Yellow watchman gobies - at last

[oceanarus]

Originally posted by oama
Sexual Dichromatic, loosly translated "different colors between sexes" is a Sexual Dimorphic trait.
Are you thinking are the term Hermaphrodite? Sex changing?

Found the term, Joyce's clownfishes book comes in so handy..

protandrous hermaphroditism

Dlckwood - Amy says lots of formula one is the key

[kmk2307]

Are the females yellow when they are juveniles? My yellow watchman goby is very pale like the females here. If I get a small yellow one can i be sure it is male? Do you think the smaller one might "change" to be male?

oceanarus,
Is that a shimp in there with the male? It doesn't look like an alpheus? Congratulations!

Thanks,
Kevin

[oceanarus]

Originally posted by kmk2307
Are the females yellow when they are juveniles? My yellow watchman goby is very pale like the females here. If I get a small yellow one can i be sure it is male?

Thanks,
Kevin

pretty sure, yes

but like we said, we're just going on theories based on a limited amount of observations. Amy thinks the best bet is to do them like clownfish, get one that is much smaller and more vibrantly colored and then watch them closely for the next few days. I think you should know right away whether it will work or not.

[kmk2307]

Sorry I edited with another question but it took a while to post. What kind of shimp is that in there with the male? Thanks for the info. This is something I really want to try now.

Thanks!
Kevin

[oceanarus]

Originally posted by kmk2307
Sorry I edited with another question but it took a while to post. What kind of shimp is that in there with the male? Thanks for the info. This is something I really want to try now.

Thanks!
Kevin

Good guess, but NOPE

Although they do share a symbiosis with shrimp (don't know which one) that in the picture with the male is the nest of eggs.

Here is a closer up picture of the male with the nest that you might be able to make out a little better.


BTW, they don't have to live with a shrimp to be happy

Oh, and their nest hangs by threads from the roof of their cave.

[t1guyton1]

awesome....tagging along....

[oceanarus]

Just another bit of info,

It took us 14 spawns and I'm sure over $300 in research (trochophores ) to get where we are.

And we are not ashamed to admit that more than a few mis-barred ocellaris were sold to help fund it

(driving home a point Amy made on another thread)

[oama]

I hope the trochophores were irradiated!

[kmk2307]

I could have sworn that I saw a shrimp in that first picture.

Thanks,
Kevin

[gkmartinez]

Tagging.

[oceanarus]

I figure I'm overdue for one of what Amy calls the 'school pictures'.
This one is of course the same magnification as all the others. But they have grown so much that I had to splice 2 pictures together so you can see the whole thing. Please, no laughing at my poor skills in photo editing (of course it could be the cheap software I am using). Looks like I need to get my hands on an observation microscope, as the one I have only does the real close up stuff, and they have rapidly out-grown the lowest magnification setting.
Now 12 days old and I would estimate 3-4 X growth from day one. Don't know if you'll be able to make it out in the picture but some green irridescence can be seen on the body (guessing this is a precursor to pigmentation?).

[Dlckwood]

What YWG is bigger, the male or the female? Maybe this will help me.
DLCKWOOD

[addicktz]

what are u using to take pictures of the babies? i assume a digital microscopy camera or something like it, i am in the market for one, i was intrested if u had any recommendations

[oceanarus]

It's actually an ancient microscope (much like the kind you would find in a High School) and my cheap-o digital camera.

I get the subject in view and in focus, turn on the camera and turn on the LCD screen so I can see what the camera sees, put the lens of the camera right on top of the eye-piece, and voila, I see on the screen just what I would see if I had my eye to the eye-piece. Just click the button and I have a digital microscope picture. I'm actually surprised how well the turn out considering the equipment I am using and how easy it is.

Picture of the microscope is attached.

[addicktz]

awesome, i saw the "Digital Blue QX3 Computer Microscope" on sale at ebay.com for 50 bucks, it claims 200x, how do u feel about this product, it seems very elem.. like

[JHardman]

Originally posted by addicktz
awesome, i saw the "Digital Blue QX3 Computer Microscope" on sale at ebay.com for 50 bucks, it claims 200x, how do u feel about this product, it seems very elem.. like

I have one, and frankly it is almost impossible to get a sharp focus with. I would not buy one again.

[rockstar]

I tried to use the QX3 just to look at rotifers. I gave up and found it to be almost completely useless. I'm in the market for an inexpensive microscope, but not sure what fits the bill.

[addicktz]

thanks for the posts, i think im gonna try oceanarus' method and see how that works out.

[oceanarus]

Time for another update:

Now 20 days old. Been a while since the last update since I have been trying to figure out a way to get some decent pictures of this stage of development, well maybe I'll get them on the next batch.

Shortly after the last update they started settling out on the bottom and a few of them will even cling to the glass with their pelvic fins like the adults will do on occasion. Each day more and more are hanging out on the bottom (with big fat bellies) and today there is 99% of them on the bottom (there are a few runts that are still in the upper part of the tank). They are clearly becoming a more opaque dirty-yellow color. They have been on nothing but L rotifers since last update. I think they are very close to taking newly hatched BBS, but we are going to give it a few more days just to be sure.

The next batch is hatching out as I type this

OK you all should know by now that my camera will not do pictures of anything closer than 12" to it, but I tried anyway. Attached is a picture of one of the babies that happened to be hanging out right up against the front glass. I know it is not in focus but it was the best I could get. This picture is more for being able to see what size they are now vice what they look like in detail (like I said I'll try to get photos like that with the next batch). So anyway the blur that is circled in red is right at 1/4". You'll probably also note the nice coating of algae on the bottom of the tank. Kinda nervous about scraping it since they all are setting on the bottom.

Oh, I should also mention that we have not had one loss since the last update.

[xxaquanutxx]

Dude, I am so stoked!! Keep Up the great work..

[Atticus]

Wow, Great work guys!!! It funny how you can see its head has developed like an adult. The big jaw line. Excelent job on no losses!!! Keep it up you are an inspiration to us all!!!

[Splach]

Okay, now the big question. Presuming that you are able to keep them going, what does one do with several hundred Yellow Watchman Gobies? Is there really that big of a market for them, or do most of them wind up getting culled at some point?

[oceanarus]

Originally posted by Splach
Okay, now the big question. Presuming that you are able to keep them going, what does one do with several hundred Yellow Watchman Gobies? Is there really that big of a market for them, or do most of them wind up getting culled at some point?

Good Question!

Hopefully not many will have to be culled, and if they are it will because of deformaties, not because I have to many fish.

I've been thinking that I ought to get in touch with a distributor soon.

Several Hundred??? I'm thinking more like several thousand if things keep going well.

[weefishman]

Do you use live phyto cultures or instant algea to feed your rotifier cultures? Thanks for the info.

-Jonny

[oceanarus]

The live phyto was too much of a pain in the @** so I switched over to instant algea a few months ago. A big time saver and get a lot denser rotifer cultures using it.