Mostly Apogon margaritophorus woes...

2:55 AM - OK, so I managed to catch my male bangaii by HAND (the nets were pretty much in the way...yeah, by hand, who'd a thunk it). Stripped the eggs, took some pictures, and threw them in the kriesel (since it's devoid of mandarins now). UNFORTUNATELY, it seems that the egg mass is either getting blown around too much or not enough...I had it tumbling in the current briefly but then it got "caught" by an air feed and whipped around only to settle on the bottom of the kriesel, getting "stuck" in the "foot" of the fishbowl. IF this were truly a smooth, flat bottom we wouldn't be having this problem....HMM.

I have MICROSCOPE SLIDES, LOTS of MICROSCOPE slides...maybe I can build a "ramp"?!

Still thinking about other methods..I actually have a cichlid-style tumbler on hand but that didn't work the time I tried it (partially due to outside currents I think).

Thoughts, anyone?

Matt
 
Well, somehow, sometime before now a culture that was on the same air feed as the kriesel got spilled by an animal (either Tucker Cat or Alice the dog...)...the air was NOT running in the kriesel. Don't know how long it was off, and what affect that might have on our bangaii eggs....

MP
 
6-5-06 - for a change, the margaritophorus male DID NOT instantly eat his eggs! - sometime between last night and this morning the margaritophorus spawned again and well, the male is sitting there with a MASSIVE mouthful of eggs. Maybe considering he didn't eat them INSTANTLY this is a good sign?

MP
 
6-5-06 - I wasn't going to risk it - the male went 24 hours with the eggs and that's GOOD ENOUGH FOR ME! I spent about 45 minutes trying to catch him and eventually succeeded - the small egg mass (kind of oval shapped, almost like two balls connected together, sort of) is bright orange, each of the two sections maybe the size of a peanut at best.

I've placed the apparently viable eggs into the kriesel at VERY HIGH FLOWS and it STILL is resting on the bottom. 3-4 drops of Methelyne Blue were added. Hopefully we'll get a successful artificial incubation.

MP
 
Well, I'm happy to report that the eggs appear to be still viable after their 15 or so hours in the kriesel! Just sitting on the bottom, occasionally moving in the current...looks pretty good, kinda like how cichlid eggs react in a cichlid tumbler. I'm cautiously optimistic - maybe I'll succeed with the first marine fish to spawn for me afterall? That'd actually be kinda sweet!

MP
 
6-7-06 - the kriesel seems to be doing a fair job of incubating the eggs even though they are resting on the bottom, which finally now makes sense seeing as they are denser than water (see the mandarin breeding log thread, around page 12....)

The best news is that the eggs all appear to be viable still; they appear as pale yellow with bright orange dots!

MP
 
6-8-06 - big change today in the kriesel - the egg mass has broken up into single eggs, about 75% off the egg mass is now loose. The remaining cluster is circulating in the water along with a portion of the eggs, but 50% of the spawn is now loose and sitting on the bottom. They still look good otherwise...today they are kinda whitish with a bright orange dot (kinda looks like each egg has a cyclopeze stuck to it).

I'm contemplating a 25% to 50% water change today to keep things in good shape since this kriesel is a close system and has no exchange with the larger body of water outside of the tank.

I must appologize for not taking pictures - they don't turn out when focusing through glass, then plastic, then blue water ;) Now that they're loose I may grab a couple and set them up on the microscope slide for closer observation with the 10X loop (and some pictures). Anyone have an old functional microscope they want to part with cheaply or freely?

Matt
 
Finally today I got to do the 50% water change on the kriesel and added 2 drops fresh MB. Eggs still look good although they're all back on the bottom (had to switch air pumps to a less powerful one so the feed to the kriesel has diminished a bit..going to readjust). The water change may have dropped the temps by 2 degrees F..hopefully the eggs can take it.

MP
 
6-11-06 - looks like we still have viable eggs although SOME may have fungused while we were away...still hopeful on this batch!

MP
 
A closer look at the eggs this evening leads me to believe they are no longer viable as a group...we had one small cluster FLOATING at the surface, apparently lifted up there by gas bubbles from decay! The ones on the bottom look gritty, cloudy, and overall just NO GOOD. Since this is a closed kriesel, it isn't going to affect the rest of the larval tank so I may just leave them sitting in there for a few more days to see if ANYTHING develops.

MP
 
Well..it's been a few days since my last update..took some eggs out yesterday and well, most look no good but there may be a few that still have a chance. The big mystery is that I see no real forward progress in their development...looks like they may be dead and the MB is simply slowing their decompisition in the kriesel.

Meanwhile, it's 11:07 PM and the margaritophorus are going through the motions of spawning again...we'll see.

MP
 
It's officially a cardinalfish orgy today...ALL THREE species are courting and fighting with each other. The margaritophorus are in "high gear" and have been since I first looked this morning.

FWIW,

Matt
 
6-16-06 - during all the mandarin commotion the margaritophorus spawned sometime between 11:30 PM 6-15 and 1:55 AM 6-16 - I want to say it JUST happened because the female still has eggs on her abdomen - both males are NOT holding though (but looking fat and happy). I guess we're back to the egg-eating males again!

MP
 
6-18-06 - another Bangaii Cardinalfish spawning. Not sure if I'm going to do anything with the eggs at this time...probably just going to see if things can progress naturally...not likely, but I'm kinda tied up with baby Mandarins!

MP
 
Ok, just some updates. First, the Bangaii spawn was GONE by 6-20-06.

Since last Wednesday (6-28-06) our female Mararitophorus has been having "issues". Wednesday morning i noticed courtship...by the early afternoon she had eggs hanging from her abdomen. For the next 3 days these eggs continued to hang there; more or less it looked as if her whole genital opening was dialated with a big mass of eggs "stuck" inside. As of Monday night (7-3) there are STILL some eggs or other tissue hanging from her genital opening but she otherwise appears to be normal. I seem to recall this happening before and causing concern that she would be sterile going forward...all I can say is that this doesn't look "good" for any future breeding prospects at the present time. These guys may be done unless I try finding another female???

FWIW,

MP
 
Anderson, unfortunately I didn't shot any pics and the last of the "tissue" is finally gone from her abdomen. Basically look at some of the vids from the "botched spawn" where she has eggs hanging out of her..that's how she looked for three days except after the first day the eggs were clear instead of orange. I want to say by Saturday the eggs had disappeared but perhaps it was some connective tissue from the eggs that remained?

For now I think we won't know the ultimate outcome until the next time they try to spawn.

FWIW,

Matt
 
Bangaii Cardinalfish!!! Yes, another spawn sometime between 9:00 AM and 7:00 PM central time. Since the larval tank is empty and certain tanks are due for water changes, what I might do yet this evening is EMPTY the larval tank and DO those water changes I need to do, saving the water for the 10 gallon. IF I can catch "daddy" without having him spit the eggs, I'll give him is own digs and see if he holds any longer than 2 days for a change!

MP
 
So a quick update on the Bangaii's - the male held for 3 days and then started eating again.

On 7-23, I noticed the female margaritophorus again having difficulties passing eggs...she had a large orange strand trailing from her genital opening. As of the evening on the 24th, the genital opening is still quite swollen and eggs are clearly visible inside. So it looks like the margaritophorus are having problems with egg-binding...not sure WHY at this time. I got some picks; if I have time I'll post 'em up.

Matt
 
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