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

[mwp]

20 days, 3 hours old! - last night as mentioned in the other thread, I found 2 suspect larvae and pulled them...the jury is still out as to whether the "growths" on them were bacterial or ICH, but in any case, they were immediately culled. Today, as with every day to date, another 1L of fresh phyto was added (today they actually got Tet, T-Iso and Nanno) as well as selcon enriched brine shrimp nauplii. Also, a dose of Marine Max (probiotics & antioxidants, aka. 'homeopathic' disease preventative) was added to the tank, along with a dosing of Reef Plus and Reef Iodide following the addition of 3 clean gallons of water yesterday.

So that's where were at. No new bumps or protrusions were noticed on the larvae today, hopefully just a random occurance.

20 days!!! The longest of the "infected" pair measured out at 9 mm last night.

Matt

 

[mwp]

So this evening I dosed with Maracyn II, just to be on the safe side! Got my Ammonia Alert badges today...the GBG larvae shows somewhere between "safe" and "alert", while the copepod tank (empty larval tank) is running at "safe".

FUN FUN.

Almost 3 weeks of GBG larval survival. At least one LFS was VERY excited to hear about these guys

Matt

 

[mwp]

11-26-06 - we're at 25 days+, almost at 26 days, and the larvae are doing GREAT! I witnessed the takedown of a significantly older brine shrimp that had grown up in the tank. Meanwhile, daily dosings of phyto have continued. This evening, a 3 gallon water change was performed. Things are looking GREAT at this point. I might be willing to sacrifice one for another round of pics in the next few days - they're "HUGE"!

Matt

 

[mwp]

One other HUGE "BTW" - FIRST DORSAL FINS HAVE SHOWN UP ON THE LARGER LARVAE! - as far as I've been able to discern, the REAR dorsal fin (#2) develops in parallel with the anal fin. Only as of today can I see some larvae running around with BOTH, aka. 2, aka TWO dorsal fins!

Experienced Breeders of GBG's, (aka. ED), how much longer do I have to go?

Matt

 

[mwp]

OMG - VENTRAL FIN SUCTION CUP ON ONE OF THE LARGEST!

They're OFFICIALLY GOBIES!

Matt

 

[mwp]

So this morning we've come to 26 days post hatch! They got their usual dosing of phytoplankton and baby brine shrimp. There were a couple larvae that were turning white and swirling, something that is a sign of stress typically. I gave the tank another dosing of Maracyn II, just to be safe.

That's the latest news - I'm basically now waiting for additional growout, settlement and adult coloration to set in...maybe another 30 days at most?

Matt

 

[bigcdc]

Glad to hear you are having success, I've gone through and read all of your post and I have to say that I enjoy reading your post of updates

~CC

 

[Luis A M]

Congrats and good luck with them! Settlement and adult coloration must be around the corner.We´ll put the champagne in the fridge...
Could this species be another first time?.(unless ORA comes again saying they did it first but oops,didn´t tell )

 

[mwp]

Luis, actually, ProAquatix did them. My broodstock pair is Captive Bred, most likely from them before their big move.

I think Bill Addison may have already raised this species, and may have been one of the first, and Frank B. has done them as well, and I think Ed has too

But, they would be species #2 under MY PERSONAL belt.

Matt

 

[Luis A M]

Right.I was thinking in rusties.

 

[mwp]

Well, Rusties will be waiting a while...they're beyond low priority at the moment. Once I get the GBG's through to juveniles with proper coloration and feeding well, basically to that point where you just know you've conquered the species, I'm going to give the Apogon leptacanthus one more shot. Then back to the Mandarins, then Red Scooter Blennies, and then the Rusties...Oh and throw any other clowns that decide to start breeding pretty much to the front of the list as well...for the first half of '07 financial return is more important than tinkering with the Mandarins (but we'll see). Had mild success with Percs (a 1 or 2 on the scale of easy rearing), now the GBG's are looking good (maybe a 4 or 5), and then maybe I'll come back to conquer the Leptacanthus (maybe a 6 or 7) and then finally I'll be ready to tackle Mandarins (10).

Matt

 

[mwp]

Just another quick update - I talked with Joe L. (RPI) about the GBG's...according to his experience they are very close to settlement, which is 30 days or so. Adult coloration should start to come in around 35 days. FWIW this roughly matches up with some of the dates given on Frank B's website with regards to some photos of GBG's that he has raised.

Man, talk about being "close"!

Matt

 

[mwp]

SETTLEMENT at 27 DAYS! - I turned on the lights and fed the tank brine nauplii just a moment ago (right before 10:00 AM) and noticed that one GBG larvae is actually acting like a GBG, suction cupped to the back wall of the tank vs. swimming in the water column! WHOOOOOOOO HOOOOOO!

My last headcount was approximately 35. Of that, 1 is now settled. 6 or so look kinda sickly (the pale whitish coloration). 6 more look completely ready to settle at any moment. The rest are somewhere in between.

NAILED IT!

Matt

 

[mwp]

Make that TWO that have settled - I noticed a 2nd one on the back wall

Matt

 

[mwp]

First Picture of a newly settled GBG larvae, now about 27.5 days old

Matt!

 

[Kathy55g]

Very exciting!

 

[Kmiec123]

Very cool Matt!!!

 

[mwp]

Well, it's the evening of the 28th, we're heading towards day 28 by 10:00 AM tomorrow morning, and the tank was completely cleared out of phyto, so in went 1L of Nanno to keep things enriched as the larvae continue to feed and head towards settlement. An interesting development this evening, as I sat and watched, the larger larvae would approach the glass, examine it, follow the copepods that scurry around on it, and sometimes orient their ventral surfaces to the glass. They're not actually "parking" themselves, but I wouldn't be surprised if by morning there are several more that have settled out.

The tank really could use a diluting of rotifers, or even a partial water change, but witih the larvae going through settlement, now is just "not the time"! I just have to hope that vigorous aeration and phyto keep things going smoothly for the next 48 hours or so.

Matt

 

[mwp]

28 days, the first hints of adult coloration are visible...in other words - WE HAVE LIGHT GREEN STRIPES!.

I WISH the macro mode still worked on my camera, but it doesn't, and I'm not about to risk our first colored up goby.

It's also worth mentioning that there were 2 gobies parked right on the front glass when the lights came on this morning...one took off and "reverted" to swimming in the water column. Basically I counted "3" sitting on the glass this AM. The strange part is that the "colored up" one is spending a LOT of time swimming in the water column.

I'd say we've had 4-5 deaths over the last couple days as well.

FWIW,

Matt

 

[mwp]

OOPS - guess there are TWO showing adult coloration!!!! Not surprisingly they're probably the 2 that I noticed first "settled" yesterday. Despite this adult coloration, they do still spend a fair amount of time in the water column!

Matt