Greenbanded Goby (Elacatinus multifasciatus, Gobidion etc..) Breeding Log

12-19-06 - 48.5 days... - They're all doing well, the largest may be approaching 5/8" (TL) - that's a guestimate. There are still a couple that seem to be runty, but for the most part, they're growing. I'm feeding Otohime B1 in the morning now, followed by cyclops, cyclopeze, enriched BBS, and sometimes a 2nd feeding of Otohime. It seems that every time I look into the tank all the bellies are buldging.

I didn't mention in this thread that I added in a Duetto filter sometime last week...it's definitely helping keep the water cleaner. Ammonia is still creeping up periodically, so I'm running the tank around 6 gallons of water and doing fairly large water changes (up to 4 gallons) when I can. For now, I'm just wondering how much more growth I'll be able to put on these fish by mid-January.

Question for thought - how large do Tank-Raised Gobies such as these need to be before they are a saleable retail size, especially considering that even my full grown female is maybe only 1-1.25" at best?

Matt
 
Anderson, go ahead and purchase them and have them shipped for Thursday arrival next week to my home address....

Seriously, I've actually been thinking about that species for quite some time. I bet I could do it with DEDICATED tanks, but with my community style breeding, a LOT of batches go unnoticed (i.e. to this day I think my Barbouri Seahorses are spawning right in front of me...just never seeing any fry..)

Matt
 
12-21-06, 49.5 days - Well, we're about to round 50 days (around 11 AM). Ammonia has been creeping up again despite my doing some water changes here and there. In fact, I have one going right now, but it looks like tomorrow I'll have to drain it down most of the way and utilize mostly clean water to fill it back up...also considering bringing up the tank's running volume to a capacity (9.5 gallons or so) to help diffuse the buildup of ammonia etc...

Tomorrow, if I have time, I'm going to pull a juvie out and put him under the QX5 to get measurements and some closeup shots...50 days seems like a nice milestone for GBG rearing....they're willing to taste anything I give 'em now (crushed up some Formula 1 pellets...some ate it, some just spit it out). ONLY IF I have time....water changes and other maintenance are going to take forefront until after all the holidays.

Matt
 
12-26-06 - we're at 50.5 days or so and I thought some new pictures were in order. They're definitely growing and have become more reclusive in nature - virtually all the babies are hiding underneath the heater and red gracillaria that are in the tank.

DSCN7682.jpg


DSCN7683.jpg

Note the disparity in size between the two sitting next to each other in the right half of the picture!

DSCN7684.jpg


In looking at how they are growing, I think it's realistic to say that by the end of January they may be ready to all go to new homes - the largest of them could go to smaller Nano / Pico type reef setups now. They're eating Otohime B1 with gusto in the pictures above...it might be time to step up another size soon.

Matt
 
I gotta say, sitting here feeding B1 Oto to the GBGs this evening and just stopping to watch, I think these guys blow any baby clownfish out of the water but that's just my opinion. At this size it already appears that fish are starting to fit certain gender roles (I may have mentioned this earlier, but it's just "more pronounced"). With the largest fish now being the size of your average neon tetra, they're running around the tank with flaired fins, a darkened shoulder region and anal fin, and all the while ALL the fish go about their business picking up food from the bottom and the water column. I can hardly wait to see what another month does to these guys as far as size is concerned, and I'm especially looking forward to selecting another 2 or 4 to make more personal pairs with. While I do have other priorities, I can definitely say I look forward to trying another batch of these in the future....afterall if 20 is this cool, I can only imagine what having 50 or 100 might look like!

I gotta say these are hands down more satisfying than any African Cichlid I reared.

Matt
 
That's just so cool, Matt!

And those latest pics are fantastic! Super kudos for your great success and this great thread about it.

--Diane
 
Peter, there HAS been some low-level aggression since settlement, but not really over specific territory..I think not having any real territory to fight over may be partially responsible for that. You may recall, with my initial pair, at first there was a lot of chasing and bluff, but once they settled into their sexual roles that stopped. I suspect that once these are paired out things will settle down pretty quickly.

Diane, how are your GBG's doing?

Matt
 
Matt, do you have any reference to how long GBGs live ? know neon gobies are short lived but don´t know about others like GBG, yasha or orange watchman...
Anderson.
 
Well Anderson, GBGs are supposed to be 1 year fish like Neons, but of course in reality they last longer. We're just past a year on our pair, and they had to be at least 3-4 months old when we purchased them...

Matt
 
Aw, I'm sorry to hear they're reputedly short-lived...

Matt, in answer to your question a few posts back, my gbgs have continued breeding regularly and I've just continued to let the larvae disappear in the main tank. I simply do not have the time to set up and maintain the live food tanks their raising requires. I feel bad about this, but I am happy to have the adults experience their full range of behavior...


Thanks for asking! You can rest assured that you'll be getting no competition from me... :)

--Diane
 
66.5 days post hatch now, might as well show some new pictures!. The percula juvies in the pictures are 30 days old tonight (from "Batch VI") The gobies are still growing well, almost to the size of what's considered "Large" Catalina Gobies. It certainly looks like sexual traits are developing (elongated dorsal spines on the larger fish, suspected males).

DSCN7937_batch6.jpg


DSCN7939.jpg


DSCN7945.jpg


DSCN7949.jpg


DSCN7950.jpg


Also, our male has become quite the relaxed fish nowadays...often hanging out right in front in plain site, waiting for food ;)

DSCN7910_male.jpg


DSCN7911_male.jpg


DSCN7924_male.jpg


FWIW,

Matt
 
Wonderful pics, Matt! Your babies are so plump! Obviously eating well. What is the major part of their diet now?

It's a treat to see one of your adults--great shots of him.

--Diane
 
Diane, the diet I'm giving the GBG's is basically Otohime B1 (they could take larger, but the clownfish aren't ready yet, usually given 2-3 times per day), Ocean Nutrition Cyclops mixed with Cyclopeze and Selcon (usually once per day), and Formula 1 pellets crushed up (also usually once per day). At this point, they're all spoken for, I'm just trying my best to get them to a "good" size for the average aquarium so they're safe when going to their new homes!

FWIW,

Matt
 
68 days old and I tried offering up some adult frozen brine shrimp (SFB Spirulina Enriched). For the most part, it seems that they HAMMERED IT! I already keep their bellies pretty full, but in the coming weeks I hope to have them all accepting frozen brine as a new component in their diet...at that point, I think they'll be fully considered "ready to go" ;)

Matt
 
Awesome Matt!

Congrats, goes to show hard work pays off in the end.

How big are they int he pics? Like 3/4" Not real familiar with gobies, when will you consider a success and have them to marketable/salable size?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

D
180 Gallon reef tank build
Replies
7
Views
5K
McGee10
McGee10
stpauli914
FS: 30 Gallon Deep Blue Rimless complete reef!!
Replies
6
Views
2K
stpauli914
stpauli914
Dangleflow9
Hyposalinity, Clownfish Mating, and Proper Diet
Replies
0
Views
2K
Dangleflow9
Dangleflow9
Redsox Nation
FS: HUGE lot, multiple systems
Replies
8
Views
2K
Bretty999
B
zachtos
Zachtos 300G SPS reef build (Wisconsin)
3 4 5
Replies
96
Views
41K
McPuff
McPuff
Back
Top