Breeding Journal, Species: [Rhinoptera bonasus]

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PPoeschl
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Breeding Journal, Species: [Rhinoptera bonasus] - Saturday, August 9, 2014 11:05 PM
Breeding Journal DataSheet
This first post should be updated regularly to include new information as events take place or changes are made to your system

General
Species:  Rhinoptera bonasus (Cownose Ray)
Social Structure: 20F, 5M
Size of Individuals: Adults 2'-3' disk size
Age of Individuals: Unknown, sexually mature
Date added to Tank:  In collection since spring 2012

Broodstock Tank Details
Size of Tank:  11,000 gallons
Substrate Details:  none
Filtration Details:  2 Hayward pool pumps, 2 triton sand filters, 1 carbon reactor, 1 biotower
Water Changes:  50% every day
Water Temperature:  75-83* depending on season
Lighting:  Natural
Lighting Cycle: 
Other Tank Inhabitants: 4 D. americana, 2 S. tiburo 

Broodstock Feeding Details
Food Types:  Capelin 50%, Squid 10%, Clam 10%, Krill 10%, Shrimp 5%, Mackerel 5%
Feeding Schedule:  2-7x per day depending on season.  Animals go through feast and famine cycles.

Spawning Details
Date of First Spawn:  Unrecorded but mating occurred all through April - August
Spawn Time of Day:  Usually after a meal
Dates of Consecutive Spawns:  4 months
Courtship Details:  "Muenster" and "Sandy" most active males observed mating (which is odd considering Muenster is largest male and Sandy is the smallest)
Egg Size:  live birth
Egg Color: 
Egg Count: 

Hatch Details
Hatch Date:  March 25th (dead), April 2nd, April 3rd, April 10th (dead), May 11th
Hatch Time of Day:  Between Late night and Early Morning
# Days after Spawn:  between 6 months to a year
Larvae Description:  Between 6-8" wide, the 3 that survived birth took several days to begin eating
Consecutive Hatch Dates:  Total 5 babies were born, 2 died upon birth

Larval Tank Details
Temperature:  75F-83F
Size of Larval Tank:  Initially 1000 gallons
Substrate Details:  none
Other Tank Decor:  none
Filtration Details:  1 hayward pump, 1 triton sand filter, 1 carbon reactor, 1 biotower
Lighting:  natural
Lighting Cycle:  natural
Water Changes:  50-75% daily

Larval Feeding Details
Food Types:  Superba Krill, PE Mysis both soaked in selcon 2x per week and Mauzri Shark and Ray vitamins
Feeding Schedule:  5-7X per day from 9am to 4pm

Metamorphosis/Settlement
Date of Settlement Start:  Fully settled at birth
Days after Hatch: 
Date of Settlement End: 
Description of Fry: 

Grow-Out Tank Details

Temperature:  75*-83*
Size of Grow-Out Tank:  11000 gallon pool
Substrate Details:  None
Other Tank Decor:  None
Filtration Details:  2 Hayward pumps, 2 triton sand filters, 1 carbon reactor, 1 biotower
Lighting:  Natural
Lighting Cycle:  Natural
Water Changes:  30% every 3-5 days
Size at Transfer:  8-11"
Age at Transfer:  moved on 6/14

Grow-Out Feeding Details
Food Types:  Same as above but added in small pieces of adult foods
Feeding Schedule:  5-7x per day

Additional Information

(No Pictures or Videos in the Section Please)
Miscellaneous Information: 
The two still births could have been due to medicating of the broodstock animals with Dylox in October or the first stillborn might have been due to birthing complications, and the second to getting predated upon in the pool by a large southern stingray.  Breeding activity peaked after birth of each baby.


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.


PPoeschl
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Re: Breeding Journal, Species: [Rhinoptera bonasus] - Saturday, August 9, 2014 11:19 PM

Pregnant Female

PPoeschl
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Re: Breeding Journal, Species: [Rhinoptera bonasus] - Sunday, August 10, 2014 12:03 AM
Sorry still trying to figure out how to post video without just a link.
<message edited by PPoeschl on Sunday, August 10, 2014 10:59 AM>

PPoeschl
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Re: Breeding Journal, Species: [Rhinoptera bonasus] - Sunday, August 10, 2014 12:40 AM

mPedersen
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Re: Breeding Journal, Species: [Rhinoptera bonasus] - Sunday, August 10, 2014 12:49 AM
Awesome..can't wait to see/read more!

Lrood
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Re: Breeding Journal, Species: [Rhinoptera bonasus] - Sunday, August 10, 2014 10:32 AM
Wow, you have to love that water change - almost 4000 gallons once or twice a week! Looking forward,to seeing this play out. Are they live- bearers?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ken

PPoeschl
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Re: Breeding Journal, Species: [Rhinoptera bonasus] - Sunday, August 10, 2014 10:52 AM
https://www.youtube.com/w...4&feature=youtu.be
Yes they are Live bearers.  They produce only one offspring per year, which makes these guys extremely vulnerable to over exploitation. 
We do go through a lot of water for water changes.  I cannot take much of the credit as this would never happen without the support of the company I work for, and Gulf World for the water they provide.  These guys have been under my direct care for the past year and a half and I couldn't be happier working with them!

PPoeschl
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Re: Breeding Journal, Species: [Rhinoptera bonasus] - Sunday, August 10, 2014 10:58 AM
[video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FrkLl1rYT2U&feature=youtu.be[/video]
https://www.youtube.com/w...U&feature=youtu.be
under 24 hrs old.  Ignore the algae, I didn't want to stress the females and have a premature birth so I didn't scrub the tank for two weeks and that natural sunlight makes it grow ridiculously fast!

PPoeschl
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Re: Breeding Journal, Species: [Rhinoptera bonasus] - Monday, August 11, 2014 8:52 AM

My youngest "Lucky" hand feeding. He/she would not feed for 14 days, the others took 6-9 days. Had to tube feed it at one point but has revived fully and is now catching up to the rest of the group.

April, the oldest and always the fastest learner.

Tinkerbell, she came out second and her mom is called Captain Hook due to a hook at the end of her tail.