430gal., L-shaped display
- Thread starter JohnL
- Start date
"Umm fish?"
Premium Member
Oh, but that should be a good thing, right? 
Not the one I've been using. I have a couple where I can, but doing it is a big pain.
Not the one I've been using. I have a couple where I can, but doing it is a big pain.
"Umm fish?"
Premium Member
Not only a big pain but also usually results in dust all over the sensor.
"Umm fish?"
Premium Member
And 189 more eggs tonight!
Amazing
Amazing
Andy,
These are incredible photos.
Expecting breakthroughs in aquaculture from you!
LL
Amazing
Andy,
These are incredible photos.
Expecting breakthroughs in aquaculture from you!
LL
"Umm fish?"
Premium Member
Check it out! Lots of prolarvae today!
So, this is with normal processing to make it easier to see:
This is with the curves pushed way out of normal to increase the contrast:
And labelled:
And another prolarva:
They still don't have working mouths and their eyes may not work yet, but probably time to start acclimating them to the larval rearing tank. "Rearing" is an awfully hopeful word, yeah?
So, this is with normal processing to make it easier to see:
This is with the curves pushed way out of normal to increase the contrast:
And labelled:
And another prolarva:
They still don't have working mouths and their eyes may not work yet, but probably time to start acclimating them to the larval rearing tank. "Rearing" is an awfully hopeful word, yeah?
"Umm fish?"
Premium Member
LL--Sorry. Missed your post earlier. Thanks! I'm still new though. Odds of me getting any through are pretty low. I'm stubborn, though, and will bang my head away at things.
I set up a shallow flow-through water bath with water from the larval system for temp control and started a slow (1 drip/4-5 seconds) acclimation line. I've put in some 120 micron fabric around the rim of the container to retain the fish. Hard to do, as I may never see them again.... In the future, I may just take a cup of rearing tank water and pipette the eggs directly into that so I can be a little less worried about acclimation.
I set up a shallow flow-through water bath with water from the larval system for temp control and started a slow (1 drip/4-5 seconds) acclimation line. I've put in some 120 micron fabric around the rim of the container to retain the fish. Hard to do, as I may never see them again.... In the future, I may just take a cup of rearing tank water and pipette the eggs directly into that so I can be a little less worried about acclimation.
EnglishRebel
Retired Rebel Reefer
Amazing work Andy. You're on the forefront of breeding. Hope things work out and you get a nice lot of juveniles.
"Umm fish?"
Premium Member
Thanks, Alan! It hasn't been so difficult so far. What I'm doing is something anybody could do. The crazy tank just makes it easy to collect the eggs. I'm not sure how I'll ever be able to tell if they are eating, though. Look at that picture up there. That's taken in a small, white container with a light pointing up from the bottom and you can hardly see the fish. I'm putting them into a big (17 gal.), black container with thousands upon thousands of other creatures (food items). How the heck am I ever going to find them again?
"Umm fish?"
Premium Member
Sixline update:
Yesterday: 3 meals, 58 eggs of not terribly good quality (not very buoyant).
Today: 5 meals, 288 eggs, very few not floating right at the surface of the water.
You think nutrition plays a role in egg production? And people wonder why their fish don't spawn in typical reef tanks.
Yesterday: 3 meals, 58 eggs of not terribly good quality (not very buoyant).
Today: 5 meals, 288 eggs, very few not floating right at the surface of the water.
You think nutrition plays a role in egg production? And people wonder why their fish don't spawn in typical reef tanks.
EnglishRebel
Retired Rebel Reefer
You'll see them when they grow.
"Umm fish?"
Premium Member
Actually, I had an idea (gasp) about that. I took a container, cut off the bottom, and installed mesh. I'm going to suspend that in the rearing tank and add the eggs straight to that. The mesh is small enough that no nasties should bug the developing eggs, they will need no acclimation, and in the future I could use the containers as places to hold feeding trials where the fish are contained in a small enough space that I might have a chance to find them again.
Taqpol
New member
Sorry if I keep cluttering up this thread with information not directly related to your build, but you seem to be one of the most knowledgeable people on marine fish behavior, nutrition, and health so I thought I would ask this question here and hope that your response can help other people.
I just lost my female mandarin to completely unknown causes. She was fat, no one bugged her in the tank (my male mandarin was submissive and hid all the time), and showed no signs of lethargy or labored breathing. When a fish dies so mysteriously do you do anything special to try and determine the cause of death? Do you have any suggestions for what i should do right now? The only marine fish I've ever lost have sadly been to known and preventable causes...
More information about the state of my mandarin when I found her and some pictures soon are on the last page of my build thread (red house).
I just lost my female mandarin to completely unknown causes. She was fat, no one bugged her in the tank (my male mandarin was submissive and hid all the time), and showed no signs of lethargy or labored breathing. When a fish dies so mysteriously do you do anything special to try and determine the cause of death? Do you have any suggestions for what i should do right now? The only marine fish I've ever lost have sadly been to known and preventable causes...
More information about the state of my mandarin when I found her and some pictures soon are on the last page of my build thread (red house).
"Umm fish?"
Premium Member
Oh, heck, _I_ keep cluttering up the thread with things not related to the build. I understand that forums like keeping information in quick-and-neat, question-answer format for ease of searching later, but that's just not a natural way that conversations happen. Besides, I know how to get back on topic when I need to. 
So, please, feel free to discuss anything.
Right off the bat, I am not all that knowledgeable about fish, but thanks for saying that. I'm winging it just like most everyone else here.
When fish die, I usually do an external exam. Whether it's a quick one or a more extensive one, I do look at them. It's funny how often you can find things by just looking for what looks wrong or out-of-place. If I'm really interested in trying to figure out the cause of death, I will put the animal under a dissecting scope so I can get a closer external look.
I have very little experience with dissection, so I don't usually go for internal exams. The honest truth is that I really doubt I would be able to get any useful information since I don't really know what I'd be looking at in there. On the other hand, the only way to get experience is to actually do the dissections, so I know that I should probably do it. I'm certainly not going to kill a healthy fish for comparison's sake, though, so that would be more of a long-term project.
I'm also not terribly knowledgeable about fish diseases specifically. I have a couple of books that I consult when I need to, but since it fortunately hasn't come up that often I am still woefully lacking in experience. Most of my attempts to treat diseases have ended with poor results, so I try to keep my fishes well-fed and with healthy immune systems so that they can take care of most of the problems on their own.
But, if there's nothing you can see with the amount of exam that you are comfortable with, then there's really not much else to do. Sorry that I don't have any answers and sorry you lost your mandarin. If you want to delve into it, I would probably try to contact Kelly Jedlicki. She has a forum for fish disease over at Marine Depot and is really nice to deal with.
So, please, feel free to discuss anything.Right off the bat, I am not all that knowledgeable about fish, but thanks for saying that. I'm winging it just like most everyone else here.
When fish die, I usually do an external exam. Whether it's a quick one or a more extensive one, I do look at them. It's funny how often you can find things by just looking for what looks wrong or out-of-place. If I'm really interested in trying to figure out the cause of death, I will put the animal under a dissecting scope so I can get a closer external look.
I have very little experience with dissection, so I don't usually go for internal exams. The honest truth is that I really doubt I would be able to get any useful information since I don't really know what I'd be looking at in there. On the other hand, the only way to get experience is to actually do the dissections, so I know that I should probably do it. I'm certainly not going to kill a healthy fish for comparison's sake, though, so that would be more of a long-term project.
I'm also not terribly knowledgeable about fish diseases specifically. I have a couple of books that I consult when I need to, but since it fortunately hasn't come up that often I am still woefully lacking in experience. Most of my attempts to treat diseases have ended with poor results, so I try to keep my fishes well-fed and with healthy immune systems so that they can take care of most of the problems on their own.
But, if there's nothing you can see with the amount of exam that you are comfortable with, then there's really not much else to do. Sorry that I don't have any answers and sorry you lost your mandarin. If you want to delve into it, I would probably try to contact Kelly Jedlicki. She has a forum for fish disease over at Marine Depot and is really nice to deal with.
"Umm fish?"
Premium Member
Looking at your photos, I'd be concerned about the fin losses. There's some sort of bacterial infection that can cause that. On the other hand, those could also have happened as part of the normal post-mortem decay process. So, did you notice fin issues before she died?
Taqpol
New member
I did not see any fin damage on Friday, and I wasn't home most of Saturday to see anything. Currently all my other fish including the male mandarin don't show any fin loss.
Here's the most recent picture i took of her on 9/10:
For anyone this might help, here's the death shot showing the fin damage:
Here's the most recent picture i took of her on 9/10:
For anyone this might help, here's the death shot showing the fin damage:
"Umm fish?"
Premium Member
I was a little nervous about the pectoral fins, too. But it looks like most of the damage was likely postmortem. Well, I'm afraid that your guess is probably better than mine. She looked really good in the before shot. Hmm.
Taqpol
New member
I didn't see any marks or pinches on the skin, but if you would like to see a few more pictures i have some on the last page of my build thread (red house). I do have an extremely large emerald crab, claw spread of about 4-5", and if he has turned out to be a bit more omnivorous then I thought I might be having crab for dinner...... (not really, but I would have no qualms about ejecting him from the tank)
hoosierpat
New member
I've seen a lot of mandarins perish from some bacteria I would guess that manifests itself in puffy white blotches on the skin particularly over the pectoral fins and eventual fin rot. I don't know what it is but it usually proves fatal in a day or two. I don't see the blotches on yours but the fin rot looks the same.
Andy, I haven't been on your thread in a while and it is still one of the best on RC. Keep it up!
Andy, I haven't been on your thread in a while and it is still one of the best on RC. Keep it up!
