Dottyback

[InfernoAries]

Hi,

I was looking under my tank for my pistol shrimp trying to find some new shrimp gobies I added recently, didn't find them but saw my male dottyback, don't remember what species he is, but then I noticed a ball of eggs when he moved away. About a year or so ago I just happened to look in my tank one night and saw tons of little fry, I knew my clowns weren't yet spawning but had no idea who was, now maybe that mystery is solved. I'm hoping to catch these guys when they hatch but I have no clue on how to care for them. Anyone have any information or can point me to some?

I'm really surprised they spawned. I just moved my tank about 2 weeks ago from a 210 I chipped the corner on and didn't trust any more into the new 225.

I found the species, Cypho purpurescens (Mccullochi dottyback)

I attached pictures of dad and eggs, I think... not sure if I did it right.

 

[ichthyogeek]

Oh wow! You have some nice looking dottybacks! I recommend getting a copy of Wittenrich's "Complete Illustrated Breeder's Guide to Marine Ornamental Fish" or something like that. It gives a pretty detailed description on how to care for the larvae. Unfortunately, I think I've read that dottyback larvae are rather fragile, but you can still look into making a larval collector and collecting the larvae at night.

In order to raise the little guys, you'll need at least a few rotifer cultures and a can of brine shrimp (not one of those little tubes, a giant frigging can) as well as some form of rotifer enrichment (phytoplankton/RotiGro). Here are two links about the dotties in question: http://************.com/2010/08/10/captive-bred-cypho-purpurascens-rarity/
http://www.marinebreeder.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=208&t=3226
Best of luck!

 

[InfernoAries]

Thanks, found some helpful information. Got the nursery set up, hopefully it'll cycle fast enough and I will have success. I've tried to rear clown fry a few times with no success so I'm not getting too hopeful, but staying optimistic, if I can even get lucky enough to catch them hatching, there's no way of getting to the eggs in the hideout dad has.