Greenbanded Goby (Elacatinus multifasciatus, Gobidion etc..) Breeding Log - Page 11

aomont · #**251** 12/28/2006, 08:30 PM

Matt, do you have any reference to how long GBGs live ? know neon gobies are short lived but don´t know about others like GBG, yasha or orange watchman...
Anderson.

mwp · #**252** 12/28/2006, 09:03 PM

Well Anderson, GBGs are supposed to be 1 year fish like Neons, but of course in reality they last longer. We're just past a year on our pair, and they had to be at least 3-4 months old when we purchased them...

Matt

c'est ma · #**253** 01/02/2007, 03:50 AM

Aw, I'm sorry to hear they're reputedly short-lived...

Matt, in answer to your question a few posts back, my gbgs have continued breeding regularly and I've just continued to let the larvae disappear in the main tank. I simply do not have the time to set up and maintain the live food tanks their raising requires. I feel bad about this, but I am happy to have the adults experience their full range of behavior...

Thanks for asking! You can rest assured that you'll be getting no competition from me...

--Diane

mwp · #**254** 01/05/2007, 04:14 PM

Thinking of submitting a short recap to http://gobiidae.com/international_go...rd_program.htm - anyone else participating in this program?

Also, what are your thoughts on writing an article up on the rearing of this species for some general publication like Coral or TFH?

Matt

c'est ma · #**255** 01/10/2007, 04:04 AM

Go for it, Matt! Both sound like great opportunities. Let us know when you submit something.

--Diane

mwp · #**256** 01/11/2007, 11:42 PM

66.5 days post hatch now, might as well show some new pictures!. The percula juvies in the pictures are 30 days old tonight (from "Batch VI") The gobies are still growing well, almost to the size of what's considered "Large" Catalina Gobies. It certainly looks like sexual traits are developing (elongated dorsal spines on the larger fish, suspected males).

Also, our male has become quite the relaxed fish nowadays...often hanging out right in front in plain site, waiting for food

FWIW,

Matt

c'est ma · #**257** 01/12/2007, 01:23 AM

Wonderful pics, Matt! Your babies are so plump! Obviously eating well. What is the major part of their diet now?

It's a treat to see one of your adults--great shots of him.

--Diane

mwp · #**258** 01/12/2007, 01:28 AM

Diane, the diet I'm giving the GBG's is basically Otohime B1 (they could take larger, but the clownfish aren't ready yet, usually given 2-3 times per day), Ocean Nutrition Cyclops mixed with Cyclopeze and Selcon (usually once per day), and Formula 1 pellets crushed up (also usually once per day). At this point, they're all spoken for, I'm just trying my best to get them to a "good" size for the average aquarium so they're safe when going to their new homes!

FWIW,

Matt

mwp · #**259** 01/13/2007, 02:45 PM

68 days old and I tried offering up some adult frozen brine shrimp (SFB Spirulina Enriched). For the most part, it seems that they HAMMERED IT! I already keep their bellies pretty full, but in the coming weeks I hope to have them all accepting frozen brine as a new component in their diet...at that point, I think they'll be fully considered "ready to go"

Matt

tanglovers · #**260** 01/13/2007, 10:38 PM

Awesome Matt!

Congrats, goes to show hard work pays off in the end.

How big are they int he pics? Like 3/4" Not real familiar with gobies, when will you consider a success and have them to marketable/salable size?

mwp · #**261** 01/14/2007, 12:41 AM

Well, the largest are probably 3/4" at this point...I'm looking for fish around 3/4" to 1"...I should take some pics with the ruler behind the tank..then I'd know for sure!!!

Matt

mwp · #**262** 01/16/2007, 02:38 AM

1-16-07, 1:30 AM, 70.5 days post hatch - I noticed that some of the GBG's were pale in color (especially the red eye stripes) this evening, but otherwise darting about, eating food, acting as normal. Considering there are 60 or so fish (when you include the 30+ day old Perc Juvies) in the 10 gallon tank, I figured what the heck and did a water test. Here's what I found:

Temp - 80.3
Specific Gravity / Salinity - 1.0245 / 32 ppt
pH - 8.2
Total Alkalinity - 6 meq/L
Free Ammonia - 0 ppm
Nitrite - 2.5 ppm ("aha"!)
Nitrate - < 1 ppm

So...they're getting a water change (big surprise!) Brought the tank down to 5 gallons and am adding at least 2.5 gallons tonight. I'm running terribly low on salt (but more is on the way) so they'll probably get another water change as soon as the salt arrives (or if things get worse, I'll run out and get salt locally!)

That's the news...I was finding it curious that I had stopped having problems with the ammonia alert thing rising off "safe" for the last week or two...now I now what's going on!

FWIW,

Matt

firstimereefer · #**263** 03/27/2007, 09:36 AM

Are you still selling the babies and is $30 a firm price on them?

"Umm, fish?" · #**264** 03/27/2007, 01:02 PM

firstimereefer-- You aren't going to get a response from Matt. "Moved on" means that he's gone.

firstimereefer · #**265** 03/27/2007, 03:41 PM

Thanks Andy, I didnt know that. I am a noob to rc.