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

[mwp]

Ed, Luis, Kathy, thanks for chiming in and letting me know that I'm not nuts, they are eating - success!!!

Ed, as you may have read I've been adding phyto kinda at morning and evening....not a whole liter but enough to keep it green/brown and visibility in check.

I also have an 18" flourescent over the tank...the ambient lights probably do the job of helping make a smooth transition, but at night they are basically in the dark - I'll try to figure something out to keep them dimly lit for 6-8 hours at night.

Thanks again guys!

Matt

 

[mwp]

Well, the larval tank was completely clear as of noon, so I just added in 9 more basters (27 fluid oz) of the phytoplankton mix. Looks like the larvae are STILL going strong. This afternoon IF I have time I'm going to take out a few gallons, strain a few more and return them and selcon enrich the rotifers and then return those to the tank (make sense?). Renee will be in charge for a couple days while I'm on a fly fishing guide, so I want to make sure they're good to go in my absence.

Matt

 

[mwp]

Currently underway this evening, I've drained off 2 gallons of water and tossed it (saved the rotifers and fed them to the gorgonians in the seahorse tank ). I'm draining out another 2 gallons and will save the rotifers for enrichment, followed by the addition of 2 gallons freshly mixed water (yes, a water change of about 25% of the remaining volume after the water toss).

I'm going to take some more microscope shots tonight to see what further development, if any, has occured. After tomorrow morning, things are in Renee's hands until Sunday night

Matt

 

[mwp]

Well, while completely the addition of the 2 freshly mixed gallons, I accidentally tipped over my saved rotifers into the sink...oh well, won't have two gallon's worth to enrich now! Instead, I added roughly 2/3 liter of T-Iso fresh from the culture...that should help out. I'm also adding 1/3 a liter of Nannochloropsus to help balance out the HUFA's.

FWIW,

Matt

 

[mwp]

Well, the guts didn't look as full this evening despite the fact that there are TONS of rotifers in the tank...however the water was clear. Is it possible (probable) that at this point the babies are still feeding on algae, not the actual rotifers?

Here's 2 quick shots and a LONG vid (37 mb) that really shows the development and internal features well at roughly 60 hours post hatch.

http://www.cichlidrecipe.com/nanoreef/GBG_60_3.avi

No more updates until at the earliest Sunday evening! Renee is getting instructions to add 8 basters of mandarin mix every morning (basically T-Iso and Tetraselmis, but I added some Nano for good measure), and if the tank is crystal clear, add some in the afternoon (probably another 4-8).

FWIW,

Matt

 

[Kathy55g]

I may be wrong, but T-Iso and tetraselmus have nearly identical fatty acid profiles. I would add nannochloris or nannochloropsis as well to give what the others lack. I know you have all those cultures! Mine are doing fine since I got them from you. Thanks again, Matt.
K

 

[mwp]

(basically T-Iso and Tetraselmis, but I added some Nano for good measure)

Yup, right you are. The mix is probably 1/4 Nannochloropsis. Now, here's the interesting thing...all the goby articles online point to using T-Iso exclusively in the tank...wierd in my opinion (however, they do also suggest selco / selcon enrichment, but they don't really state HOW since, if following the directions explicitly, you're only supposed to add rotifers at the beginning!)

Glad to hear all the cultures are going well Kathy! SS doing well?

Matt

 

[Kathy55g]

Yes! I passed them on to my friend who has a spawning pair of gobies,( yellow clown?).

They grew very well for me, however, they do not hibernate in the fridge well at all, as my L strain does.

 

[Kathy55g]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7875868#post7875868 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by mwp
Yup, right you are. The mix is probably 1/4 Nannochloropsis. Now, here's the interesting thing...all the goby articles online point to using T-Iso exclusively in the tank...wierd in my opinion (however, they do also suggest selco / selcon enrichment, but they don't really state HOW since, if following the directions explicitly, you're only supposed to add rotifers at the beginning!)

Glad to hear all the cultures are going well Kathy! SS doing well?

Matt

Do they use tet because it is the best one, or because that is what they had on hand?

 

[mwp]

Kathy, regarding the use of "T-Iso" exclusively, I don't know WHY I certainly see no harm, but many benefits to offering the whole gamut.

Renee did an outstanding job while I was gone - there are still 40 larvae. She fed 8 basters Friday, 8 Saturday, 8 Sunday, all in the morning, + 4 basters Saturday evening. The water was clear, so I fed 4 basters this evening upon returning.

That's it on the updates for now, more later.

Matt

 

[Kathy55g]

I think my T-iso got contaminated... it is turning green. Ihave some more in the fridge that's still orange.

 

[mwp]

Sounds like it did get contaminated Kathy...all 3 of my T-Iso's are still running orangish when newly started, quickly going deep brown when ready for harvest.

So, before I left for the office this morning the babies got another 8 basters of assorted live phytoplankton...Rotifer density is really high again. This evening maybe I'll get them back under the microscope...they look a LOT bigger than when I left Friday AM.

Matt

 

[mwp]

More pics and vids this evening, 156 hours (6.5 days) post hatch - BTW, that's a new record on longevity of goby larvae.

Looking at them they all looked SKINNY, so I'm draining out some rotifers for enrichment PLUS I'm going to seive some of my L-Strain Rotifer cultures as well...maybe...we'll see.

Video at 200X - http://www.cichlidrecipe.com/nanoreef/GBG_156_8.avi

More soon.

 

[mwp]

Alrighty, here's the lowdown on the maintenance. I removed 3 gallons worth of water and seived it for the SS rotifers that are now ultra-thick in the tank water. I removed an additional 1.5 gallons of water/rotifers and just dumped it - it's noteworth to mention that it rapidly FOAMED UP when agitated, so there's obviously a lot of nutrient buildup.

4 basters of phytoplankton went into the tank. I'm now dripping in 3 gallons worth of freshly mixed water. The collected rotifers are getting enriched with 5 drops of selcon...shouldn't take too long for them to clear the water out. Provided I don't SPILL THEM again, I'll get some enriched rotifers back into the tank in the next couple hours - the lights will stay on tonight to allow the larvae to continue to feed while those enriched rotifers are around.

That's pretty much the story on the larvae. The next batch of eggs are developing nicely, so I may have some extra larvae soon...I'm very tempted to just GET the 2nd 10 gallon tank and deal with the reprecussions later...afterall, if I make it over the hump there will be tons of Greenbanded Gobies to take care of!

Matt

 

[mwp]

Another maintenance update. This morning I started a slow siphon and harvested another 2 gallons of Rotifers from the larval tank. I then strained that for enrichment. I also siphoned off about 1/2 of the total bottom, just doing some cleaning.

I've now mixed up 3 gallons of fresh water, added a liter of T-Iso to that + the last little bit of mixed phyto I had in the fridge (mostly the 2 Nanno types), and have it slowly filling back into the tank. The rotifers are still getting enriched, and will be added as soon as they clear the water of the Selcon.

I'd have to say, just giving a ballpark estimate, there are still 20-30 larvae.

Matt

 

[iantoh]

great work mwp! hats off for the effort and increasingly better survival rates. do keep us updated with your progress ya. its always nice to hear of breeding successes.

cheers,
ian

 

[mwp]

Well, another round of pictures - it's now 7.5 days post hatch, 180 hours. Take a close look at the pics...in one it looks like there's actually an algae cell in there..not sure if it's T-Iso, Nannochloropsis or Tetraselmis. A couple shots have a SS Rotifer in the frame as well.

I'm getting concerned as the guts again don't look full despite there being abundant food...I'm going to do the L-Strain Rotifer Culture Addition tonight, seiving to 10 micron to include the copepods and other random stuff that are in there. Things in the larval tank are going to get much more diverse really quickly! FWIW, the 1 Liter addition of T-Iso has left the tank still heavily transluscent...I should probably stick to smaller dosings at this point.

MP

 

[mwp]

BTW, the eggs that were laid last week have not hatched yet, so tomorrow is probably the day...probably in the AM!

Matt

 

[mwp]

Well, things look about the same...I added 8 basters of mixed phytoplankton (all four types)...no hatch on the most recent batch yet.

FWIW,

Matt

 

[mwp]

OK, so 8.5 days, 204 hours, and I pulled 4 larvae to photograph under the microscope. At first glance all looked robust, healthy and active. Within a minute of placing them under the scope they started DYING - Sudden Larval Death! I've heard of this happening in marine larvae, but I don't know the exact cause (but remember that low HUFA's may play a role). In any case, I think I will NOT be photographing larvae for a few days, or if I do, I will only grab ONE larvae!

Here's a couple pics:

Still looks like some larvae are no longer eating...

Matt