Green Mandarin (Synchiropus splendidus) Breeding Log!

[mwp]

5-18-06 - I don't even know WHERE to begin but the darn mandarins are rising AGAIN?! I turned off the lights kinda early, maybe 11:15-11:30 PM...just came back into the room to turn off the phyto lights and feed the rotifers and darnit they are doing the mating dance AGAIN. Will we get another spawn 24 hours after the last one?

I'm REALLY seriously thinking about splitting these two apart for a bit...I just don't understand how their bodies can keep producing this much...then again, looks like someone might be shooting blanks with roughly 6 hatched out of 470 or so eggs...

MP

 

[mwp]

Well, 1:00 AM and I tired something a bit different...it may have stopped them from spawning which would be FINE by me I was looking for a better way to shoot the actual SPAWNING event and if the fish are comfortable with this, I think I just found my "easy" makeshift way to do it - 3 cheer's for Mayor Daley's "Blue Bag" recycling program!

Yup...rather than finding actinics from another tank and disconnnecting everything, I realised that placing one of these blue bags between the water's surface and the lights might doe the trick. Sure looks like it...lots of blue light in there..just not sure they'll be comfortable spawning as it's still somewhat "bright" compared to the 2 single moonlights. Of course, when I turned the lights on, even with this blue screen, both mandarins shot into the rockwork...

Maybe another night......? Gonna watch a bit longer...

MP

 

[mwp]

ANOTHER SPAWN - 1:10 AM - I GOT THE SPAWN ON TAPE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

MP

 

[mwp]

Battle PLAN - Video is uploading...I'll start collecting the eggs in a few minutes. Now have to DRAIN the larval tank which has 5 ppm NITRITE in it now...@#$@#!!! REMOVE the sponge filter. 2 water changes (1 from the mandarin tank, 1 from the cardinalfish tank) with that water being used to refill the larval tank AFTER being strained through a 10 micron sieve. Set up the BIG kriesel and add the eggs, ...adjust and hope for the best 'cause another 6 hatching out of 450+ eggs ain't gonna cut it...add the 5-6 live larvae from the mini kriesel tomorrow.

It's 1:20 AM ...geeze...gotta get these fish on an EARLIER schedule!

MP

 

[mwp]

Mandarin SPAWNING VIDEO - yes, VIDEO!

Mandarin SPAWNING VIDEO - yes, VIDEO!

Ha, only took 5 minutes...this is really cool. So, for a change, for all of you who don't have broadband, I figured you might love a short slideshow of this vid. This was the video I was waiting for....probably the next time I'll post any video it'll be of metamorphised mandarins...finally nailed their spawning in a video..it's not PRO but it's GOOD ENOUGH!

To download the quicktime vid, about 4.1 MB, here's the link:

http://www.cichlidrecipe.com/nanoreef/DSCN2492_mandarin_SPAWN.MOV

On to that huge list of "TO DO's" at way too late in the evening!

MP

 

[mwp]

2:20 AM - well, they're all set up, the water is FRESH (5 gallons from the parents tank, 1 gallon from the Cardinalfish and that was enough to get the height right on the 1 gallon drum kriesel when it's sitting on the tank bottom instead of my large specimen container). REMOVED the sponge filter...I somewhat suspect that IT is the cause of my nitrite problem in this larval tank.......

I could REALLY, REALLY use some luck.

SAVE A MANDARIN - ANYONE have S or SS Strain ROTIFERS?!??!??! I'm going to be seiving, but I really think the smaller species might help kick them through the first week.

ANYONE?

MP

 

[mwp]

12:40 PM - well, I checked the water quality in the larval rearer - spot on - pH 8.2, Nitrite 0, Ammonia 0...life is good...no eggs on the bottom but no hatch yet either (still a bit early in the day for it).

Something happened in the Mini Kriesel from the spawn on the 17th...this morning there was only one larvae running around...yes I ended up NOT putting them in the 10 gallon tank. Last night I tried to suck out all the unhatched eggs...I'm thinking i got the larvae TOO...grrr.


MP

 

[mwp]

6:05 - NO HATCH YET. HMMMM.

Well, if this one turns out to be a DUD I feel we've narrowed it down to two possibilities - infertility or the incubator. It *may* be time to separate a mandarin out for a week or two and let them fatten up separately...in the meantime I've caved and will be setting up a propeller-based stirrer tooooooo.

MP

 

[szesteve]

Thanks for providing us with all the updates! Please continue to do so. I love reading up on what's been going on.

 

[mwp]

9:00 pm - ONE HAS STARTED TO HATCH...roughly 100 eggs on the bottom of the kriesel, probably 150 or so still floating. seems kinda late for the hatch to start, but hey, who knows...!

MP

 

[shilo_1]

Tagging along...this is awesome ! Excellent work !

 

[mwp]

Thanks guys for all the compliments.

Well, 11:55 PM it now appears that there are 2 hatched out this time around - TWO. A hatch rate like this just isn't going to cut it...not gonna fly! Time to break out the propellers?

Meanwhile I've been giving the food a consistent good soaking in Selcon...best I can do to keep the food as primed as possible. I may even do a little live brine fortifying as well..really get those guys PUMPED, especially the male. IF 2 eggs are fertilized, likely there were more, but regardless, it means the male is releasing some sperm (which means that even if they hit the surface there IS a release, so for now I'm overlooking tank height as a possible reason for lack of success in hatching).

Admittedly very frustrated...the 1 larvae that was in the mini kriesel is gone and we have a whopping 2 in the big kriesel. I have to do something to increase the hatch rate.

MP

 

[mwp]

So I did another quick water test of the larval tank - pH 8.2, no nitrite or ammonia. Ruled that out as a possible cause, just to be sure.

After these last couple dismal hatch rates with the air driven kriesels (my best hatch was only 25 or so out of a couple hundred eggs) I'm INVESTING a bit more in my Mandarins...broke down and plunked the $100 (when it's all said and done with shipping) and picked up the "complete kit" of the mini hatching vessle for pelagic eggs...let's see how this thing works (might be a great tumbler for my egg-eating cardinalfish too!) - http://www.aquaticeco.com/index.cfm/fuseaction/product.detail/iid/3422/cid/1014

I'm also going to be scrounging up the supplies for a propeller driven system. Now, the funny part is that I already HAVE the motor. I've had it all along. In fact, it's on my "cheapo" rod turner (used for turning fishing rods while the finish is drying). I gotta say, looking at it I have NO CLUE how I'm going to attach a shaft and propeller to it!

Let's hope it's an incubation problem, not a FERTILITY problem!

MP

 

[rsman]

Let's hope it's an incubation problem, not a FERTILITY problem!


these can be one in the same when your talking about peligic eggs.

 

[mwp]

RSMAN, I love your witty comments, especially coming from the more "experienced" side of things

5-19-06 well...11:15 AM I've checked the kriesel and found a grand total of either 3 or 4 mandarin larvae...WHOO HOO. That's total BS. Professional Incubation Mechanism here I come!

MP

 

[FishGuttz]

Would this help at all.

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7296915#post7296915 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by water`bug

 

[mwp]

Fishgutzz...never hurts to have more information, especially when my H. barbouri finally do it

Centrifugal force in a kriesel, at least with the mandarin eggs, is definitley NOT keeping them in the center, but rather keeping them in circulation on 'round the world trips. The horizontal stirring of a propeller may create a totally different "vortex" that's more to the egg's liking. Then again, seeing how things have gone so far, I"m ALMOST tempted to just throw our next spawn in a specimen cup with NOTHING and see what develops.


MP

 

[FishGuttz]

Good luck MWP. You are a dedicated breeder who may be saving the future of many many Mandarins in the wild!

Have you tried raising the first week in green water?

 

[ediaz]

I am not going to browse the thread is too long i am wating for the movie...

Are you using antibiotics in the hatcher?

Ed

 

[FishGuttz]

good question ediaz, I always use maracyn in my spawn/hatch tank.