Mature Psychedelic Mandarin

[graveyardworm]

How large would be considered to be mature enough to breed? I have a male/female pair. The male is full grown, but the female is only half his size, maybe an inch and a half. I was watching tonight and she looked very fat like buldging fat.

 

[Grunt]

She will hydrate usually the day or day before she releases, it will look like a marble basically. Sizing should be fine. Just keep an eye out after your actinics go out.

 

[graveyardworm]

She did look like she was had a marble in her belly. Are the eggs typically laid on a surface, and will she guard them afterwards?

 

[Grunt]

Mandarins are pelagic spawners. The egg has a lipid which allows them to float on the surface. They will immediatly return to the rocks and go to sleep. They will do what are called spawning rises a number of times, then she will release the eggs when she is ready. The first few times may not produce viable results until they can get it right.

Here is a link to my breeding log of spotteds....same applies to greens...this is on our club website, you can find a similiar log on MOFIB.

http://www.theseas.org/index.php?topic=1095.0

My wife and I collected a few hundred eggs tonight, the best we have got them to was 26 hours, when I transferred them prematurely and lost the whole batch. We will see how this batch does.

 

[graveyardworm]

Excellent, thats the same type Mandarin I have. So the first food is rots? For some reason I thought it needed to be smaller like copepods, or even copepod nauplii.

The male I've had for about a year, the female I just got a few months ago. Here's a link to the discussion http://reefcentral.com/forums/showt...9&perpage=25&highlight=mandarin&pagenumber=1, it looks like you posted to it.

Is it normal for the female to sometimes act aggressive towards the male? I've seen her chase him around, but then on atleast one occasion I was flashlighting the tank after dark and found her sleeping underneath him so I figured just a lovers quarrel. She seems to get real testy when the actinics come on.

 

[FMarini]

David-- I'm pretty sure first foods will be copepod nauplii sized items. Matt Wittenrich was successful using field collected zooplanktons -i'm not sure he mentions what he sizes he used as first foods

grunt-- great news on the breeding and i hope your successful raising the fry. I skimmed thru you thread on theseas.org website

 

[graveyardworm]

Thank you Frank. You gave a great to talk our local clubs up in Portland ME alittle while back. There's been alot of buzz since with talk of breeding fish, and some that are attempting as we speak with seahorses.

Ugh, copepod nauplii. Sounds very difficult, I have seen design's for their capture from culture, but I'm not even close to that level yet with home cultures. I just started phyto, rotifier, and tigger pod cultures. The rots are suprisingly large IMO as tiny as they may be. Any suggestions on food which can be purchased which might be a good first food for these guys?

 

["Umm fish?"]

Hey David! Matt mentions at one point in his log that he's raised at least one batch on rots as a first food, just to see if he could do it. He said he had lots of mortality, but did get some through. Apparently, a lot has to do with the rearing environment. I doubt square tanks will get you there. I would also stock the rots at a very high level so the larvae get to see a lot of the smaller juvenile rots.

 

[Grunt]

Well sad news today for me. My basketball size Magnificient anemone found a Koralia, suffice to say I lost the anemone and 11 fish (including breeding mandarins and anthias). Just Hoping my corals make it right now. Did a huge water change....we will see...

Anyways, yes a small first food. I have larvae that are 6 hours post hatch. I also have another bowl still developing (temp is lower).

I was going to attempt SS rots, may require something smaller though....

Maybe ciliates even.

 

[graveyardworm]

Thanks for the suggestion Andy. I think she almost definately gravid. She is buldging considerably more than the male on the sides. I'l have to do alot more reading. Perhaps a kriesel is in order. One member of my club is playing with different designs for his seahorses.

 

[graveyardworm]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14916642#post14916642 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Grunt
Well sad news today for me. My basketball size Magnificient anemone found a Koralia, suffice to say I lost the anemone and 11 fish (including breeding mandarins and anthias). Just Hoping my corals make it right now. Did a huge water change....we will see...

Anyways, yes a small first food. I have larvae that are 6 hours post hatch. I also have another bowl still developing (temp is lower).

I was going to attempt SS rots, may require something smaller though....

Maybe ciliates even.

That stinks, its crappy how when things look their best thats when murphy strikes.

 

[Grunt]

I'd like to kick murphy right in the ...........

anways yeah, just trying to figure out my next step...I have a pair of greens that I might move over once the water returns to normal.

My kreisel is just a small fish bowl from hobby lobby. Has an airpump and a valve on the pipe end to control amount of bubbles. Keeps them going in a circular motion and they dont touch the sides. I've had good success with this method. The fish bowl is in a 2.5 gal tank that contains a heater to maintain temperature (80 degrees). All water was from main tank.

Goodluck, let me know if you have any more questions.

FMarini- Hope you enjoyed my threads