Breeding Journal, Species: Hymenocera picta

General
Species:  Hymenocera picta
Social Structure:  Pair
Size of Individuals:  2" female, 1.25" male
Age of Individuals:  Unknown, they have been in captivity for 2 years (larger female) and 9 months (smaller male) 
Date added to Tank:  9/18/2015

Broodstock Tank Details 
Size of Tank:  Breeding setup approx 1000L total.  Tank 380x610x390mm 67L 17.5US Gal  
Substrate Details:  None  
Filtration Details:  Skimmer, UV, ATS, Live Rock  
Water Changes:  System 500L Fortnight  
Water Temperature:  27C  
Lighting:  Power Compact  
Lighting Cycle:  7am to 8:30pm  
Other Tank Inhabitants:  None  

Broodstock Feeding Details 
Food Types:  starfish sp tba  
Feeding Schedule: Continuous  

Spawning Details
Date of First Spawn:  2015/09/23 (estimate)
Spawn Time of Day:  Unknown
Dates of Consecutive Spawns: Unknown 
Courtship Details:  Unknown
Egg Size:  1mm x 1/2mm oval
Egg Color:  Dark Red to Brown/Purple
Egg Count:  many 100s

Hatch Details
Hatch Date:  10/6/2015
Hatch Time of Day:  10pm
# Days after Spawn:  17
Larvae Description:  Typical shrimp larvae.  Bulky body with thin tail.  Opaque/white in colour.

Larval Tank Details
Temperature:  27c
Size of Larval Tank:   4' x 1.5' x 1' tank with kressel 1.5' x 1.5' x 0.5' 
Substrate Details:  None
Other Tank Decor:  3 x 50w heaters
Filtration Details:  Sponge Filter and water from Broodstock tank
Lighting:  power compact
Lighting Cycle:  24 hours for first 4 days
Water Changes:  20L every two days or as required.

Larval Feeding Details
Food Types:  L type Rotifers for first three days (raised on Reeds Rotifer Diet), NHBBS from day 1. 
Feeding Schedule:  Continuous

Metamorphosis/Settlement
Date of Settlement Start: 
Days after Hatch: 
Date of Settlement End: 
Description of Fry: 

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: 


Additional Spawns:     
S = Date of Spawn     
H = Date of Hatch    
2015/09/23 S (estimate) 2015/10/6
2015/10/8 S (estimate) 2015/10/23
 
 


You will be required to provide photographic 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.

Stay up to date with my breeding efforts:
Regal Tang RegalTangBreeding
Mccullochi Clownfish MccullochiClownfishBreeding 

Really excited to be getting this pair.
They are owned by someone else who is shutting down his reef tank.  I have agreed to house them and try to raise some shrimp.
In Australia they are extremely rare and expensive, so this is a great opportunity.
 
Ill post some photos as soon as I get them, they have been spawning for about two months now. they have intermittently spawned.
The female is still quite small, but has been carrying eggs and releasing.  The information I was given appears to be wrong.  The larger shrimp is female (now carrying eggs) and has colouration below her tail.  The male has opaque swimmerets. 

Stay up to date with my breeding efforts:
Regal Tang RegalTangBreeding
Mccullochi Clownfish MccullochiClownfishBreeding 

Pics of the pair having their way with a starfish leg whilst being acclimatised.
 
Male (left) is larger than the female (right). 
Male (right) is larger than the female (left). {Initial info from owner was incorrect} 

Stay up to date with my breeding efforts:
Regal Tang RegalTangBreeding
Mccullochi Clownfish MccullochiClownfishBreeding 

fascinating picture!

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

Very nice! In all the pairs I have had the female is bigger than the male. Will be interesting to see if she eventually out grows him.

 
The female in this pair is a new addition.  Previously the owner had another female who was larger than the male.
Note: No idea what was correct now.  I was told the smaller female was a replacement, but the smaller shrimp is male as it has opaque swimmerets 

Stay up to date with my breeding efforts:
Regal Tang RegalTangBreeding
Mccullochi Clownfish MccullochiClownfishBreeding 

Well I can confirm a few detail changes, the owner had some details wrong.
 
The male is the smaller shrimp with clear colouration/opaque swimmerets.
The female is the larger shrimp with colour/patterned swimmerets.
She also is carrying dark red to browny/purple eggs that were not apparent when I put her in the tank.  Getting pictures/video of the eggs has been a no go today. I don't want to harass her too much.  Ill try again in a few days once the eggs have developed a bit more and are easier to see.
I have updated the posts at the beginning of this journal to be reflective of these new details.

Stay up to date with my breeding efforts:
Regal Tang RegalTangBreeding
Mccullochi Clownfish MccullochiClownfishBreeding 

I like this picture

 
I now have confirmation on the eggs, pictures and video will follow once they all upload.
The following two pictures in the GIF were taken during the same minute and show movement within the eggs.


Movement within the eggs, note: You need to look in full screen in high res to see details.

 

Stay up to date with my breeding efforts:
Regal Tang RegalTangBreeding
Mccullochi Clownfish MccullochiClownfishBreeding 

Awesome pics and clip!
 

wow.

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

Nice pics and video.  What equipment are you using to take those?

 
I use a Canon EOS 7D with a Canon MP-E 1-5x macro lens.  The body is 1.6x, so in the case of the eggs, it was at maximum macro, so 8x magnification.
In concept its very similar to the bellows lens that Jim uses.

Stay up to date with my breeding efforts:
Regal Tang RegalTangBreeding
Mccullochi Clownfish MccullochiClownfishBreeding 

 
Thanks guys I appreciate it.

Stay up to date with my breeding efforts:
Regal Tang RegalTangBreeding
Mccullochi Clownfish MccullochiClownfishBreeding 

Big news, I have many, many fry.
 
Video of them is uploading now, will link to it once its up.
I went a little overboard with the video, iMovie is fun (sorry).

Stay up to date with my breeding efforts:
Regal Tang RegalTangBreeding
Mccullochi Clownfish MccullochiClownfishBreeding 

Summary video including fry

Stay up to date with my breeding efforts:
Regal Tang RegalTangBreeding
Mccullochi Clownfish MccullochiClownfishBreeding 

Beautiful video.  Love the music.

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

Some macro shots of the fry at 20 hours

 

Stay up to date with my breeding efforts:
Regal Tang RegalTangBreeding
Mccullochi Clownfish MccullochiClownfishBreeding 

Fry at about 44 hours 
    
  

Stay up to date with my breeding efforts:
Regal Tang RegalTangBreeding
Mccullochi Clownfish MccullochiClownfishBreeding 

The following photos are approx 68 hours post hatch.

Most now have 5 sets of legs, some still with four
 

Eye stalk development
 

In terms of length, they are approx 4.5x the length of NHBBS (so 4.5 * 0.5 = 2.25mm long)
This is based on a NHBBS (422um - 517um so just under 0.5mm) photographed at the same magnification and then a rough measurement of this photo in comparison.  
 
In the last 24 hours they have gone through 2 x 10ml serves of NHBBS (approx 50% NHBBS, and 50% water).  The number of fry has reduced, I would estimate 75-100 remain.
Cleaning of the screen in the kressel provides many molts, to they are growing quickly and well by the look of it. 
They are much easier to spot now, bright yellow in colour.

Stay up to date with my breeding efforts:
Regal Tang RegalTangBreeding
Mccullochi Clownfish MccullochiClownfishBreeding 

Approx 92 hours post hatch

 

 
Approx 116 hours post hatch

 

 

 

Stay up to date with my breeding efforts:
Regal Tang RegalTangBreeding
Mccullochi Clownfish MccullochiClownfishBreeding 

10 days, all going well.  They are eating well, going through good numbers of NHBBS.
Have about 15-20 remaining, so am continuing to lose a few but overall fairly good I think for a first batch.
 

Stay up to date with my breeding efforts:
Regal Tang RegalTangBreeding
Mccullochi Clownfish MccullochiClownfishBreeding