G.okinawae (Yellow Coral Goby) Breeding Journal

[chrismelb]

One of my fav. fish have finally spawned. I have these in a 5ft Frag tank with nothing else but some peppermint shrimp, and of course some coral frags. I have had a pair of these spawn many years ago but had no success. The difficulty is getting the right sized foods for such tiny and delicate larvae, i believe. But as I love a challenge, i'm determined to raise these. These have been raised in captivity before, but by very few people and don't believe they have been done in AU. I will keep a journal here and on Marine Ornamental Fish and Invertebrate Breeders http://www.marinebreeder.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=182&t=13275&p=102043#p102043, and a more detailed journal over at Marine Breeders Initiative http://www.mbisite.org/Forums/tm.aspx?m=99101. So feel free to check these out too. Although my posts will most likely be repetitious across these journals, the feedback from all the experts may vary .

[chrismelb]

The batch I am currently trying to raise is the second as I missed the first spawn. Returning an hour later after switching all the lights and pumps off, I only saw three larvae when shining a torch. It looks like the entire nest hatched as there were no more eggs. Its possible amphipods etc got them. Next time will check sooner after lights out. The three were scooped up (collected) using a measuring spoon. Anyway as I'm only dealing with three this is a simple run to see if they can survive past their yolk reserve on a haphazard supply of harp pods and most likely ciliates. These are currently in a 2litre systemia tuppaware container that sits inside a tank. I'm keeping a compact fluorescent on for 24hrs a day.

Tried to get a close up of the eggs.


Cheers,

Chris

[chrismelb]

Day #3 and to my surprise all three larvae are still alive!!!! I will see if i can get some pics of larvae soon but they wont be very good ones.

[555combo]

Looking forward to seeing this progress. Good luck.

[Macca_75]

Well done. Might have to buy one of those cheap USB magnifying scopes on ebay.

Hopefully each clutch gets you a step closer.

[chrismelb]

Well got larvae to Day #4 but then they died. Next batch due any day now, will try something a little more sophisticated if I can get my act together in time.

[damer]

And he's back in the game!!

Good luck with them Chris, I look forward to seeing them go through met.

[chrismelb]

Thanks so much Damien and nice to hear from you.

[chrismelb]

Finally got my act together, now that I have SS type rotifers, and collected around 70 larvae 3 days ago. They had very large yolk reserves and appeared very active, which is a good sign of larval health. Despite their energy, they never appeared to be great swimmers, even prior to collection. I can still see some alive at 3dph but definitely not 70. Hopefully over the next day or two I'll be able to confirm whether they are eating. I'll be over the moon even if I get one to meta .

Stay tuned...

Chris

[chrismelb]

Here is brief vid of them at 2 dph after live phyto (nannochlorpsis) cleared.
https://youtu.be/t3y00sKyauI

I think that their swim bladder is possibly not fully developed 2dph.
At 5dph (today) I think only two remain but they are in the water column now.
I have another batch hatching in 4 days and will try a BRT instead of my Kreisel, which is used more for observation and tended to get clogged with the nanno additions.