Green Mandarin (Synchiropus splendidus) Breeding Log!

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9-28-06, 11:30 PM - WE HAVE A SPAWN! - this one is BIG - my guestimate is 500 eggs! They were collected, placed in the 1/2 gallon specimen cup, and the cup is now hung in the larval tank for temp maintenance until tomorrow (when hatching should occur). Tons off eggs everywhere...this could be a SIGNIFICANT hatch, as in several hundred! And I have NO PLACE to try to raise them!!! Time to beg for tank #2!

HMM.

Matt
 
I could try, but I don't have an empty 10 gallon tank to work with...in other words the larvae would not receive the same care and could die prematurely due to factors OTHER than starvation. They may just get thrown into the "larval soup" that is my lone 10 gallon!

Matt
 
BTW, I noticed while collecting the spawn that the water felt very cold...when I checked the digital thermometer it's at 75.2F! The larval tank conversely is 82.5F! That's the broadest temperature INCREASE we'll be working with - typically the broodstock tank has been running at 78F all summer, and our recent successful hatches were at 81.5-82F. If hatching fails, I have at least one likely culprit!

Matt
 
I may have missed it, but is there any new activity with spawning, or interest with female #2?

Again, sorry if I missed it.
 
Home Depot sells plastic storage containers. You could put it in another room like the bathroom or the storage closet. Got a friendly neighbor? Heated garage? Room at the office? Under your desk?
 
Tim, #2 is currently in the cardinalfish tank with a male RSB (and a female RSB who's getting the breeder net treatment). Totally no interest on the male RSB's part when it comes to the female mandarin, so there likely won't be any little hybrid synchiropus :) #2 got moved because female #1 really, I mean REALLY didn't like her.

Kathy, 800 sq. ft. condo in Chicago and I work from home most every day...I have exactly one place to put another container, and that's the obvious vacancy on the top of the wrought iron stand that the first 10 gallon is on (bottom shelf) - except for the 2 tanks that are Renee's, everything else is crammed into "my office" already ;)

Matt
 
All fish typically get beat on when introduced to the tank. Could there be some rock piles or structure built that she could hide in? Within time, couldn't they all just get along? No pun intended...
 
Actually, there's TONS of rockwork macroalgae in which #2 could have saught refuge. Initially things looked to be going OK, but day after day things got worse until I took #2 out. What surprised me at the time was that it was the #1 female getting nasty with #2, but since then I've seen a couple RSB's females in a tank together and they were beyond nasty towards each other too...more so than the 3 males in the tank!

The plan is at some point to get a #2 male for our #2 female and end up with 2 breeding pairs going, but I'm not rushing it...just going to wait to find a nice smaller male (lately, all the ones I've found at LFS's have been 4" behemoths...even found a FEMALE that size!)

FWIW,

Matt
 
An update on the eggs...they've all started sinking (a lot are midwater, neutrally boyant) and hatching has already started at 12:00 pm today.

Matt
 
Another 16 larvae - the total is 76. There are definitely more hatching. Of note, it's worth mentioning that the specimen cup & incubation water smell bad, kinda "rancid"...not strongly but it definitely has an odor. Not sure if the specimen cup hadn't been sufficiently cleaned but there was also a lot of "gunk" in the water last night when I went collecting eggs, moreso than normal.

FWIW,

Matt
 
Found 1 more larvae at 5:30...the running total is 77. It looks like something went awry but this is still the 3rd best hatch....all the eggs look pretty well developed and there could still be a lot more hatching in the next couple hours. The first 77 went into the larval tank...can't really hurt anything, absolute worst case they become food for the leptacanthus ;)

I'm going to keep checking our eggs until the 24 hour mark (or around there). I'm thinking the temp swing was too great and that the stench from the container is a result of too many mandarin eggs going bad. Kinda bummed. I'd have to look back to make sure, but I think the other two specimen cup hatches were spawned on nights a couple hours after 25% water changes. Maybe another partial solution is to harvest half parental water and half clean water for incubation purposes?

Just thinking...I'm still happy that 77 showed up...this is definite proof positive that the higher incubation temp around 82F is helping hatch rates, at least so far. If the spawns continue to "drop off" in hatch rate at the new higher temperature, that would throw the entire "got it" factor right out the window!

FWIW,

Matt
 
"If the spawns continue to "drop off" in hatch rate at the new higher temperature, that would throw the entire "got it" factor right out the window!"

Matt - that doesn't make sense - I think it's pretty clear that Temperature is extremely significant in the increase and success of your hatch rates.
 
What I mean is that if let's say I do three more incubations at 82F, and the hatch rates go something like 35, 15, 4, well that WOULD rule out temp as the promoting factor.

I checked one last time - no new hatchlings, so 77 is the total out of about 500 eggs (didn't bother counting..don't have the patience for it at the moment, preping for other hatches :) )

Matt
 
10-1-06, 12:40 AM, we have another SPAWN! - I know, it's getting old, they spawn ALL THE TIME! This most recent spawn was another good sized effort...I didn't notice any courtship but noticed the females "ovipositor" extended...if that's what it actually is. Anyway, I turned the lights off around 10:30 PM, and didn't check back until 12:40 AM when I noticed the eggs. It looked like they had been there a while...highly sticking, lots of big clumps, no single eggs, and lots of bubbles had formed where they touched the surface.

The eggs have been placed in the specimen cup and are being kept warm by the larval tank. I still have larvae from the hatch 2 nights ago running around, and now there are clownfish larvae in this larval soup of a 10 gallon rearing tank! Heck, I should've thrown the recently hatched GBG's in for good measure!

Anyway, that's the news. I need another 10 and I STILL have now way to justify it that hasn't already been brought up ;) Renee vs. a 2nd 10 gallon, I have to keep Renee.

Matt
 
Just a couple more notes on incubation. Considering the relative "failure" of the last batch (I know, I would've killed for 77 larvae on the first 35 batches or so!), I made a couple "modifications".

As with the last batch, the parental water was "dirty"...specifically some slime aglae was collected with this batch. After collecting the eggs, I turned the filtration on and let it cycle through a bit before collecting more water to fill the specimen cup. I've also added some freshly mixed saltwater that was pretty much "to temp" do roughly double the incubation container's volume. Cleaner water, that's all I'm really going for here!

We'll see if things go GREAT or otherwise - I won't know the full results until tomorrow night when I return from some Fall Salmon Fishing!

Matt
 
Alrighty, back from salmon fishing (a total bust, too many people and not enough fish ;) ) - Tonight's hatch was 73 viable larvae plus around 300 DOA's. The specimen cup STANK to high heaven...

I'm not really sure what's going on to cause the "stink" factor in these more recent attempts, but I suspect the difference, as I mentioned earlier, is that on the smaller spawns where we had hatches of 150+, I had performed water changes earlier in the day (which included getting rid of most of the brown slime in the tank etc..). "Sterility" of the incubation water may be a factor.

The other factor is possible low dissolved oxygen / no circulation at hatching time. I'm generally fussing around when it comes to hatching, using the little pipette which stirs up the sunken eggs. This wasn't a factor in tonight's hatch.

I'm convinced that while temperature has played a crucial role, it isn't the "last word"...there's definitely some fine tuning to be done!

Tonight's hatch was sacrificed to the female RSB in the breeder net...I don't want to be guessing the age on the mandarin larvae in the larval tank.

FWIW,

Matt
 
Matt keep up the good work.
i agree the smell may be significant of low oxygen...sometimes my low flow tanks will even develop a film on top, so having something low flow but just disturbing the surface may help...

another thought on viability of eggs, seems you are letting the eggs sit in the tank longer, could it be there is more time for eggs to be fertilized by sitting in the cloud of sperm ---> more sticky ...may be a factor, as i know you have looked at the early batches and eggs looked viable, just a thought

sounds like you have more than i would be allowed to pack into your small space, i agree you have to please the boss first, tanks second :)
 
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