Green Mandarin spawning

[wdt2000]

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The female is captive breed. Flow is still on so its hard to see much of the release. I plan to grab the eggs next time I catch them in the act.

 

[miketay89]

Nice video, those fish are amazing. And 20 questions to follow.
Is this the first spawn?
What time of day do they spawn?
How long before or after lights out do they spawn?
What is the temp of the tank?
Do they eat pellets or just graze on the pods in the tank?
Congrats and good luck.

 

[wdt2000]

Nice video, those fish are amazing. And 20 questions to follow.[/QUOTE]
Thanks

Is this the first spawn?

I don't think so, but I cannot be sure. They showed interest in December as well, you can see in the picture she is swollen.
From 12-14-2010, she is well under a year old in the picture. I am guessing she is slightly over one year old now. She is ORA captive breed.

What time of day do they spawn?

Right before lights out and right after lights out. This is the first time I have caught them with the lights on.

How long before or after lights out do they spawn?

Minutes before, you can see the larvae trap I was setting up in some of those videos to catch some expected goby larvae.

What is the temp of the tank?

No set temp, but as low as 70 and as high as 77. They seem to do really well at the lower temps.

Do they eat pellets or just graze on the pods in the tank?
Congrats and good luck.

No they eat mysid, its the only food I add to the tank. The tank is also loaded with pods even with 14 seahorses and mandarins. When I leave the larvae trap running for a few hours there are hundreds of pods around my trap light.

Thanks

 

[gcsoupman]

Do mandarins just scatter the eggs, or do they have a spawning area?

 

[wdt2000]

Do mandarins just scatter the eggs, or do they have a spawning area?

They are pelagic broadcast spawners, so they just release their buoyant eggs into the water. In theory they should be easy to collect, I have not tried to collect them yet.

I do have a tank ramping up A.tonsa in preparation for the next spawn I catch.

 

[snorvich]

Wonderful video. I have watched them do this in the ocean many times. If you can simulate sunset they will spawn in the "last light of sunset" just into night.

 

[wdt2000]

Now that you mention it, they have a nice large window. I wonder if they spawned around that time.

On a side note, the larvae always seem to swarm in the direction of that window as well even when there tanks are blacked out, I guess there it pretty hard to blackout the sun.

 

[snorvich]

Now that you mention it, they have a nice large window. I wonder if they spawned around that time.

On a side note, the larvae always seem to swarm in the direction of that window as well even when there tanks are blacked out, I guess there it pretty hard to blackout the sun.

I believe they are phototropic.

 

[jeosbo]

Fantastic video! Hopefully you will be able to collect a spawn soon and start the real fun ;-)

 

[wdt2000]

I believe they are phototropic.

Indeed, the sun must still be very strong because the tanks are blacked out and yet they still know were that window is at all times.

 

[wdt2000]

Fantastic video! Hopefully you will be able to collect a spawn soon and start the real fun ;-)

Thanks

I tired last night with no luck. As soon as I turned off the return pump they decided to stop. I will try again monday night.

 

[vwwanksta69]

Awesome video, hope you get to raise some

 

[wdt2000]

Not sure if they are even eggs, but I found these floating on the top of the water tonight. Time will tell or some expert

Closer

 

[jeosbo]

They look kinda like pics of eggs I have seen...but I am nowhere near ready for pelagic spawners so I really have no first had on this one. Hopefully they are eggs, hopefully they will hatch, hopefully you can raise them, hopefully I will shut up now ;-)

 

[vwwanksta69]

They sort of look like eggs that I have seen for pelagic spawners....

 

[wdt2000]

Those were indeed Mandarin eggs. The prolarvae are now moving about, sorry no pictures as I have too few to risk getting them under a microscope.

 

[jeosbo]

Congrats and good luck! We need more people raising these imo!

 

[vwwanksta69]

Awesome, I hope they are/stay healthy

 

[clowndude]

Wow, awesome video. Keep us posted on the baby eggs. Exciting stuff.

 

[wdt2000]

Still alive and starting to take shape. I will try and get some video tonight if any are still alive.