Green Mandarin (Synchiropus splendidus) Breeding Log!

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I don't know how a tank sitting EMPTY with no filtration, and was filled with 100% fresh water can develope nitrites approaching 1 ppm! I just don't get that one! Draining the larval tank, hopeing for the best with tonight's spawn (which hopefully will happen)!

An edit/addition rather than a new post - I've drained out the larval tank and given it a quick cleaning and wipe down. New water is already being mixed. 12:15 PM, I've just turned out the lights and turned off the pumps on the mandarin tank....this shouldn't take TOO long...

MP
 
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Well, we've carried over into 6-16, it's now 1:07 AM..about 10 minutes ago I brought out the blue trash bag - figured I'd try to get some more spawning vid, maybe better than the last one? The mandarins are still awake and in their daytime dress but they're kinda freaked out, hanging back in the caves and crevices. A good 10-15 minutes of no commotion should bring them back out to do their thing...they definitely WANTED to earlier on!

The larval tank is SET with 6 gallons of freshly mixed saltwater that's at temp. The flow through 1 gallon kriesel is set up; the twin air feeds are bubbling about 1 bubble per second and the minijet 404 is at the 2nd to lowest flow setting. Current is pretty good in there - smaller air bubbles are getting trapped and occasionally coming out the side. I'm not terribly worried if some eggs get blown out as they should just rise to the top and thankfully the kriesel exhaust is positioned just a couple mm away from the front glass so I should be able to find any escaped eggs. In the FAR corner of the tank I have the air bleed running somewhat vigorously. I'm going without any medications - I had my better hatches without MB and only poor hatches with MB so for now that rules out MB as being helpful (it didn't help the Apogon margaritophorus eggs either; they too ultimately fungused even with a good dosing of MB).

SO...all I need now are the eggs - come ON mandarins!

MP
 
1:35 - those little buggers weren't having ANY of it with the blue trash bag tonight - they were definitely awake but were staying tucked away in the back...every once in a while you'd see movement in the caulerpa jungle. I turned off the lights and removed the trash bag...within moments the male was out crusing around. Guess you'll all just have to enjoy the earlier vid I got lucky enough to capture!

WHERE ARE THE EGGS?!

MP
 
WELL WELL WELL - looks like I finally figured out how to get them to NOT spawn - just bug the crap out of 'em during the late evening. A quick check with the flashlight at 1:45 AM - both appear to have assumed their night dress and gone to sleep :sleep:

Interesting factoid - I've never really paid that much attention to them when sleeping, but apparently the male sleeps with his dorsal fin fully erect - it looks kinda cool!

MP
 
If of interest . . . mating

If of interest . . . mating

Here is a picture that may be of interest . . .

101063image008.jpg


Enjoy.
 
Steve, is that your first mating? Congrats regardless...great pics!

I'd be HAPPY to try to raise your eggs if you're ever able to collect them...IF I can get yours grown up and mine still fail, well then we'd know the issue is with the parents and fertility!

What time of day did they mate? Did you get to see the actual spawning or did you just get to see the pre-spawn courtship rises? If they did spawn, did they do so in the water column or at the surface?

I know, lots of questions, just happy to see someone else in the neighborhood has some mandarins that "do it" too!

Matt
 
I will go with Franks suggestions, after all he is always kicking our ***** when it comes to breeding.

Maybe collecting eggs from Steve will help you pinpoint the problem, is very hard when you only have one pair, maybe you are doing everything right, and it is the pair but ypu don't have another to compare. If this helps mandarins are very easy to get to spawn in well stocked reef tanks, I seen it sveral times, maybe you can get another pair.

As for my reference, it is wilkersons 1996 reference on the paper i sent you. i might have to call her.

Luis , amigo, yo te envio el documento you se lo envie a el. La que lo crio fue Jackie Baez, antes de que llegara Todd.

Jugs? come on Luis, think Carmen Electra, Pamela Anderson it is not a secret code.

Ed
 
LOL Ed, solo sabe un poco de espanol y no hablo bueno ;)

I'm one step ahead of you on the '2nd pair' although it's Synchiropus stellatus instead of splendidus. They're young but it didn't take long to get them on frozen foods. Now just PUMPING them full of food and good water quality to get them to grow fast...another month or two if I'm lucky I can put them together! But YES, I'd love to try to raise Steve's eggs if he's willing to collect them or let me come over at an ungodly hour to collect them myself ;)

Frank's suggestions...if he doesn't respond in a week I'll probably just post them, but to sumarize it includes freshly mixed water, antibiotics, a slow air feed and probably a 10 gallon tank and nothing more. He also brought up fertility issues related to diet, parents etc.

ONE interesting concept that was brought to my attention by Allan (I think that's his name), the shop owner at one of our LFS (Old Orchard). He mentioned that a LOT of the importers on the west coast are running copper in their systems. OF course, this could damage reproductive organs. If my mandarins hit copper for long enough before getting sent from over west to our local wholesalers, I could be dealing with sterilized mandarins. THOUGHTS?

My $0.02, if copper was causing sterility in fish, then your average fish in the shop is probably not going to be a fish you can breed with! Talk about another BIG hurdle to overcome! As breeders we may not only have to worry about drug-caught fish, but drug-treated fish!

MP
 
1:35 PM - 6 ML of standard household bleach has been added to the rearing tank water to sterilize. Later this evening I'll dechlorinate at least a few hours before the spawn (assuming there is one)

Matt
 
I think i heard some of Franks suggestions before, but can't think where;-)

I don't know if that is the case with copper, my knowledge is limited, but is possible. I know for a fact that copper treatment can make clownfish stop spawning but they will resume after a while, all my brrodstock though, has been hold in a copper system, dottybacks, gobies, grammas, clownfish and they are all spawning. If mandarin are specially suceptible to this i don't know, you will need to request your fish to be held copper free, hard to do, but posible.

Ed
 
Great thread,I learned many things!:p
Next time I shop at a U.S.store,I must ask the female attendant:"and I´d like to take those two milk err...bottles"
The field observations of mandarin spawns are great.Though mandarins don´t have four pectoral fins,no way;)
I was shocked to know they catch them by needle spearing:mad: How many survive this ordeal?.Why they don´t use nets?.Mandarin are not that fast:(
And how the researchers could be there to catch the spawn in a plastic bag,on a boat over the reef?Amazing!

With species rising in the water column to spawn,water height might indeed make things easier.Our aquariums are usually too shallow.A drum can be a cheap solution for small species,even with it´s viewing and aesthetic limitations.A tall acrylic cylinder would be fine,except for the cost.I would see if I can raise my few fertile eggs before investing in such a project.

Mandarins are the only pelagic spawners hobbyists could raise,the obvious entrance to the rearing of other pelagic spawners in the future.
 
IF I had a basement type setup, I"d be SOOOO there already guys! Seriously, no room to put another tank, it's not allowed, and well, I'm lucky that Renee puts up with as much as she does! ;)

Those round tall fiberglass tanks are very cool - they'd probably be PERFECT!

Matt
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7573686#post7573686 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by mwp

Those round tall fiberglass tanks are very cool - they'd probably be PERFECT!

Matt
Click to expand...
Almost perfect;) you don´t see clearly,it´s like a frosted glass.
But so much cheaper than an acrylic tank!:)
 
Don't have a chlorine test Kathy but my gut says it's good ;) I've bleached a LOT in my days gone by!

Not like it matters anyways...those rats...they went to BED instead of spawning tonight, no courtship, nada, nothing! The female was ripe all day and I really don't think I missed a spawn on the Thursday night/Friday AM shift...GRRR!

MP
 
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