Green Mandarin (Synchiropus splendidus) Breeding Log! - Page 40

mwp · #**976** 10/24/2006, 12:07 AM

10-23-06, 11:55 PM, we have a spawn, but WHO? - this evening I noticed the RSB's dancing again so I turned off the main current...came back just before midnight and found a small number of eggs at the surface. I didn't notice any courtship in Mandarin Pair #2, so I *think* these were RSB eggs. Not ready to work with anything (tied up with a big perc hatch and a desperate need to prepare more Phytoplankton water) I turned the pumps on and let the eggs just go over the surface skimmer.

On another note, the ICH that came in on Male #2 and appeared to have cleared out reappeared on Sunday evening by infecting both mandarins, 2 of our Glass cardinals and our pair of GBG's. Talk about being ticked, especially since the tank has a 24 watt UV on it.

Well, the UV prefilter was dirty, so flow was reduced, so I've cleared that out, been dosing with Marine Max, and added a small cleaner shrimp to the tank. I'm also toying with slowly bringing the SG down from 1.026. I've had small outbreaks of ICH on one fish here, one fish there in the past in my other tanks, mostly early on additions that didn't spread to other tankmates, but nothing like this. Totally PO'd about it and forced to just "deal" with it...just one of those things that can happen, they are fish afterall

Matt

Warnberg · #**977** 10/24/2006, 11:49 AM

tagging along

mwp · #**978** 10/28/2006, 01:04 AM

10-28-06, we have dancing in both Mandarin Pair #2 and the RSB pair. It seems that the RSB's tried to spawn for a while but gave up, whereas the mandarins were more persistent. However, I'm going after the male Bangaii this evening to see IF he's actually HOLDING babies (I haven't seen him take any prepared foods since 10-5-06!). Basically, I disrupted the pair so IF they were going to spawn, they probably won't now. Gotta start up an RSB thread soon...I'm not going nuts over the Synchiropus just yet - I'm also expecting another round of Apogon leptacanthus on the night of the 28th/29th - I think I'm going to give that species another shot (we're at 45 days, 1 juvie remaining).

FWIW,

Matt

mwp · #**979** 10/30/2006, 12:16 AM

10-29-06 - the RSBs are dancing and "Fatboy" is muckin' it up...apparently he feels like breeding tonight, and since he's large and in charge (double the size of our male RSB) he's getting in the way. The female RSB did a rise with him...so um, there could be a possibility of intra-species mating between two species of Synchiropus housed together. While I don't foresee this happening, it does mean that I may very well have to visually observe any spawns I try to utilize from this tank!

Matt

mwp · #**980** 10/30/2006, 12:24 AM

Just a side note, we had a RSB spawn! See the other thread for more info on that! http://archive.reefcentral.com/forum...hreadid=960292

Matt

mwp · #**981** 11/08/2006, 12:09 AM

I haven't been paying much attention to either Mandarin pair lately as I'm totally focused on producing some Percs for the cash they can generate - that will help pay for all the other playing around I'm doing!

With that said, I wanted to come back and note that today I observed the male of pair #2, "Fatboy" chowing down on Formula 1 pellets like a champ. Both our RSBs are taking Formula 1 pellets as well - I firmly believe that in some respects, prepared pellet style foods go a long way in helping bring fish of all types into spawning condition - they are nutrient dense foods compared to most other forms around, at least in my opinion, and it seems that if fed in a controlled manner less ends up as waste in the tank. So, basically, to me, this is EXCITING news.

I should mention that no "special training" was used to get the fish to take pellets - I would periodically put them in as some of the cardinalfish will eat them. The male RSB has been munching on them for at least a couple weeks, if not longer. It is possible that the others are learning by demonstration (get one to take pellets and the rest fall in line). I only say this because I've been trying pellets for months with our first Mandarin pair and haven't seen them take them at all....doesn't mean they're NOT taking them, just means I haven't observed them doing so.

FWIW,

Matt

Kathy55g · #**982** 11/08/2006, 05:48 AM

that's funny. My broodstock will eat anything but pellet food. My juveniles think pellet food is a great treat. I would love to get the broodstock to eat pellets at least some of the time, as the pollution in their tanks from the twice a day feedings is generating a bumper crop of algae.

Luis A M · #**983** 11/08/2006, 11:25 AM

Kathy,you´re of course meaning clowns?

Kathy55g · #**984** 11/08/2006, 01:31 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Luis A M
Kathy,you´re of course meaning clowns?

Yes, I have only one breeding pair of Ocellaris, and its all I can handle right now. I am setting up another system but it is slow going.
K

woz9683 · #**985** 11/08/2006, 10:23 PM

First, I just read most of this thread all the way back to March or April when it started, and MWP all your work is pretty amazing. I'll definitely continue to follow the thread now. I may have missed this somewhere in the body, but on the second page someone asked about a mandarin that died and turned white or vice versa and you dismissed the whiteness as part of the decay because he said his mandarin was covered in white stuff. I raise the question again because my mandarin also had a stage where he went white on me, fortunately mine did not die (When I say stage I mean minutes, maybe hours). So, unless I'm talking about something completely different the whiteness couldn't have been from decay. Just curious if anyone else had ever seen this or what it was? Could it just be stress, I know my water quality had gone a little sub-par at the time? On a brighter note, he is perfectly healthy now though, probably a year later so apparently no long term damage was done

woz9683 · #**986** 11/08/2006, 10:25 PM

I'm not sure if I was perfectly clear, mine definitely turned white. He wasn't covered with anything.

woz9683 · #**987** 11/08/2006, 10:46 PM

Nevermind, I feel stupid. Just looked at a thread about halfway down the page from this one entitled "Mandarin Ghost". I mean what are the chances that has something to do with mine turning white

Anyway, still going to keep following the thread.

mwp · #**988** 11/09/2006, 12:44 AM

Well, here's the thread for anyone else wondering about white mandarins - http://archive.reefcentral.com/forum...hreadid=967670

Mine turn "white" every night, but not "white like paper"...they just get very pale. It's the noctornal coloration. It just occured to me, some fish show their nocturnal coloration when stressed or scared....if you read the thread above that doesn't appear to be the case though.

FWIW,

Matt

mwp · #**989** 11/11/2006, 01:47 AM

OK, some big news on the Mandarin front. Thanks to some help from Luis AM, I NOW HAVE ARCATIA TONSA in culture!

That's right, CALANOID COPEPODS! ONE of the probably MAGIC BULLETS for Mandarin Culture, at least I hope so. Still on the lookout for Nannochloris. You can be sure that the next time I try a mandarin batch, I'll be READY to succeed!

Luis, if this makes the difference, you and few other people will be getting big thank yous in the form of CB Mandarins, IF I can actually figure out how to ship one to you in 2 years when they're an inch long

Matt

mwp · #**990** 11/11/2006, 02:10 AM

My bad, I believe it's Acartia tonsa, NOT Arcatia tonsa

mwp · #**991** 11/13/2006, 02:20 AM

So, could these be a partial "silver bullet" for Synchiropus culture? We'll surely see down the line! Rather than post it here, just check out the Acartia tonsa thread (includes QX5 pics).

http://archive.reefcentral.com/forum...hreadid=971491

Matt

FishGuttz · #**992** 11/13/2006, 10:02 AM

Doesn't Florida Aqua Farms sell Nanochloris cultures?

mwp · #**993** 11/13/2006, 11:13 AM

They're out of both discs and live cultures.

Matt

BrianPlankis · #**994** 11/13/2006, 11:20 AM

Matt,

Is Nanochloris and Nanochloropsis the same thing?

http://www.aquaticeco.com/index.cfm/.../5944/cid/1708

Brian

mwp · #**995** 11/13/2006, 11:26 AM

Nannochloris is a different genus of phyto which is extremely small compared to Nannochloropsis. I used to have Nannochloris in culture, but a couple months ago said "f it" and stopped culturing it because I didn't see any real need for it, and I needed to culture more Nannochloropsis, Tetraselmis and T-Iso, all of which I also have.

I guess the moral of the story here is that if you're breeding a lot of unknowns or a wide variety of species, it's best to have as much diversity in your cultures as possible, and it's probably wise to make sure you keep everything you get your hands on IN CULTURE vs. getting stuck looking for something you used to have and now need but don't have

Matt

Cuervo · #**996** 11/15/2006, 10:34 AM

Hey Matt,

The male Mandarin is the one with the long point sticking up from his front dorsal fin, right??

And the female's is more rounded?

mwp · #**997** 11/15/2006, 02:25 PM

You got it. The male has an elongated first dorsal spine, the female does not.

Matt

Cuervo · #**998** 11/15/2006, 04:43 PM

oO

I got lucky, I have a female. Her first dorsal is totally round.

Thanks!!

mwp · #**999** 11/20/2006, 12:28 AM

Another cool post as of late - another good vid of the Mandarin mating dance.

http://archive.reefcentral.com/forum...hreadid=976645

Matt

JohnL · #**1000** 11/20/2006, 12:28 AM

This thread was automatically split due to performance issues. You can find the rest of the thread here: http://archive.reefcentral.com/forum...hreadid=976657