430gal., L-shaped display

["Umm fish?"]

Thanks, Alan! These are all just the easy prelims, though. I know how to catch the eggs. I know how to find and transfer the eggs. I'm getting a clue on what early development looks like and the timing. Next is the hard part.

Jonathan--I guess that's what I modeled it after. I knew I wanted a solid framework to attach the mesh to and wanted as much mesh surface area as possible. That's what my poor little head could come up with.

 

["Umm fish?"]

News from tonight: 218 sixline wrasse eggs. I had a petri dish open, so that's where they went.

And, here's a short video of a sixline wrasse prolarva from earlier today! It's still not too far from hatching. You'll see that the mouth hasn't developed yet and there's still part of the yolk sac where the mouth will be. Also, does it look like the heart is in front of the eyes?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cKm8R7f3R8o

Stills from the video:

Without backlighting:

 

[jnarowe]

stunning video Andy.

 

["Umm fish?"]

Thanks! I need to see if I can find it again today and see if it's started chowing on those ciliates. That would make life nice. I can culture those guys. Hard to crash those ciliates.

------------------------

Looks like we had a power outage last night that I didn't even notice. All of the non-backed up plugs--including the computer that serves up the photos--went down. The fish all look fine upstairs and in the fish room. Looks like the backup generator saved my bacon. Any time I've had something similar happen in the past I've had at least some mortalities. If you don't have a plan for power outages, I'd certainly suggest thinking about one. My bedside clock happens to be on one of the backed-up circuits, so I didn't even get up late to take the kiddo to her camp. Something to consider.

 

[jnarowe]

Good movement in the prolarva BTW. It looks very good.

 

[Sisterlimonpot]

Wow Andy,
It’s almost like sitting through a biology class.... but I'm not actually falling asleep. I'm definitely a visual person so love the pics and videos

 

["Umm fish?"]

I haven't seen sign of it this morning, but I'm finding it much harder to find the prolarvae than the eggs. Go figure. It also might have been damaged from pulling it out to the microscope.

Thanks, Sisterlimonpot. That's why they pay me the big bucks. Or ... not.

 

[michika]

Nice eggs there Andy!

How about some specs on your microscope?

 

["Umm fish?"]

Hey Catherine!

Nice eggs there Andy!

People hardly ever say that to me any more....

The funny thing is that this is just a cheapo Celestron with the LCD viewer instead of eyepieces. I have an old Bausch & Lomb stereo microscope that has much better optics but it's easier to take pictures and video off the cheap one and I don't get headaches from squinting into eyepieces all day.

 

["Umm fish?"]

I left the water flow a little too strong through the collector and when I went down there was flow coming over the top. So, lame collection tonight. I only managed to find about 30 eggs.

 

["Umm fish?"]

Weirdness with the Banggais today. Looks like they may have messed up fertilization on the last batch of eggs. The male held them a looonggg time and finally abandoned them today. I'm a little worried because he had a new mouthful before the end of the day, without taking time to regain any weight. I don't want her to wear him out. At any rate, today is day one.

 

["Umm fish?"]

I spent today working on a culture station. So far, so good. Room for a sump underneath and everything.

 

["Umm fish?"]

Time again for a filefish update. This is day 160 and doing fine.

Male file, day 1:

Male file, day 159 (last night):

Female file, day 1:

Female, day 159:

 

[edwing206]

Spectacular! I love these kind of updates, been reading through the whole thread and gotta say, NICE JOB! Especially with the filefish, it inspires me to try them, I got a LOT of reading and research to do first though.

 

["Umm fish?"]

Thanks!

Looks to me like I need to consider upping the flow in their tank, though. The male's getting quite the belly and the female looks like she could use some more exercise, too. Or, maybe I can start fading the prawn eggs out of the diet. The eggs are pretty much fish crack, but I worry about them being too fatty. The files spend a lot of energy on courtship, though, so it's kind of a fine line to draw. I certainly don't want to stop them spawning.

 

[dtech]

They look amazing the colors have gotten so much brighter, Great Job Andy, the new build loooks great too.

 

[Sisterlimonpot]

I thought the female was just carrying eggs......

 

["Umm fish?"]

Thanks, dtech! It may be that they were just under different lighting at the store. But I have to admit that they look brighter to me, too.

Sisterlimonpot--Man, it's hard to type your screen name when I'm tired. It might be that the female was hydrating. But, she's to the point that she carries a little belly from day to day now. Don't get me wrong, that seems like a good thing. But I also want to avoid fatty liver if I can help it.

I've stated a new long-term project. I'm now trying to draw out one wrasse egg each night and stick it under the scope on video to see if I can document early cell division. Given that fertilization rates seem to be around 1%, it might be a _very_ long term project. But, it gives me something to do while I'm finishing up the culture station.

 

["Umm fish?"]

More on the photo parade. Looks like the madarins might go again tonight. Look at that belly:

Stupid jawfish tricks. "Look! I can balance a piece of sand on my head!" It was there for several hours.

And corals in the display tank. They are finally starting to color up.

Thanks!

 

[jnarowe]

sweet. love that jawfish pic!