Gobisoma puncticulatus spawn

[oceanarus]

Just had some of these spawn yesterday. I think they are supposed to be easy to raise. Haven't had a chance to do any research on it yet. Anybody have any first hand experience with these that wants to share any tips?

Here's a couple of pictures

They laid the eggs on the aquarium sealant in the corner (which makes them hard to see in the photo), in spite of the fact that there are many other suitable (and removable) spawning sites in the tank. So I suppose we will have to resort to trying to collect larva from the tank. I don't know how many hundreds of spawns from over a dozen different types of fish and I have never had to collect larva before. No wait I remember scooping baby giant danios from out of the indoor pleco pond, but we weren't specifically trying to spawn them.

Anyway, after these eggs hatch we will be putting tile in the corner and hopefully they will spawn on it. This is a 10 gallon tank split in 1/2 with 3 redheads on one side and 4 on the side with the eggs. We do not know which female put the eggs down or the sexes of the other fish for that matter. But the male is vigorously tending this nest.

Wow, while I was typing this post and uploading the pictures, Amy was feeding the fish and noticed that on the other side where there is 3 of them, there is a nest as well. Also on the sealant but nearer to the bottom of the tank. Looks like we will have to get proficient at collecting larva. It's funny because we actually chose neon gobies for this setup. Originally there was a pair of neons on one side and a male with 2 females on the other. The male of the pair died within a few days after purchase and the other male harrased his 2 females so badly I just traded them all in for the redheads. The redheads have a much better disposition.

 

[NicoleC]

These guys command a hefty price in CA, so I wish you much luck with raising the babies!

Maybe you could cover one of your tiles or removeable spawning sites with silicone, since they seem to like that substrate? Or maybe they just liked the vertical corner?

 

[oceanarus]

Yah, I'm thinking of taking a couple pieces of glass and joining them with silicone and sticking it in the corner. These fish aren't cheap around here either, they go for around $35 in the fish stores, and that is for WC fish.

 

[NicoleC]

There ya' go -- maybe they'll go for that as a suitable egg spot.

If they are easy to raise and can command a good price, this might be a fish where CB can undercut the price on WC. They would be quite popular, I think, especially among the nano crowd, if the price weren't so high.

Keep us posted!

 

[oceanarus]

We've got babies Lots of babies

Seems that the parents didn't mind me scooping the babies out of the tank and considering all the problems that can be encountered with trying to aireate a nest I think I'm going to continue letting them spawn where they want and let them tend the nest.

The first nest hatched out today and the second one on the other side should hatch very soon.

I got a new camera that I am happy with because it takes much better pictures all the way around, except, that it won't take pictures through the microscope like my old cheap camera did but I never could have taken the pictures above with my old camera. I'll have to go borrow it back from the friend I gave it to so I can get some shots of a baby. They seem to be as long as a newly hatched ocellaris but are very slender and translucent so when you are looking at them with the naked eye in the tank, they look very tiny. We have offered them S-rotifers and they seem to be taking to it, fingers crossed for luck!

Amy (gobie goddess haha)

 

[Kathy55g]

Congratulations, and good luck!

 

[oceanarus]

The second nest on the other half of the tank also hatched and I collected a bunch of babies which seem to be doing great. Then a day later both males have new nests. One cool thing I noticed is that one of the males actually helped the babies out of the eggs and then spit the babies up to the surface which made it easy to collect them. Another thing I noticed is that they are growing a lot faster than our yellow watchman goby larva. I'll try to get some pictures of them next time.

Amy

 

[NicoleC]

It sounds like they are very good fathers, indeed. Not bad for new parents! In light of this development, your decision to collect the babies instead of removing the nests seems especially sound.

 

[oceanarus]

Got my old camera back from my friend and got a couple decent shots through the microscope. The day 7 baby could be either 6 or 7 days old. We put all the babies from both nests that hatched a day apart in the same tank.

 

[oceanarus]

Well I guess it is time for an update. Both spawning groups are staying on the same routine, spawn Tues/Wed hatch on Sun/Mon. One pair continues to spawn on the silicon seam and the other pair has switched to a small pot. We tried pulling the pot before hatching but had less sucess than if we let the male tend and hatch them out. It is a bit tedious scooping out babies, but it seems to be the most reliable and productive way to go.
And here is what you are all tuning in for...........

A six week old baby. This one is the first out of it's batch to settle out. It seems that simultaneous to settling out is the development of the red color in the head and stripes on the body.

These fish haven't been very easy to raise, fairly similar to the yellow watchman gobies.

 

[NicoleC]

Nice. How big are they when they settle out?

 

[oceanarus]

I would guess a little over 1/4". I'll try to get a better shot where you can compare one against a scale, and where it is better in focus

 

[NicoleC]

Not bad. Looks like growout time will be similar to YWG to get them to sellable size?

 

[oceanarus]

They grow about the same rate so far but I think that getting them to sellable size will be sooner because, the YWG max size is 3 to 4" and LFSs usually get wild ones at 2+" so we have to sell them at 1 to 1.5", the red head max size is only 2" so I'm thinking we should be able to sell them at 3/4 to 1". Also the growth rate may speed up after they settle out, we'll have to see........

 

[oceanarus]

Here's a couple more shots. In one of them you can see him posing in front of a test vial for size reference.

There are 2 of them settled out now. Can't wait till they are all setting on the bottom.

 

[laverda]

oceanarus: Very cool! I picked up two tiny red heads a bout a month ago and they doubled in size in about two weeks. I would guess they are full grown now. I would love to buy some of your fry when they get big enough.

 

[mwp]

Oceanarus, can you provide more specific details of how you raised up these guys? Might be helpful with my "mystery" fry!

Thanks!

Matt

 

[laverda]

oceanarus: An up date please.

 

[oceanarus]

Here's a quick rundown on how we raise these guys. The fish spawn every week and there are two pair. The eggs of both pairs hatch within a day of each other so they go into the same tank. The tank is blackened all around with cardboard. The babies are scooped out of the tank at hatchout, all the water comes from the parent tank. They are given S rotifers and IA and light aireation. Keep the rotifer population dense, switch them over to L rotifers after about a week or more. If you need more details check out my yellow watchman goby article in the December issue of Reefkeeping online magazine. However I must say that I have found this particular goby harder than YWG.

Amy

 

[mwp]

Ah, therin' possibly lies the secret - S-Strain vs. L-Strain Rots....

MP