Captive Breeding

[pwhitby]

I wanted to start a new thread on captive breeding and the issues associated to keep the others online.
here is the basis of the conversation

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=887622

the main issues are what do we need to figure out before we can begin and make succesful a captive breeding program

 

[Gwalker]

I think you need to state what are the target species of the program. Then have member input on what avalible information is out there on the species being worked with. Then you need to document everything associated with the attempts, whether successful or not.

 

[herpchat]

I know manderine fish have been bred but I don't know if anyone has raised the fry from them. I totally plan to raise the fry.

If I set my mind to it Rack 3 or Rack 4 can be converted to salt giving me 8 tanks either way dedicated to breeding.

 

[pwhitby]

seems getting the fry to eat is the hard part.

 

[dugg]

I think the Manderine would be a perfect candidate, due to it's high mortality rate as a wild caught fish because of thier particular eating habits. It kills me every time i go into the LFS and they have 15 of them in one or two tanks starved beyond repair.

 

[Youngsilver]

i attempted to pair a healthy male and female at the shop today, and the female would turn her back to the male, the male's fins were all open, including his front dorsal... then he'd nip her, for about 30 minutes, they did this before I decided to remove her. Any input on this?

 

[LotR Clown]

Easiest route is to get a male first. Acclimate to your tank for a few months. Then add the female. If you do it the other way around, the newly introduced male will spend too much time displaying and will starve since they are usually already in an emaciated state. This has been my experience.

Kevin

 

[dugg]

Here is a link i found for a guy that is trying to keep them in a nano system. Not breeding them, but lots of good research on feeding, and culturing your own pods. Worth a read for sure.

http://joshday.com/mandaringoby.htm

 

[herpchat]

I have already decided to devote a rack to culturing live food, mainly isopods and gammarus shrimp. Seahorse.org has lots of good info on culturing live food. Once I am confident in my live food then I might try.

I know Mandarines are egg scatterers from all that I have read. In the wild they swim about a meter off the reef and deposit their eggs in the water. Because of this I would devise some sort of egg trap so as the eggs go in the current I can scoop them up and deposit them in a 30 flat for hatching. I suppose a microreef might be in order with microbrine with enrichment and baby mysis.

 

[Travis L. Stevens]

Gerald, I'm not a huge fan of tooting a different forum (mainly I'm scared of BrianD's Ban Stick [running joke in the lounge]), but definitely pay a visit to Dr. Frank Marini.

http://reefcentral.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?s=&forumid=86
http://forum.marinedepot.com/Forum12-1.aspx

There is a lot of headway being made in the breeding of some of the harder to breed fish. Frogfish, Yellow Watchman Gobies, and various Dragonets are becoming closer and closer to a completed cycle of breeding. There are a few people that have managed to pair up a few fish such as Copper Banded Butterflyfish and even Regal Tang. Beyond pairing, nothing has happened. But it just goes to show you that we are advancing. Interestingly enough, most of the people that have managed to pair or even breed some species that were previously never seen paired never actively did anything to their tanks to get them together. Now, the hard part is raising the fry.

 

[pwhitby]

Gerald,

I am sure you will, but please document your attempts as much as possible for a possible presentation of any successes down the line.

P.

 

[pwhitby]

Travis, YWG have been bred succesfully and the fry raised.

 

[Travis L. Stevens]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7764963#post7764963 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by pwhitby
Travis, YWG have been bred succesfully and the fry raised.

Now that I re-read that sentence, it came across completely wrong. I've been following NicoleC's progression on her YWG though, and recommend that everyone reads as much as they can on it. It has some really fascinating stuff.

 

[Russ Braaten]

Has anyone ever had juvenile Clowns accidentally making it to that age in a tank? My clowns are now laying like clockwork. I am not at all set up to even try to raise them right now. I was curious if it was possible to find even just one egg make it just on the stuff that is in a reef tank. I am pretty sure powerheads and other pumps would kill off any chances of one making it.

 

[LotR Clown]

Russ,
Never say never, but highly unlikely of that ocurring. People have a hard enough time when actually trying to get them to survive let alone when they are not trying. It's a food issue. Most tanks will not have the planktonic life forms in a high enough density for even one larval fish to gather enough nutrition to get past metamorphosis.

Kevin

 

[herpchat]

Best thing to do would be to move the eggs to a hatching tank then start hatching some micro BBS and enriching it with selco paste.

 

[herpchat]

Russ;

What species of clown?

 

[Russ Braaten]

I was just curoius, not expecting it to happen. I have false percs.

 

[herpchat]

I do hope you are planning to raise the eggs right?

If not I would be willing to take any eggs you don't want.

 

[Dtking]

I have a question, kinda off subject, but not really, but how do you tell a yellow tail damsel male from a female apart?!...