Yellowheaded Jawfish
- Thread starter d9sccr
- Start date
A quick note on my yellowheads, all 6 are doing fine, there is a lot of interaction, "musical burrows" going on. The plumposity index on the known females in increasing. The largest female had a few hydrated eggs extrude from her vent yesterday. I would expected spawing (full moon) but that did not happen. It may be that the three largest are females and that an active male is not present. Don't know. I may have to go back to the reef and make a greater effort to collect a few males. It's possible that the females are more susceptable to the collecting techniques and so we selectively collect females. Have to work on that.
Martin
Martin
Well, things are still cooking. It's been a very busy time with the Diadema projects, dove for 7 hours yesterday collecting juveniles for transfer to deeper reefs, and collected some large brood stock urchins. The jawfish are doing fine, getting fat and playing musical burrows. The big female has produced eggs twice, and each time the male has eaten them.
The first time I didn't know what happened, my supposition of who was a female and who was a male was placed in doubt because the male? became fat, and the female? thined out. Then a couple of weeks later the female! got fat again and the male! stayed thin. I had the good fortune to observe the fat female enter the male's burrow with the male, then 15 minutes later the female, now thin, left the burrow. Hot dog, I though, we got eggs! Later the male peeked out and I looked for eggs in his mouth. Couldn't see any. Maybe they were not hydrated yet, this didn't seem right, however. Then he left the burrow and wow, did he have a fat tummy.... Now I knew that he ate the eggs. Bummer, and he was large enough to have had experience with this. So I changed out the burrows. I had set up pvc pipe tubes, one 1" tube and a few 3/4th " tubes. I got to thinking, may be they can't "do their thing" in such a tight space, so I changed out the tube burrows for four cavern type burrows, and once they settled down from the storm and found the new burrows, they really seem to like them. Interesting, though, right after I changed out the burrows, they would go back to the site of the old burrows and try to enter the now nonexistant burrows tail first, without success, of course. It took a half day for them to figure it all out and claim a burrow, the little guy got the short end of the stick (as usual) and had to make a burrow of his own in a less desirable neighborhood, he now sports a Diadema spine burried in his side. Doesn't seem to affect him, though, still feed and fights as usual. So now I'm waiting for the next spawn and hopefully their new digs (and that's what they are....) will be more condusive to successful spawning and oral incubation. We'll see....
Martin
The first time I didn't know what happened, my supposition of who was a female and who was a male was placed in doubt because the male? became fat, and the female? thined out. Then a couple of weeks later the female! got fat again and the male! stayed thin. I had the good fortune to observe the fat female enter the male's burrow with the male, then 15 minutes later the female, now thin, left the burrow. Hot dog, I though, we got eggs! Later the male peeked out and I looked for eggs in his mouth. Couldn't see any. Maybe they were not hydrated yet, this didn't seem right, however. Then he left the burrow and wow, did he have a fat tummy.... Now I knew that he ate the eggs. Bummer, and he was large enough to have had experience with this. So I changed out the burrows. I had set up pvc pipe tubes, one 1" tube and a few 3/4th " tubes. I got to thinking, may be they can't "do their thing" in such a tight space, so I changed out the tube burrows for four cavern type burrows, and once they settled down from the storm and found the new burrows, they really seem to like them. Interesting, though, right after I changed out the burrows, they would go back to the site of the old burrows and try to enter the now nonexistant burrows tail first, without success, of course. It took a half day for them to figure it all out and claim a burrow, the little guy got the short end of the stick (as usual) and had to make a burrow of his own in a less desirable neighborhood, he now sports a Diadema spine burried in his side. Doesn't seem to affect him, though, still feed and fights as usual. So now I'm waiting for the next spawn and hopefully their new digs (and that's what they are....) will be more condusive to successful spawning and oral incubation. We'll see....
Martin
Ah, the Diadema project. In a nutshell, 98% of the long spined reef sea urchins, Diadema antillarum, died in 13 months in 1983. The plague covered the huge area of the tropical western Atlantic from the entire Caribbean, the Gulf of Mexico, the Bahamas, the Florida Keys and on up to Bermuda. This reef urchin was the keystone herbivoir for the coral reefs of this region. For eons, these coral reefs evolved with corals creating the physical structure of the reefs and Diadema (and other herbviors) controling alge growth and creating a working balance between the two photosynthetic elements of the reef, the coral and the algae. Coral growth is slow and stable and algae growth is fast and loose. Once the Diadema were gone, algae could, and did, overgrow and out grow the corals and the reefs become dominated by algae rather than coral.
In some areas of the Caribbean, where Diadema are coming back in small patches, where they are abundant, coral growth is retuning and the reefs are changing dominance once again from algae to coral.
So the Diadema project here in the Keys, where Diadema are not returning naturally (for many reasons) we are trying to: 1. save those Diadema that settle on the shallow rubble zones of the reefs by moving and concentrating them on deeper reef areas, and 2. to develop the hatchery techniques that will allow us to create "Diadema reefs", a sort of living coral reef laboratories all along the Keys. (This is the main thrust of my culture lab, but I am also playing with yellowhead jawfish and blackcap basslets.) We will establish these reefs with an initial population of Diadema at levels of 1 to 3 urchins per square meter, and then maintain these levels with the addition of juveniles to make up for a lack of natural recquitment. Then as the Diadema spawn naturally and the larval load in the water increases, natural settlement hopefully will be able to maintain these pioneer populations and create new populations on favorable reef areas. Can we do it? Don't know, but it you don't try, then you certainly can't do it, and the value of the Keys coral reefs to Florida and the nation certainly requires that we try.
To get more info on the situation you can visit:
http://www.marineland.com/seascope/ss2003_issue4.pdf
where there is an older article I wrote for SeaScope that will fill in most of thedetails.
Martin
In some areas of the Caribbean, where Diadema are coming back in small patches, where they are abundant, coral growth is retuning and the reefs are changing dominance once again from algae to coral.
So the Diadema project here in the Keys, where Diadema are not returning naturally (for many reasons) we are trying to: 1. save those Diadema that settle on the shallow rubble zones of the reefs by moving and concentrating them on deeper reef areas, and 2. to develop the hatchery techniques that will allow us to create "Diadema reefs", a sort of living coral reef laboratories all along the Keys. (This is the main thrust of my culture lab, but I am also playing with yellowhead jawfish and blackcap basslets.) We will establish these reefs with an initial population of Diadema at levels of 1 to 3 urchins per square meter, and then maintain these levels with the addition of juveniles to make up for a lack of natural recquitment. Then as the Diadema spawn naturally and the larval load in the water increases, natural settlement hopefully will be able to maintain these pioneer populations and create new populations on favorable reef areas. Can we do it? Don't know, but it you don't try, then you certainly can't do it, and the value of the Keys coral reefs to Florida and the nation certainly requires that we try.
To get more info on the situation you can visit:
http://www.marineland.com/seascope/ss2003_issue4.pdf
where there is an older article I wrote for SeaScope that will fill in most of thedetails.
Martin
BrianPlankis
Premium Member
Martin,
Glad to see you posting here. Your book on clownfish was the very first book I bought in this hobby
Due to time contraints I haven't tried clownfish yet, but I have started collecting breeding invertebrates
Fabulous project you are attempting on the Diadema antillarum. Good luck and if you setup a website to track progress of the project, please let us know, I for one would be very interested in following it. Any plans on periodic updates any other way?
Brian
Glad to see you posting here. Your book on clownfish was the very first book I bought in this hobby
Due to time contraints I haven't tried clownfish yet, but I have started collecting breeding invertebrates Fabulous project you are attempting on the Diadema antillarum. Good luck and if you setup a website to track progress of the project, please let us know, I for one would be very interested in following it. Any plans on periodic updates any other way?
Brian
BrianPlankis
Premium Member
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7894167#post7894167 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Luis A M
What is the title of that bookdon´t tell me I missed that Martin´s book!
The Marine Aquarium Handbook: Beginner to Breeder.
ISBN: 0-939960-07-9, 1992
Brian
True Percula
New member
podfygj
BrianPlankis
Premium Member
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7898723#post7898723 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Luis A M
I sure have that wonderful little book (1982 ed.).But you said a book on clownfish
I have the 1992 edition which has a section on breeding of clownfish. I guess I always just remember it as my clownfish book as I thought I would start breeding them right away and stop the wild collection of them
All in my 800 sq. ft. apartment. heehee. Then life and reality set in 
The section on breeding marine fish is admittedly a little small, but still useful.
Brian
Yeah, the Handbook was the only book that I went into detail on rearing fish. There is a section on culture in the Reference book that is also useful. I wish we hadn't let the Reference go out of print. I was in the process of revising it when we moved and I thought it would be done in a few months so we let it go out of print. I now have 1000 pages in that book alone but I never finished it. The Handbook is also out of print now. I intended to do a book on just marine fish culture and I have a start on it but the market seemed too small to support all that effort and expense so I dropped the project.
I need to do something with all this material, I should set up a web site but I don't have a clue on how to do that. I know I'm just as smart and capable as many folks that have web sites, so I should be able to do it. But it's like learning Russian, you really have to want to do it. And I'm so tied up with the lab work now that I just don't have the time. My son does know how though, so maybe we can set up something with him.
Life is too short to do everything you want to do.....
Martin
I need to do something with all this material, I should set up a web site but I don't have a clue on how to do that. I know I'm just as smart and capable as many folks that have web sites, so I should be able to do it. But it's like learning Russian, you really have to want to do it. And I'm so tied up with the lab work now that I just don't have the time. My son does know how though, so maybe we can set up something with him.
Life is too short to do everything you want to do.....
Martin
FishGuttz
New member
Martin,
I hope you do put it online, it's too valuable to sit on a shelf collecting dust.
On another note, are you aware that a giant manatee has been spotted in the Hudson River up here in NYC? Should someone in Florida (Mote Marine, possibly) be alerted of this to come monitor the situation? I'm just worried about the big fellow.
http://www.poughkeepsiejournal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060802/NEWS01/608020321/1006/NEWS
-Doug
I hope you do put it online, it's too valuable to sit on a shelf collecting dust.
On another note, are you aware that a giant manatee has been spotted in the Hudson River up here in NYC? Should someone in Florida (Mote Marine, possibly) be alerted of this to come monitor the situation? I'm just worried about the big fellow.
http://www.poughkeepsiejournal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060802/NEWS01/608020321/1006/NEWS
-Doug
ediaz
Active member
Not to answer for him but manatees are my strong
Call US Fish and Wildlife Service,if they don't know already, in the case of an endagered specie, Mote, Seaworld or any other institution has to go through them. That is common for them to do that , get into freshwater, altough all the way to new york is super rare or unheard of.
Ed
Call US Fish and Wildlife Service,if they don't know already, in the case of an endagered specie, Mote, Seaworld or any other institution has to go through them. That is common for them to do that , get into freshwater, altough all the way to new york is super rare or unheard of.
Ed
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