Breeding Log: Yellow Watchman Goby

[Travis L. Stevens]

First and foremost, I have to give a HUGE thanks to Jonathan (YoungSilver). He brought me a mated pair of Yellow Watchman Gobies. I've always wanted to breed fish. I figured I would be starting with Clownfish or Seahorses like most people. But because of Jonathan, he has pushed me to take it a step further. Here in this thread, I'll keep a log of important milestones and update with pictures. Once again, thanks Jonathan.

My goal here is to keep a detailed log for other aquarists to use as a guide. Of course, little is known about breeding most marine fish. So, I'll attempt to get all the information I can as well as post it here.

September 17, 2006: The Surprise
The Yellow Watchman Gobies made the trip from Plano, TX to Stillwater, OK in their typical bag of water. They were taken to Kyoto Japanese Steakhouse with a lot of other fish to be placed in the tank. I show up just in time to see everything. As I thumbed through the bags that Jonathan had brought like a child on Christmas Morning, I stumbled across a bag with what looked like a Yellow Watchman Goby. As I mumbled out loud and incoherently the name of the fish, Jonathan pronounced that it was a mated pair. Upon closer inspection, I see the female hiding in the corner of the bag. With the insuing persistant yet cordial name calling such as "Lucky", "You suck", and various other names and descriptions to rib Jonathan, he informs me that they are a present to me! I was under the impression that they will be going in his setup when he gets back to Stillwater. Unfortunately, I don't have a home ready for the pair. So, they had to go back with Jonathan to his home in Stillwater.

September 20, 2006: Transfered
After a lot of thought, on Wednesday I went to pick up the pair. It was difficult to decide if they needed to stay in their current residence or come home with me. I couldn't put them in the display of my 29g tank. I'ld later be transfering them and there would be no way that I could catch them later. I could fill up the 10g tank that I'm working on, but it would be too new, sterile, and a cycle would sure to follow after adding them. The only given place that I could put them was in my sump. So, off I go to get the gobies. I get there and everyone seems to be doing fine. Now it's time to terrorize the tank. In short, I ended up having to take all the mechanical things and the rock out of their holding tank to get them. When I first did this, all I found was the male goby and a Rainford Goby that was being held for Jonathan. Because I've had similar things happen, I knew that the female had to be hidden in a rock. I then inspected all the rocks that the female goby could and could not fit into. I left out the ones that she couldn't fit in and put the ones that she could fit in back in the tank and took them out after about five minutes. I was guessing that the female goby would quickly come out and bury in the sand. I removed the rocks only to find she still wasn't there. This time I put the rocks back and waited about 15 minutes with the lights out. I came back, removed the rocks, and found her in the bottom of the tank. She was stressed, but not bad. I slowly coaxed her into the net and gently lifted her out of the water and into the bucket. By this time it's 10pm. I head home and immediately begin to drip acclimate them. While acclimating them, I get the sump ready by adding a couple pieces of rock and some grating to keep them from flowing over into the pump section. After that, they were ready to be placed in the sump. I get them in there and they immediately start to look around the tank very calmly. Man, they have such a personality. I then attempted to feed them Cyclopeeze. They didn't really take to it from the water column, but the male sifted some debris from the bottom of the tank. Who knows why or what he ate. I then fed a little Mysis Shrimp. This time, the male and the female ate one piece each as it slowly fell toward their mouth. That gave me quite the boost of confidence. I watched them for a while longer to see any interaction. The male and the female crossed each others paths and the female turned around and nipped the male's tail. But the male didn't seem to mind and they both kept on exploring. It was strange behavior, but I thought of it more like a pat on the back from one person to the other. By now, it's about midnight and I'm ready for bed.

Also, I held a brief conversation with NicoleC about her Yellow Watchman Gobies. I asked a few simple questions regarding pairs of Yellow Watchman Gobies and about Pistol Shrimp. With our conversation I decided that when everything finally gets switched over to their respective tanks, the Yellow Watchman Gobies will have the whole 29g tank to themselves and will get some roommates. I hope to get a mated pair of Pistol Shrimp to go with them. But back to the point. Here is what I learned beyond basic care for them:

*Just because they are different colors doesn't mean they are a pair. The coloring is not sex related, although *usually* pairs are yellow male and grey/blue female.
*Be forewarned that YWG's are prone to bacterial infections after capture, so keep an eye on them for any signs of pink/red on or under the surface of the skin while you start training them to prepared food.
*Links to NicoleC's Breeding and Raising attempts:
- http://archive.reefcentral.com/forum...hreadid=347239
- http://archive.reefcentral.com/forum...hreadid=684921

September 21, 2006: Day 1
Well, after a hard day at work with my family and the gobies on my mind, I finally get home at about 7pm. I look in the sump hoping that they didn't jump out or get into a section of the sump they aren't supposed to be. There, peering through the glass at me, were both the gobies. The opening of the stand door didn't seem to bother them at all. They had made a makeshift den out of what debris was in the bottom and were under the rocks peering out. I fed a little flake food and saw they both ate a piece and went back to my chores and errands. I saw them roaming around the sump before I went to bed. I read the section about fish breeding out of "The Complete Book of the Marine Aquarium" by Vincent B. Hargreaves, and learned a little about how commercial fisheries are set up and about food culturing. I've skimmed through many threads about similar stuff on Reef Central, but now that I might actually attempt raising goby babies, I might as well start researching a little more.

[nIx_tank]

Nice!

I call dibs on a fry!

Good luck, and I'll be cheering you on!

[papagimp]

If they have more than one fry I call second dibbs!

[Travis L. Stevens]

Oh, I'm sure that they will have plenty of fry. But, the problem is getting them to grow up

[mskohl]

good luck Travis and thanks for making a thread.

[Travis L. Stevens]

Thanks for all the luck and well wishes. Hopefully they want children and not to be just "friends". I'm going to definitely break out the big guns with this project. I think I might finish all these tank setups and possibly sell them. I'll need to make room for a tank to raise the fry in and a whole food culturing station.

[papagimp]

Originally posted by Travis L. Stevens
Hopefully they want children and not to be just "friends".

Play some Barry White for them when you turn the lights off at night.

[Youngsilver]

HAHA i knew you'd LOVE THEM !

[Serra]

Travis- This is so cool. As usual you share your knowledge, trials and tribs with us. Thanks! I am doing the same with my baby onyx clowns. Since I already raise Tanganyika cichlids I have the tanks. I have downsized to just 1 breeding pair so I will have room for baby clowns (crossing fingers and toes.) Well, I have a possible pair of a second species that I will play with until clowns are old enough.

Just don't plan any vacations while you are raising babies...

[Travis L. Stevens]

Jonathan, you got that right! I'm enjoying them more and more each day. I find myself laying in front of the sump watching them as they watch me for hours. Funny part is, the display of my tank hasn't gotten that much attention since my last water change!

Sheryl, that sounds great. Let us know how it goes. BTW, while cleaning my fish room, I found your pliers. I'll get them to you soon

September 23-24, 2006: Prepared Foods
With the explanation that Jonathan gave me about how these two were previously housed, I had little doubt that they would turn their nose up to prepared foods. Through the weekend I got to experiment with their tastes in food as well as have them get a little more used to me. I only tried three different foods; frozen mysis shrimp, frozen cyclopeeze, and marine flake food. To my surprise, they love the flake food more than the others. If mysis shrimp pass close enough they'll eat it. But they don't show any interest in cyclopeeze, but they will sift the debris for leftovers. With the flake, they come out of their home and swim around for it. I guess the first milestone that I worried about is accomplished. Getting them to eat prepared foods, if they weren't before, is probably going to be my easiest task.

In the mean time. Here are some pictures I took of them through the weekend. The male is the bright yellow, and the female is the drab yellow with hints of stripes.

This is how I usually find the male. Watching me for long periods of time.


Here is the male just keeping watch.


Here are the pair watching me together.




Here is the pair in the middle of eating flake food.


Oh, and yes, I know my sump is dirty. Lots of debris and I had a bag of activated carbon bust on me.

[Travis L. Stevens]

It seems that I have a lot to look forward to. Many milestones will need to be reached. But, for those that want a sneak peek of what could happen, here you go. With the permission of NicoleC, she has let me use some pictures to show you. All pictures are souly hers. They are hosted in my photobucket account at her request.

Here is NicoleC's Yellow Watchman Goby pair. As you can see, the female changes colors to a more drab and striped form.

Here is the pair before.


Here is the female before.


Here is the female afterwards.


Here is the pair afterwards.


This is what I will hope to achieve. This is the female with a clutch of her eggs attached to the bottom of a clay pot.


Here is a shot of just the eggs.


Once again, thanks NicoleC for letting me use your pictures as an example of days to come.

[graveyardworm]

Hi Travis, I do still have mine. The female completed her color change awhile ago, and I would say they are both just reaching adult size. They are in my 100 gal lagoon and living together in their burrow. Due to the size of the tank and where their burrow is I cant say whether they've spawned yet or not. I do check periodically, and I've been observing the female for any signs, but so far nothing. I suppose the fry are so small that I probably wouldnt even notice them, not to mention they'd probably become food for my suncoral, fish, and other inverts in the system. I have been meaning to take some pictures but havent yet. Thanks for posting Nicoles pics, I really wasnt sure what I was even looking for as far as eggs go.

[graveyardworm]

Well my YWG's finally spawned. . I now have have an egg mass barely visible in their cave. I didnt see it until after lights out with a flashlight, and tried to get some pics but cant get any clear ones yet.

[Travis L. Stevens]

Originally posted by graveyardworm
Well my YWG's finally spawned. . I now have have an egg mass barely visible in their cave. I didnt see it until after lights out with a flashlight, and tried to get some pics but cant get any clear ones yet.

Congratulations!! This is just another success story that I hope to repeat in the near future. Do you have a food culturing station set up yet?

[graveyardworm]

No, I dont have any cultured food. Not really even sure what to feed. I've been searching up all of NicoleC's posts, and looks like a couple different strains of enriched rots work. So I've got alot to do to get ready for an attempt at raising them. I was gonna ask Nicole if she could somehow sum up all of her threads and experience. I'm wondering if frozen rots would work or if live is the only way to go?

[Travis L. Stevens]

As you know, I have no experience with it. But I would think that they would only take live food at first. I could be wrong though.

[Travis L. Stevens]

September 25 - October 10, 2006
Nothing too eventful has occurred. I keep them fed, watch them for a little while, and go about my business. Interestingly enough, both of them are starting to get quite large around the belly. I don't know if they have been having a hay day with pods in my refugium, eating to their heart's content, have internal parasite (I doubt it), or if they are both pregnant females. I suspect they are just well fed. I don't know if both could be females without fighting let alone be gravid without a male present. During last weekend, I finally gor around to adding a couple pieces of PVC in my refugium. They took to it quickly and seemed to like it. As of last night, I got an urge to clean up the display by taking any old rocks that have fallen over and placing them in the sump. But before I did that, I decided I was going to go ahead and put the gobies in the display. I felt they deserved a sand bed to dig into and sift through. After adding them in, as I expected, they immediately went and hid. During that time, I cleaned things up, the lights went out, and we went to bed. Before I left for work today, I didn't see them with a flashlight. I suspect it might be a couple days before they come out into the open again. I'm thinking that they might dig a home out towards the front of the tank. My rock work is stacked up in the back and on the sides against the glass. There are many places for them to hide in the rocks, but most of the available sand is in the front. I guess we will see.

[Travis L. Stevens]

October 11, 2006
I saw that they have managed to find sand behind the rock work to dig in, but I haven't seen them. Hopefully they will eventually make a home at the front of the tank so I can see them.

October 12, 2006
Today, I got to peek behind the rock work and noticed that they have dug seperate homes at each end of the tank. One was in each of the homes. Disheartening to say the least. Hopefully they are just exploring and will come together later. They never seemed to have a really strong bond yet, but who knows.

October 13, 2006
I saw them together in the same hole today! It's got me really excited that they will stay as a pair. Now, the problem is if they lay eggs, I'll have no way to get them since they are against the back wall.

October 14, 2006
Finally, I saw that one has poked their head out. Their coloration is still very similar, so I couldn't tell if it was the male or the female. I suspect it was the male because he is slightly larger. I fed the tank as well and he actually came out to eat. I breathed a sigh of relief because I didn't know if they have been eating. Though, the have probably sifted sand for food. Later in the day before the lights went out, I saw that they were still both in the same hole, so I know they are both alive.

October 15, 2006
Similar situation as yesterday. Not much action, but I did see both gobies sticking their heads out from the rock at the same time. I couldn't get over to them to feed them, because they ducked for cover. But now I know they are both getting bolder and happier with their surroundings.

[Travis L. Stevens]

October 16, 2006
This evening after I came home from work, I saw that both of the Yellow Watchman Gobies have gotten brave enough to come out to the front of the tank and even eat. The male is braver than the female right now. I can slowly walk up to the tank and the male will stay out. The female on the other hand will dart back in the rock work. I managed to take some pictures of them from the couch.

Whole tank shot. You can see where they live and come out from.


The male stands guard.


The male is the larger, more brilliant yellow one.


Out for an evening stroll


The happy couple

[graveyardworm]

In the case of mine the female is the larger of the two, and the less shy one. My female appears to be pregnant again, so it appears they may breed as often as twice per month.

[Travis L. Stevens]

I believe that NicoleC was having them breed more often. I'll have to re-read her thread though. I think mine are honeymooners. I think the male is bigger at the moment, but the female will eventually grow larger and begin to change colors. The smaller one of mine is so drab compared to the larger one. It's hard to tell in the pictures.

This one is pretty accurate in color, but their place in the tank doesn't lend a good proportion to their size.

[graveyardworm]

Here's my ywg pair, and their first egg batch. 1st pic the female is left, and male right.



2nd pic the ever watchful male making sure I'm not up to anything.

[Travis L. Stevens]

Awesome David. Thanks for posting that. So, the PVC that you have in there. Was that originally to hold your rocks up, or did you intentionally place it there for them?

[graveyardworm]

Yeah the PVC is there to support the rocks, but it was installed with the YWG's in mind figuring that they would dig under the LR. The YWG's have claimed two of them for nesting areas which they seem to alternate between.

[Travis L. Stevens]

October 16, 2006 - December 4, 2006
Not much has really changed in the tank. They have stayed in the same home this whole time. Just last night, I added a clay pot cut in half near their back door that they occassionally frequent in hopes that they will at least lay there once so I know that they are producing eggs. Also, the female has darkened up slightly and is now more visibly different than the male. She has faint bands and around the edge of her lips is a fine line of grey. We'll see though.