Breeding Journal, Species: Elacatinus evelynae

General
Species:  Elacatinus evelynae
Social Structure:  Male and female pair
Size of Individuals:  1.25"-1.5"
Age of Individuals: Unknown
Date added to Tank:  8/6/2015

Broodstock Tank Details
Size of Tank: 10g
Substrate Details: Sand
Filtration Details: internal overflow with filter floss, carbon
Water Changes:  15% weekly
Water Temperature:  76deg F
Lighting:  150W LED Fixture
Lighting Cycle:  on 10am off 8pm
Other Tank Inhabitants:  Percula clownfish pair

Broodstock Feeding Details
Food Types:  Otohime, fish eggs
Feeding Schedule:  once per day, twice on weekends

Spawning Details
Date of First Spawn:  8/15/2015
Spawn Time of Day:  Mid morning ~ 11am
Dates of Consecutive Spawns: 8-15-15, 8-29-15,9-x-15, 9-26-15,10-9-15
Courtship Details:  Male would nudge female from the side and then dart to the pipe
Egg Size:  ~1mm
Egg Color:  Clear/white
Egg Count:  100+

Hatch Details
Hatch Date:  10-3-15
Hatch Time of Day: Night, after lights out 
# Days after Spawn:  7
Larvae Description:    Small, clear, yolk sack.  2 reflective spots on larvae (exact anatomy TBD)
Consecutive Hatch Dates:      9-5-15, 9-x-15, 10-3-15


Larval Tank Details
Temperature:  76°F
Size of Larval Tank:  6G Flatback Hex all sides painted black
Substrate Details:  None
Other Tank Decor:  Heater and airline
Filtration Details:  None
Lighting:  4 small LEDs (~12k)
Lighting Cycle:  Always on
Water Changes:  Siphon Bottom and drip replacement water as necessary

Larval Feeding Details
Food Types:  Parvocalanus Copepods (water tinted very lightly with Iso and Tet to feed copepods)
Feeding Schedule:  Copepods added at time of hatch, Iso added every other day.

Metamorphosis/Settlement
Date of Settlement Start:  11-4-2015
Days after Hatch:  32
Date of Settlement End:  11-4-2015
Description of Fry:  Body is now several times taller than is it thick (top view width of fish).   Can clearly see all fins defined.  Body is clear with visible gut and slight hint of color on the rear ventral area.

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 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 am very excited to get this pair. They are beautiful little gobies and were paired by the illustrious Kathy Leahy. I am sure they will be ready to spawn soon. We thought there was perhaps a difference in the nose color between the sexes (as shown in pics below) but today they look exactly the same.

Great to see them happy in their new home!

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

We have spawnage!! The female was extremely plump and the male was really working to coax her to the pipes (actually between the pipes). The video shows the way he was acting towards her pre-spawn.
 


They had been sleeping together between the pipes the last couple nights. I guess they liked that spot. Interesting though that they laid the eggs on the floor though instead of either pipe.

Is that netting I see?  Withing the 10 gallon tank, do you have them isolated in a breeding cage or something?

Yes that is netting. I just got them from Kathy last Thursday so I put them in the net to get the settled and adusted to my feedings. I hope these eggs make it. Would be nice to know I have some juveniles in hand before I release them to the display. I didn't think they would spawn quite this fast though. Kathy is the fish whisperer!

Daniel, you've done everything right, and now you know the wait was worth it! I thought several times while I had them that they were close to spawning, but at last they did it, and in the right hands.   Congrats, so happy for you! 

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

Thanks Kathy. It's good to be back on the wagon and actually have some fish spawning again!

So they spawned again on Sat Aug 29th. They spawned at 11:00am as I checked them before leaving the house at 10:30 and noticed the make doing the same nudge and dash as she on above. I thought that Saturday would be the day they would spawn. I assumed they would spawn in the evening and assumed they did last time with the main light off but ambient room lights on. When I returned home about 11:30 the eggs were there. I bet they spawned in the morning last time too. So I have to confirm which is accurate. We did lose power for several hours On Fri the 28th and the lights came on about an hour late. Not sure if all this made them do things differently or not. I guess the next spawn will tell.

So the last spawn dwindled away a little each day and none appeared to make it to a hatch. Hopefully this one will. There are definitely more eggs this time. Here is picture for documentation, it's a poor photo but hard to get a good exposure and focus pointing up into the lights.

I see them!

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

That's a great looking pair. I'll be watching your progress with these. See you at the swap!

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

Got a hatch this Saturday. Hard to get a pic of these guys but here is a video of the reflection of the flash light. They all had 2 reflective spots.



Here is a picture of the eggs just prior to hatch.

Awesome good luck!

Good luck.

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

Thanks Joe and Kathy, and Ken from above!
I counted at least 6 still alive last night, probably a few more.  Its hard to find these little buggars!  It's like you have to stare at the empty water for 5 minutes before your eyes start seeing them!  I will get a better count tonight and maybe a better pic of a real larvae tonight.  I hate to remove one to take microscope pics since I have so few left but maybe if I use the good camera and use the window I left unpainted for side viewing I can get a decent one. 

unless you are old.  Then you have to stare for 30 minutes....

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

I counted last night quickly and saw probably a dozen or so. They are roughly double the initial length but still look the same. I was able to get 1 crappy picture of one that at least shows the form from the side.

One thing I have found during trying to research the larval development is that there doesn't appear to be a good photo documentation of the larval development day by day (expected there wouldn't be for evelynae but was surprised to find that neither was there for oceanops). I now accept the challenge of completing this documentation with a future batch.

Keep it up! Looks like 2 larvae in that pic - one close, and one right over the 4 on the PVC pipe. Are you using just Parvo, or any s rotifers?

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

Ken - good eye, that is a second. Or was, it's a dead one. I don't have the tank in a very accessible spot and from the top didn't see it there when I was siphoning. It's gone now, and I finally took out the pipe too.

I have fed them strictly parvo to date. It's so nice using pods and live algae. The maintenance is much less and I don't have to worry as much about keeping the pods enriched, although I try to. With the small number of larvae the parvo is self sustaining and I think I am even going to have to sieve a bunch out to reduce population to get more naups. I have another hatch Friday and I am planning to run multiple batches since there are so few from this batch.

I was a little late splitting my ISO this last time and it's not immediately bouncing back so I am a bit nervous but I think I have that down now, consistent rhythm is the key. Then once you have Iso and it sinks in how absolutely little it takes to feed the parvo it's all pretty simple. Thinking about not bothering keeping S rotifers (or any rotifer, even for clowns!) anymore at all and using the CCS I have to try on parvo.

At day 12-15 the population went from roughly 12 to 4. I have noticed another breeder also seemed to have die off in this range as well. I did turn the air up a bit in this day range so it may have also contributed to the losses. Of the 4 left there was a noticable size difference between 2 larger ones and 2 smaller ones.

On day 17 I had 3 left. 2 large and 1 small.

Day 19: And then there were 2. They are pretty large and robust looking. I have watched and never seen them strike a copepod but obviously they are eating. Debating on trying to hatch some artemia but will be out of town on Saturday and Sunday so I will not be there to manage the leftovers if they are not consumed. The tank is teeming with parvo so I will likely just let them be and add the NHBBS next week.

My availability and attention to these waned a bit in the later days as flu/cold season struck the family. I will be focusing special effort in the 12-15 day range to help reduce that dieoff on the next batch.

Please have good luck, better luck than mine at the moment.

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

Thanks Kathy. The two are still doing well tonight. Hopefully both will make it and will be a pair. I was hoping copepods would help a quicker settlement occur so I am thinking (hoping!) sometime next week is the magic date.

And then there was one. The other one actually disappeared on day 20 so it has just been this loner for a while now. I was finally able to get a decent picture without the scope. Holding a flashlight in one hand DSLR in the other and on manual focus I somehow managed to get this. I think I see a little color coming in on the rear ventral area. I think at day 23 we are approaching settlement!

Lookin good. I was not able to raise oceanops without rotifers.  I tried many times on parvo alone, and nothing.  If you get this guy to settlement on your first try, my hat is off to you!

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

So the last couple days I thought I might have reached settlement. The last one is currently perching, scooting and acting settled at times but it also will return to the water column for extended times. I am waiting anxiously for complete settlement before I call it. None of these pics are great, some are worse than others but I figure it is at least some documentation of the process.

my hair is blowing in the wind! That looks like settlement, and now you wait for metamorphosis.  Congrats!

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

Looking great!

It IS settlementNow contact with the substrate will be more frequent and then you will see the black line.I see them looking like Puntius titteya,a FW barb.Sooner later the iridiscent band.

Thanks all!

So we have agreement - settlement occurred at Day 32 on November 4th.

Now I have to keep this little guy alive and well and then get going on the next batch with a better success to settlement than 1.

There you have it, settlement, and some of us can't even get a hatch.... green I am, but happy for you.
 

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

Thanks Kathy. It wouldn't have been possible without your generosity! I am hoping to get some Fertility Frenzy soon to see if that helps increase the egg count, both initially and surviving until hatch. I hope that it isn't too large of particles for them to be able to eat. I also plan to try and sieve the pods pretty aggressively at about day 9-12 to see if my die-off was due to inappropriate food size for the stage.

Awesome job Daniel!

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

Thanks Ken.

The little one got its colors over the weekend. Now to find him a grow-up home so I have room for more larvae.

That looks great - very cool!  Excellent job.

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

Wow!
 

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

Well done!  Looks like this one is in the bag.

Thanks Jeff. The single is doing ok so far. I have not been able to get it to noticeably eat TDO yet. It becomes very active after I add the TDO but I cannot tell if it is feeding on tiny pieces or the smell in the water is motivating it to chase copepods. It has never came to the surface to feed though. Since this is my only one I am nervous to not give him plenty of pods. Might have to wean it when it grows a bit more and has some fat reserves. Meanwhile I need to get another container to be able to try another hatch since this guy is still in the larval tank.

Just keep giving the TDO.  He is probably already eating it. These gobies are not hard to wean.

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