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

[mwp]

7-7-06 - FOUND A NEST! - well, for a while now I've been watching the GBGs, trying to figure out where they spawn etc. Well tonight, on a whim, I peaked into a crevice with a flashlight and SHAZAM there's the larger GBG (male?) and a bunch of eggs with eyes! VERY COOL! Likely that I'll be out of town when these hatch out, but I'm going to try to get some pics...won't look like much at first even if I succeed in getting focused in on them, but I'll do my very best!

MP

 

[mwp]

Best I could capture...man I had to contort myself in all sorts of strange positions to get even this poor quality shot!

FWIW,

Matt

 

[mwp]

7-24-06 - well it seems that these guys are indeed still on a routine, yet it must be that hatches are occuring when I'm not around. I took a look earlier in the week and found another goby nest; I expected it to hatch this morning...nope. We were gone for the later half of the day, and when I returned I was somewhat relieved to find the babies still there with those silver eyes pearing out of their little vertical eggs. No hatch at light's out...hmm. The male appears to be sleeping, so I can only guess if/when they'll hatch. I really want to give these guys another go now that I have plentiful supplies of SS-Strain rotifers (and somewhat PO'd mandarins that aren't spawning as often as they did in months past). Harumph...I'm pondering creating some sort of larval collector....I just wonder how many can make it in there with all the cardinalfish lurking (they're typically the ones that notify me when a hatch has commenced by their "Feeding" activity when I haven't put any food into the tank recently!)

Any suggestions as always would be welcome.

Matt

 

[mwp]

As a last ditch effort, I shut down all the pumps a moment ago and tried squirting the eggs with a pipette as suggested in one of the online goby breeding articles. It *should* have caused them to hatch IF they were ready. No hatch, and it seems I kinda ticked off the male a bit between the flashlight and the wierd thing sticking into his cave. OH WELL...hopefully they won't hatch out overnight and be gone come morning; I've actually delayed the lights timing so that I can be onhand for sunrise

Breeding Marine Fish is SOOOOOO frustrating sometimes!

Matt

 

[mwp]

Just a quick update, I started sunrise this morning around 8:15 AM...by 9:10 there wasn't a hatch, the eggs still stuck in the little cave. Hopefully they'll wait until this evening to hatch out, after I'm home from work.

MP

 

[mwp]

@#!$!!! - the cardinalfish got a good meal of live baby gobies sometime while I was at work today. Oh well...maybe the next spawn will be due to hatch more around Tuesday of next week...

MP

 

[mwp]

Well, sometime in the last 27 hours or so THE GOBIES SPAWNED! This is pretty sweet; now that I've found where they lay their eggs it's going to be pretty easy to check up on 'em and hopefully figure out when to capture them etc...now that I know they're back on a weekly routine, it might be time to build a larval collector and make those gobies earn their keep (and possibly help fund more efforts with the Synchiropus!)

MP

 

[mwp]

8-1-06, 10:00 AM - WE HAVE A HATCH! - Well FINALLY, it seems like it's been months since I was around for a hatch! Approximately 100+ larvae made it. They've been placed in the larval tank (10 gallon) which is currently filled wtih 6 gallons of saltwater and a bunch of SS-Strain Rotifers AND some phytoplankton, all in there for the Mandarin larvae that as usual have not made it very far. There is actually 1 mandarin still in there that I saw this morning.

I added in 6 "basters" of mixed phytoplankton (T-Iso, Nannochloris, Nannochloropsis and Tetraselmis) that I harvested Sunday night and refridgerated...the tank had recently "significantly cleared" and the rotifer population skyrocketed, thus the additional phyto.

I ALSO got some great vids and pics of the newly hatched GBG larvae under the microscope; I'll post those soon.

Matt

 

[mwp]

Newly hatched GBG's under the scope!

Green Banded Goby Larvae at 10X

Video - http://www.cichlidrecipe.com/nanoreef/GBG_10X_newly_hatched.avi

Greenbanded Goby Larvae at 60X - major ruler units are 1mm

Video - http://www.cichlidrecipe.com/nanoreef/GBG_60X_newlyhatched.avi

FWIW,

Matt

 

[Kathy55g]

very sweet! Isn't it nice to have a lot of larvae?

 

[mwp]

IT IS, IT IS Kathy! Now if I can just not kill these too!

Matt

 

[mwp]

Just a quick update, the water was already pretty clear and the larvae had moved from the middle water column to the surface, so I added in another 6 basters worth of mixed live phyto.

Matt

 

[mwp]

More pictures...this is a larvae around 12 hours old. I wanted to see if they were feeding or not, so I spent 15 minutes chasing larvae with the pipette before finally getting lucky and catching one! Some of these pix are 60X, others are 200X, and the vid is a full view of the larvae from the ventral and lateral viewpoints at 200X (it's a big vid, 21 mb). BTW, if you have problems viewing the video, my suggestion is to save it to your hard drive and then open it from the viewer...for some reason opening it directly or double clicking doesn't work!

VIDEO - [url[http://www.cichlidrecipe.com/nanoreef/GBG_12_ventralateral.avi[/url]

Enjoy!

Matt

 

[mwp]

Well, the tank is now CLEAR so another 6 basters of my regular phytoplankton mix went into the tank. I suspect it's not enough this time; more will go in later after the temps stabilize.

(added in 2 more after the fact, 8 basters total. EAch baster is about 3 fl. oz.)

Matt

 

[danfrith]

hey matt, do you flaming prawn gobys would be hermaphroditic?

also goodluck luck with your pair.
thanks.

 

[mwp]

I have no clue on Greislinger's Goby (aka. Flaming Prawn)...oh how I'd LOVE to try them though. Granted, with their small size, they'd be more than manageable to pair up from a group, the only problem there is that the rule of 6 means you'd be spending $600-$900 for broodstock - never a problem with fish you KNOW how to breed and rear, but definitely not an investment to be made with no prior experience (thus why I've tried regular Firefish vs. Helfrichi's).

Matt

 

[mwp]

OK, the latest round of updates. 1st, I check last night, no eggs, tonight, another batch of eggs is in the cave! I may actually have some GBG larvae to "give away" next week IF I catch the hatch and IF I still have loads of viable larvae in the larval tank - anyone in Chicago interested?

The larvae - I added 8 basters of "phytomix" and 3 gallons of freshly mixed saltwater this evening (around 10:30 PM). I found 2 dead larvae...that's a dramatically better situation than I recall for most of my prior attempts at raising GBGs.

I shot more microscope pictures...didn't bother with vid but did a bunch of shots at 60X and 200X. I still cannot tell what they are feeding on but it definitely appears there's stuff in the gut...that's what really matters at this point, unless I'm totally off. Anyone who's familiar with what things look like under magnification, I welcome your interpretation of the photographs. BTW, 2 of these pictures have a SS-Strain rotifer in the shot which helps give you a general idea of scale (I can always throw the rulers onto the pictures later...it takes time I just don't have!). Doesn't really look like much change between yesterday (12 hours post hatch) and today (36 hours post hatch).

Enjoy!

Matt

 

[Kathy55g]

Not sure, but it looks like they are eating the rots. Do their little bellies expand much? It looks like you have rotifer shapes in the gut.

 

[Luis A M]

Awesome pics!.The rear gut is occupied,most probably by rots.The swim bladder is very conspicuous.The larva is typical for Gobiosoma-Elacatinus:very long,transparent,with three colored areas,the eyes,the swim bladder,and a white spot before the tail fin.

 

[ediaz]

Gobies don't chug on rots like clownfish larvae, they are eating

Add phyto in the morning, about a liter of good dark for ten gal. of water. No need to add during the rest of the day, and this gives you a chance to see the larvae in the evening when the water is clear.

Use a moderate to strong light over the tank, this will keep them eating at the surface instead of hovering at the bottom of the tank. Do not switch the lights off suddenly at nigth, use a nite lite or something over the tank at nights.

Ed