HELP!! I think my Mandarin Gobies are trying to spawn

[Aerinah]

I have a pair of Mandarin Gobies, the male was added to my reef system 1-18-07 and the female on 3-17-07. Both are eating well in my tank and are very happy.

About 4 days ago I noticed some strange behavior with them though. After my 10k bulbs shut off and it is just my actinic running, I see them swimming in spiral patterns with their bellies together to the surface of my tank 3-4 times. After that the male will follow her around the tank and is very protective of her.

I do have several other fish in the system right now and am wondering if they are indeed trying to spawn and what I might do to help save the babies when/if they have them and I can find them.

(Please don't reply if you are going to tell me I shouldn't have them in my tank)

I need any positive advice that I can get! Any ideas are welcome as well.

Thanks in advance

[ShannHell]

I know it has been done, but have read that its very difficult to raise the larvae. They are pelagic spawners, so they just release the eggs into the water column. So if you didn't collect after you watched them spawn, you probably won't find any eggs

[Travis L. Stevens]

It sounds like they did spawn. When they spiral to the surface and jet back down to the rocks, they spawn. If you look close, you'll notice a puff of gametes in the water right before they start to head down.

If you're looking to attempt to raise the babies, you're a little too late. Let them do their thing since it will feed the tank, and take some time looking up food culturing, what foods will work with the larvae, and how to capture and grow out the young. It will be some tough work and not for the feint of heart. There's a good thread here in the Fish Breeding forum about all of this if you can find it.

[Aerinah]

Ok, I've done everything I can to search for the afore mentioned thread on breeding/raising the mandarins and for the life of me I cannot find it. Does anyone have a link they can post or send to me???

Thanks!

[TitoTee]

I have read the thread and I can tell you it is very long but also VERY dispapointing. From where I left off - no larvae ever made it to juvenile. These seem to be extremely dificult to raise. Mostly because no one really knows what to feed them at the different stages of development. Yes, you pair is spawning and if you want to collect the eggs - simply cut off power to the tanks filters and powerheads geta flashlight and siphon them out. You will see the eggs with a flashlight. The odds are stacked up against you but there is no harm in trying.

[Zaita]

The thread you are after is like 35 pages long, and as said earlier he never successfully raised any.

If you do attempt, create a breeding log so we can follow your process. I will shortly be pairing my green mandarin with the intent of breeding and attempting to raise them too.

[Aerinah]

I will definatly create a log and keep track of what is going on with things. I would really like to read the post though if anyone has the link... dissapointing or not, it's still farther than I have been with my fish. I used to raise Angelfish (FW) by no means are these going to be the same nor as easy but I would really like to try! Besides I'm sure tank raised Mandarins would be far better than taking them out of the ocean, no? Someone sooner or later has to figure something out

Anyone know the name of the thread so I can search for it or the name of the individual that posted it?!?

I really want to do my research before I try to do this, anything I can find right now will help me do that.

Thanks in advance, and for all the info so far!

[aomont]

Hi TitoTee I agree when you say it´s very long but, instead of disapointing I´d say inspiring
Although this may be one of the easiest ornamental pelagic spawner Aerinah it is still hard to get over the first larvae stages.

Here are the threads:
Green Mandarin (Synchiropus splendidus) Breeding Log! - Part 1

Green Mandarin (Synchiropus splendidus) Breeding Log! - Part 2

There´s another one on red scooters
Red Scooter Blenny / RSB (Synchiropus stellatus) Breeding Log!

Good luck,
Anderson.

[Aerinah]

Anderson, I'm sure It will be a long and tedious (hard) process... but I'd like to try a couple of times before I give up! I'm funny that way lol

Thanks for the links!

[aomont]

Nothing tedious if you keep thinking discussing and trying ! Worth a try and I will go that route too. Another way of gathering information is "googling" the fish scientific name/genus/common name and breeding/spawning/raising... Lots of info to keep the process far from tedious.
Anderson.