Travis L. Stevens
Active member
First and foremost, I have to give a HUGE thanks to Jonathan (YoungSilver). He brought me a mated pair of Yellow Watchman Gobies. I've always wanted to breed fish. I figured I would be starting with Clownfish or Seahorses like most people. But because of Jonathan, he has pushed me to take it a step further. Here in this thread, I'll keep a log of important milestones and update with pictures. Once again, thanks Jonathan.
My goal here is to keep a detailed log for other aquarists to use as a guide. Of course, little is known about breeding most marine fish. So, I'll attempt to get all the information I can as well as post it here.
September 17, 2006: The Surprise
The Yellow Watchman Gobies made the trip from Plano, TX to Stillwater, OK in their typical bag of water. They were taken to Kyoto Japanese Steakhouse with a lot of other fish to be placed in the tank. I show up just in time to see everything. As I thumbed through the bags that Jonathan had brought like a child on Christmas Morning, I stumbled across a bag with what looked like a Yellow Watchman Goby. As I mumbled out loud and incoherently the name of the fish, Jonathan pronounced that it was a mated pair. Upon closer inspection, I see the female hiding in the corner of the bag. With the insuing persistant yet cordial name calling such as "Lucky", "You suck", and various other names and descriptions to rib Jonathan, he informs me that they are a present to me! I was under the impression that they will be going in his setup when he gets back to Stillwater. Unfortunately, I don't have a home ready for the pair. So, they had to go back with Jonathan to his home in Stillwater.
September 20, 2006: Transfered
After a lot of thought, on Wednesday I went to pick up the pair. It was difficult to decide if they needed to stay in their current residence or come home with me. I couldn't put them in the display of my 29g tank. I'ld later be transfering them and there would be no way that I could catch them later. I could fill up the 10g tank that I'm working on, but it would be too new, sterile, and a cycle would sure to follow after adding them. The only given place that I could put them was in my sump. So, off I go to get the gobies. I get there and everyone seems to be doing fine. Now it's time to terrorize the tank. In short, I ended up having to take all the mechanical things and the rock out of their holding tank to get them. When I first did this, all I found was the male goby and a Rainford Goby that was being held for Jonathan. Because I've had similar things happen, I knew that the female had to be hidden in a rock. I then inspected all the rocks that the female goby could and could not fit into. I left out the ones that she couldn't fit in and put the ones that she could fit in back in the tank and took them out after about five minutes. I was guessing that the female goby would quickly come out and bury in the sand. I removed the rocks only to find she still wasn't there. This time I put the rocks back and waited about 15 minutes with the lights out. I came back, removed the rocks, and found her in the bottom of the tank. She was stressed, but not bad. I slowly coaxed her into the net and gently lifted her out of the water and into the bucket. By this time it's 10pm. I head home and immediately begin to drip acclimate them. While acclimating them, I get the sump ready by adding a couple pieces of rock and some grating to keep them from flowing over into the pump section. After that, they were ready to be placed in the sump. I get them in there and they immediately start to look around the tank very calmly. Man, they have such a personality. I then attempted to feed them Cyclopeeze. They didn't really take to it from the water column, but the male sifted some debris from the bottom of the tank. Who knows why or what he ate. I then fed a little Mysis Shrimp. This time, the male and the female ate one piece each as it slowly fell toward their mouth. That gave me quite the boost of confidence. I watched them for a while longer to see any interaction. The male and the female crossed each others paths and the female turned around and nipped the male's tail. But the male didn't seem to mind and they both kept on exploring. It was strange behavior, but I thought of it more like a pat on the back from one person to the other. By now, it's about midnight and I'm ready for bed.
Also, I held a brief conversation with NicoleC about her Yellow Watchman Gobies. I asked a few simple questions regarding pairs of Yellow Watchman Gobies and about Pistol Shrimp. With our conversation I decided that when everything finally gets switched over to their respective tanks, the Yellow Watchman Gobies will have the whole 29g tank to themselves and will get some roommates. I hope to get a mated pair of Pistol Shrimp to go with them. But back to the point. Here is what I learned beyond basic care for them:
*Just because they are different colors doesn't mean they are a pair. The coloring is not sex related, although *usually* pairs are yellow male and grey/blue female.
*Be forewarned that YWG's are prone to bacterial infections after capture, so keep an eye on them for any signs of pink/red on or under the surface of the skin while you start training them to prepared food.
*Links to NicoleC's Breeding and Raising attempts:
- http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=347239
- http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=684921
September 21, 2006: Day 1
Well, after a hard day at work with my family and the gobies on my mind, I finally get home at about 7pm. I look in the sump hoping that they didn't jump out or get into a section of the sump they aren't supposed to be. There, peering through the glass at me, were both the gobies. The opening of the stand door didn't seem to bother them at all. They had made a makeshift den out of what debris was in the bottom and were under the rocks peering out. I fed a little flake food and saw they both ate a piece and went back to my chores and errands. I saw them roaming around the sump before I went to bed. I read the section about fish breeding out of "The Complete Book of the Marine Aquarium" by Vincent B. Hargreaves, and learned a little about how commercial fisheries are set up and about food culturing. I've skimmed through many threads about similar stuff on Reef Central, but now that I might actually attempt raising goby babies, I might as well start researching a little more.
My goal here is to keep a detailed log for other aquarists to use as a guide. Of course, little is known about breeding most marine fish. So, I'll attempt to get all the information I can as well as post it here.
September 17, 2006: The Surprise
The Yellow Watchman Gobies made the trip from Plano, TX to Stillwater, OK in their typical bag of water. They were taken to Kyoto Japanese Steakhouse with a lot of other fish to be placed in the tank. I show up just in time to see everything. As I thumbed through the bags that Jonathan had brought like a child on Christmas Morning, I stumbled across a bag with what looked like a Yellow Watchman Goby. As I mumbled out loud and incoherently the name of the fish, Jonathan pronounced that it was a mated pair. Upon closer inspection, I see the female hiding in the corner of the bag. With the insuing persistant yet cordial name calling such as "Lucky", "You suck", and various other names and descriptions to rib Jonathan, he informs me that they are a present to me! I was under the impression that they will be going in his setup when he gets back to Stillwater. Unfortunately, I don't have a home ready for the pair. So, they had to go back with Jonathan to his home in Stillwater.
September 20, 2006: Transfered
After a lot of thought, on Wednesday I went to pick up the pair. It was difficult to decide if they needed to stay in their current residence or come home with me. I couldn't put them in the display of my 29g tank. I'ld later be transfering them and there would be no way that I could catch them later. I could fill up the 10g tank that I'm working on, but it would be too new, sterile, and a cycle would sure to follow after adding them. The only given place that I could put them was in my sump. So, off I go to get the gobies. I get there and everyone seems to be doing fine. Now it's time to terrorize the tank. In short, I ended up having to take all the mechanical things and the rock out of their holding tank to get them. When I first did this, all I found was the male goby and a Rainford Goby that was being held for Jonathan. Because I've had similar things happen, I knew that the female had to be hidden in a rock. I then inspected all the rocks that the female goby could and could not fit into. I left out the ones that she couldn't fit in and put the ones that she could fit in back in the tank and took them out after about five minutes. I was guessing that the female goby would quickly come out and bury in the sand. I removed the rocks only to find she still wasn't there. This time I put the rocks back and waited about 15 minutes with the lights out. I came back, removed the rocks, and found her in the bottom of the tank. She was stressed, but not bad. I slowly coaxed her into the net and gently lifted her out of the water and into the bucket. By this time it's 10pm. I head home and immediately begin to drip acclimate them. While acclimating them, I get the sump ready by adding a couple pieces of rock and some grating to keep them from flowing over into the pump section. After that, they were ready to be placed in the sump. I get them in there and they immediately start to look around the tank very calmly. Man, they have such a personality. I then attempted to feed them Cyclopeeze. They didn't really take to it from the water column, but the male sifted some debris from the bottom of the tank. Who knows why or what he ate. I then fed a little Mysis Shrimp. This time, the male and the female ate one piece each as it slowly fell toward their mouth. That gave me quite the boost of confidence. I watched them for a while longer to see any interaction. The male and the female crossed each others paths and the female turned around and nipped the male's tail. But the male didn't seem to mind and they both kept on exploring. It was strange behavior, but I thought of it more like a pat on the back from one person to the other. By now, it's about midnight and I'm ready for bed.
Also, I held a brief conversation with NicoleC about her Yellow Watchman Gobies. I asked a few simple questions regarding pairs of Yellow Watchman Gobies and about Pistol Shrimp. With our conversation I decided that when everything finally gets switched over to their respective tanks, the Yellow Watchman Gobies will have the whole 29g tank to themselves and will get some roommates. I hope to get a mated pair of Pistol Shrimp to go with them. But back to the point. Here is what I learned beyond basic care for them:
*Just because they are different colors doesn't mean they are a pair. The coloring is not sex related, although *usually* pairs are yellow male and grey/blue female.
*Be forewarned that YWG's are prone to bacterial infections after capture, so keep an eye on them for any signs of pink/red on or under the surface of the skin while you start training them to prepared food.
*Links to NicoleC's Breeding and Raising attempts:
- http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=347239
- http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=684921
September 21, 2006: Day 1
Well, after a hard day at work with my family and the gobies on my mind, I finally get home at about 7pm. I look in the sump hoping that they didn't jump out or get into a section of the sump they aren't supposed to be. There, peering through the glass at me, were both the gobies. The opening of the stand door didn't seem to bother them at all. They had made a makeshift den out of what debris was in the bottom and were under the rocks peering out. I fed a little flake food and saw they both ate a piece and went back to my chores and errands. I saw them roaming around the sump before I went to bed. I read the section about fish breeding out of "The Complete Book of the Marine Aquarium" by Vincent B. Hargreaves, and learned a little about how commercial fisheries are set up and about food culturing. I've skimmed through many threads about similar stuff on Reef Central, but now that I might actually attempt raising goby babies, I might as well start researching a little more.
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