Bi-Weekly Discussion of the Week: Breeding

[Geoff]

Not us, but the critters in our systems.

What have you all tried, accidentally had, or thought about breeding? This includes everything from snails, to fish, to funny crouching sand sifting stars. What is needed, or what did you find usefull in your experiences?

G~

[Toadfish]

I just picked up a mated pair of skunk clowns not to long ago so this topic will be intriguing. Breeding seems like a pain in the butt. Does anyone have a step by step process for breeding clowns? I would like to see what it looks like on the surface.

[wanareef]

Joyce Wilkinson Clownfishes - very informative and detailed on breeding clowns.link

[Geoff]

for info to help people along here is our Breeder's Archive which Doug has done a great job collecting.

there is also the Breeder's Links

clownfish, seahorses are the most common. there have been great strides with dwarf angels. what else?

G~

[Mrs Smith]

Don't forget Banggai Cardinals! I've sucessfully raised Banggai babies, and am going to see about some clowns. (Seeing that I picked up a young pair of black ocellaris at MACNA...)

The hardest thing about breeding Banggais is getting a mated pair. As it's practically impossible to tell male from female, behavior is key. Once a pair is established, they'll kill any other Banggais around, unless it's a very large tank. Dad carries the eggs and then babies in his mouth for around 24-28 days, spits 'em out in the dark, and VOILA! Babies!

And then the raising part starts. But getting the pair to breed is quite easy. You just have to be careful to stuff the male silly when he's not carrying, as the female tends to be the sexual aggressor.

Danielle

[Geoff]

Danielle-what would your dream bangai nursery consist of? how many "grow up" tanks would you like to have?

G~

[tdwyatt]

Personally I like corn meal and flour when I do the fish, Good hot olive oil, sometimes with a little egg wash, then dredge the fish in the flour then straight into the cornmeal. A little salt and pepper in the cornmeal is best to...


what???


Oh...



B R E E D I N G ...




...never mind...

[Joel]

Personally I like corn meal and flour when I do the fish, Good hot olive oil, sometimes with a little egg wash, then dredge the fish in the flour then straight into the cornmeal. A little salt and pepper in the cornmeal is best to...

I thought Tom had lost his mind for a moment.

[Geoff]

apparantly Tom reads only the first and last letter of a word and goes from there. he must be having a ball over there in M-ville.

breading-breeding its all the same.

G~

[Geoff]

for Nikki's setup we are thinking of having 3 or 4 maybe 2-3 gallon tanks used for growup tanks. she is thinking bangai's right now, but maybe clowns. the tanks will be plumbed all together in with the main system. it will be kind of a stacked array. we are hoping that with this many small tanks we can separate the different sizes for feeding purposes.

anybody see any problems with this?

G~

[Mrs Smith]

2-3 gallon tanks? If it's all plumbed together, I'd go with 10g tanks - not much smaller for Banggais. Even though they're tiny, they will grow.

Catching the boogers to move them is tricky. I used a 1/2" siphon hose to suck them out of the reef - it's a wild ride, but they all made it.

A good in-tank hiding system that we learned about at MACNA is using PVC elbows, and stringing them on a length of cord. When you need to catch babies, all you have to do is lift the cord, the PVC moves, and the tank is bare. That's what Martin Moe uses, at least.

As far as a dream Banggai nursery, I'd first have to have a lot of time... Broods can be huge, so I'd go with 20s for grow out tanks. Powerhead intakes have to be covered (a bit of silk over the minijets worked for me) and plumbing them together wouldn't be a bad idea - with a remote LR area for denitrification. Since you have to feed 2-3x a day, good filtration is a must.

I'd have to think about the rest, since I hadn't ever thought about "mass producing them" beyond a partitioned 55g.

Danielle

[Ray1214]

How about jawfish? I have heard of people breeding other fish other than bangaiis and clowns and seahorses. I have bred seahorses and I am currently waiting on a pair of bangaiis for one of my tanks. (Actually a trio but they just babies right now). My son has a pair of bonded it seems Red Headed Gobies. How he figured out which is male and female is beyond me, but when you see them togehter and their fins, you can tell they are a different sex and he thinks they laid eggs.
A friend of mine in Atlanta knows a neon goby breeder. Even has a green neon goby by breeding the yellows and blues apparently. And they are larger than normal. MY flourscent green one is about 2.5 inches long now.
I have also read up on breeding psuedochromisis, and the neon or arabian being one of the most colorful fish I know.

Anyone have any tips for any of these.

Ray

[wildthings44]

I have a spawning pair of yellow tailed damsels... no babies, but it's still cool to watch, but I have a friend who might share some banggais with me from his pairs... he keeps one in a reef and the babies even survive in there! (Although If I got serious about it I would want a nursery tank.)

[Geoff]

now we are talking! i have also heard of the Psuedocromis breedings, but i think that has slowed some since the true nature of these fish has become apparant (mean little snots aren't they). why is it they pretty ones are always the snotty ones.

jawfish, now that sounds interesting i will see if i can find anything on that. finally found a use for all of our DSB's! at least mine anyway. i think they are cool fish.

the biggest problem is the fact that most fish we keep are broadcast spreaders, and or have planktonic larval stages. these are tough to find small enough food in enough quantity to keep alive. they just need bigger mouths.

G~

[Geoff]

from what i have read, jawfish are mouth brooders. they carry the eggs in their mouth until hatching. at this time they seem to go on a 2-3 week planktonic stage before they start digging holes for themselves. there are several counts of breeding and rearing of jawfish.

my google search on jawfish and breeding.

G~