put everything back together. I was still not happy with the level of movement so I jumped on the net to see what I did wrong - I used a 2l bottle - I should have used a 600ml bottle

Off to the shed to start again -

This is my rebuilt tumbler - much happier with the way it is now working.


And, thankfully, the eggs look to be fine

I am, once again, amazed at the development in the last 12 hours - they have gone from eggs with eyes to developing a head and mouth.

For the next couple of days everything progressed nicely - the tumbler was working well and the eggs were developing quickly

 
And a short video - 4 May 14 or 14 Days Post Spawn. Lots of moment in the eye's (even though they don't appear to be attached to anything) and, the heart is now clearly visible.
http://youtu.be/zs0xnWynfHU

I have started having some serious problems with my DIY tumbler. The bottom material has been getting clogged and restricting the water flow - to clean it I need to remove the eggs, clean the filter material and return the eggs. This has resulted in too much handling of the eggs and they are starting to show some wear and tear. Two have now separated from the main mass - they are now more buoyant than the mass and are getting sucked into the top filter material!!
 
Anyway here is an egg at 15 DPS

 
I found the first hatched larvae on 7 May 14 at 17 DPS - it was trapped in the top filter material of my tumbler but seems OK

 
I have lost a few eggs to fungus and currently have around 16 remaining. However, I continued to be frustrated with the tumbler I was using and decided to build a water driven one using a small pump and a round bottomed glass. This is what I came up with

 
I planned on putting this inside a breeding net. What I didn't take into account was that the 'Doubled Wall Glass' that I used (which was selected because of the rounded bottom as seen in the photo) floated due to the air between the glass walls So, I decided to use some super glue to glue the glass to a small piece of ceramic tile to hold it down. Unfortunately, I didn't have much glue left and was applying some downward pressure on the glass to see if I could get it to set when the glass shattered Fifteen minutes later when I had stopped the blood flowing from the gash in my finger I found a beer mug which looked like it might do the job.

After I spent another hour sorting out the eggs I went to bed hoping more than expecting that it might be satisfactory.

The remaining eggs were not looking good - this is a macro shot before I removed the bad eggs


The bad eggs are easy to identify - the remaining viable eggs actually look quite good, although there is lots 'rubbish' sticking to them and evidence of what looks like fungus starting to grow on one. I suspect that these are all symptoms of poor tumbling of the eggs.

This is after I managed to remove the bad eggs - 8 remaining although I would be very surprised if these don't also die in the short term.

I continued to have significant problems with my DIY tumbler efforts and by 12 May 14 (22 days post spawn) I had one larvae remaining. I think this one hatched on 11 May 14.

 
By 16 May 14 my remaining larvae was growing quickly

 
However, I suspect that it has a swim bladder problem as it struggles to stay in one spot - can anyone confirm this?
 
21 May 14  (31 Days Post Spawn or 10 Days Post Hatch) - No major problems for the past 5 days

I have been feeding gut loaded (Nannochloropsis) baby brine shrimp 3 times per day, although the first feed of a morning before I go to work is quite large and there are still some remaining when I get home of an evening.

It is growing nicely, it's just a shame it doesn't have any siblings

Sorry about the poor photo - it usually swims in an area where I can't get a clear shot


 
 

One month later and my sole survivor is still going strong - would now be around 15mm total length. Unfortunately, despite my best efforts, it is still only eating gut loaded brine shrimp. I am sure that this is not really nutritious enough for it at this stage of its life but it won't touch anything else.
 
I suspect that being the sole survivor doesn't help -  if one in a group took some other food then the siblings would be more inclined to have a try as well.
 

 
My male is currently holding again, with a spawn yesterday afternoon, so hopefully I will do better this time - once again I plan to strip him around day 16 but I have a better tumbler ready to try out this time.

Your pictures are simply amazing.  What are you using for magnification? Light?
 
Congrats on your progress! 

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

Thanks Kathy - if you take enough photo's a few are bound to turn out OK - one of the great benefits of digital camera's
 
I currently use a Canon 600D with a Tamron 90mm Macro Lens. I am pretty sure these were all taken with the on-camera flash, although I have recently purchased a seperate flash unit with wireless control. It's not high end gear but it does what I need it to do.
 
I am currently in the process of buying myself a microscope with camera - just something else for me to have a play with...

Unfortunately, the male was eating last night
 
I had fed them a few hours earlier and everything was fine so I am not sure what happened during the intervening hours. He was at 13 days since spawn - I might need to strip him at around 12 days next time.

My sole remaining baby Banggai - this was taken on 20/7/14 and records the fry at past 60 DPH. As they say, it only takes one



Hopefully, my male will stop eating the eggs and I will have some more to raise soon.

He looks rather skinny....like he's not getting enough to eat.

I agree Matt - this one never really overcame it's swim bladder problem and I decided to cull it last week.
 
My male is currently at 8 days with another spawn so hopefully I will have some better success next time.

I was planning to strip the male on Friday night but my daughter was sick and had other things to do. Unfortunately, he was eating last night - 13 days, exactly the same as the previous spawn. I really must strip him before day 12 next time.

OK, it's been a while but it's time to try again with these guys.
 
 

There could be one small complication - I will be away for a week from 4/10/14 and the fish will need to look after themselves during this time. He has traditionally eaten the eggs around day 13 when I will be away.

So, my plan is to strip him next Thursday night (2/10/14) - this will be at 8 days which is a bit earlier than I would have liked but I will just have to see how it goes.

Unfortunately, from the spawn in October, the male ate the eggs before I had a chance to strip him.
 
We did have another spawn on November 6, with the eggs collected on November 15.
 
I counted 15 when he eventually released them (9 days post spawn)


Over the course of the next few days I lost a few to fungus - some started to hatch on November 20 (14 days post spawn). This was one the following day

Unfortunately, I then had some problems with my heater and, more significantly, with the tumbler. I think I had too much turbulence in the tumbler and lost a few where the egg sack burst, killing the larvae I will know better next time.

Anyway, I now have 3 which have made it to 19 days post spawn - they are looking quite healthy so hopefully I can get these ones through. These would normally be kept by the male for a few more days.


Cheers

Now at 21 days post spawn, my 3 remaining fry are developing nicely - a lot can happen in 2 days

 
 
Another day, and they are almost free swimming


 
They had their first feed of brine shrimp on December 1

They grow up quickly



 

Those are some great shots! Good job.

http://www.fishtalpropagations.com/#!home/mainPage
"Making captive breeding easier."

Hi Shane, what type of glue did you use to put the 50 micron mesh on the juice bottle?

 
Aquarium safe silicon - just run a thin line around the outside of the cut area and push the mesh down into it so the silicon soaks through the holes in the mesh. I then trimmed up the edges of the mesh with some small, sharp scissors.