Citron gobies

["Umm, fish?"]

Citron gobies are spawning again tonight. This time they chose an actual coral to spawn on:

[ig]http://www.ummfish.com/citron_eggs_7-11-09.jpg[/img]

I'm surprised. The one in the photo took a big piece of urchin spine in the side (black mark on its left side in photo) earlier in the week and I thought I was going to lose it. But the wound healed over and it's been doing fine.

As background, this is their second nest. They laid on the aquarium glass but consumed the whole nest.

["Umm, fish?"]

I'm sure they are done now, so I can risk glass cleaning and flash from below.

The complete photo:

[ig]http://www.ummfish.com/citron_eggs_02_7-11-09.jpg[/img]

100% crop:

[ig]http://www.ummfish.com/citron_eggs_03_7-11-09.jpg[/img]

200%:

[im]http://www.ummfish.com/citron_eggs_04_7-11-09.jpg[/img]

[Luis A M]

Awesome pics!

[lance]

Congrat's on the spawn good luck raising the young.

lance

["Umm, fish?"]

Thanks. I'm interested to see whether they are still there this morning. They look better than the first batch (or, the first batch that I saw) and the male was vigorously guarding last night, so I'm much more hopeful.

["Umm, fish?"]

Looks like they (or something) ate this batch, too.

[Luis A M]

Check viewtopic.php?f=182&t=496

["Umm, fish?"]

Oh, yeah, Luis. I've read your thread several times. Thanks!

["Umm, fish?"]

Here's a new batch of eggs at about 24 hours post-spawn. Looks like a lot are fertile.

100% crop.
[ig]http://www.ummfish.com/citron_eggs_24hours_01_7-17-09.jpg[/img]

And enlarged to 200%.
[ig]http://www.ummfish.com/citron_eggs_24hours_02_7-17-09.jpg[/img]

[lance]

wow fantastic shot's all them look fertile congrat's on the continued success.

lance

["Umm, fish?"]

And here are the 48 hour shots. Looks like maybe some eye development starting.

Full photo:
[mg]http://www.ummfish.com/citron_eggs_48hours_01_7-18-09.jpg[/img]

100% crop:
[ig]http://www.ummfish.com/citron_eggs_48hours_02_7-18-09.jpg[/img]

200% enlargement:
[ig]http://www.ummfish.com/citron_eggs_48hours_03_7-18-09.jpg[/img]

[Hunts25]

Great photos

[Luis A M]

Again,the pictures are outstanding!are you using a macro lens?.The eggs are close to the front glass?.Where you place the flash?.Perhaps this merits a thread in the photo forum...

["Umm, fish?"]

Thanks, though that one's not as sharp as I'd like. The eggs are probably 8-10" back from the glass. So I'm not quite managing 1:1 with the 100mm macro lens. I have two flash heads that hang on a filter bracket at the end of the lens (because in macro, the flash in the normal place can cast shadows from the lens across the subject sometimes since your working distance from lens to subject is so short). I can rotate the flashes all around the lens and move them around fairly independently. I have the flashes under the lens in these and pointed back up at the underside of the coral.

["Umm, fish?"]

And we have lots of eyes. You guys know the drill: Whole photo, 100% crop, 200% enlargement.

[ig]http://www.ummfish.com/citron_eggs_70hours_01_7-19-09.jpg[/img]

[im]http://www.ummfish.com/citron_eggs_70hours_02_7-19-09.jpg[/img]

[ig]http://www.ummfish.com/citron_eggs_70hours_03_7-19-09.jpg[/img]

[lance]

wow alot of eye's indeed hope you can raise them all. Do you have a setup for the babies?

lance

[KathyL]

Looks like Kiwi fruit! Is there anything you are not breeding, Andy?

["Umm, fish?"]

wow alot of eye's indeed hope you can raise them all. Do you have a setup for the babies?

I'm not ready for them yet. Well and aside from the fact that these guys are really hard. This is just documentation in case I decide to go with them later. Got to do the homework first....

Is there anything you are not breeding, Andy?

Yes, Kathy. Freakin' clownfish.... I cannot get clownfish to spawn to save my life. I feed them. I give them time. They start to look ready. One jumps out of the tank. I start with another pair. They start to look ready. They start cleaning the substrate. I have a tank crash that kills everything. I start with another pair. They look ready. They continue to look ready for the next year. One jumps. Sigh. They drive me crazy.

Oh, and solarensis wrasses. I've had three female solarensis wrasses for months. They will not change sex. Sigh.

[KathyL]

Lowes will cut glass to any size you want. Makes a dandy lid! My issue is that I've got pipes or tubes or feeders that need access thru the top. So I always have a space, that I need to cover with eggcrate or something. I've had lots of juvies concrete surf when I've neglected to cover their tank, but thank God I haven't lost broodstock. It would shut me down, since I only have the one pair right now....

K

[BaboonScience]

I cannot get clownfish to spawn to save my life. I feed them. I give them time. They start to look ready. One jumps out of the tank. I start with another pair. They start to look ready. They start cleaning the substrate. I have a tank crash that kills everything. I start with another pair. They look ready. They continue to look ready for the next year. One jumps. Sigh. They drive me crazy.

Soft music Andy! OH and mood lights.
Seriously I had several pairs that had not spawned for over six months. We were out of town for the weekend a four months ago and all had eggs when we came back. I guess starvation as a last resort?

Nice looking goby eggs. Good luck, I hear they are a challenge.
John

["Umm, fish?"]

Kathy--Yeah, all my tanks have lids now (except the eurobraced display, I have to admit). All of my overflows have gutter guard over them. It doesn't matter. I have chromis in every tank in my system now, all starting upstairs in the display tank and all taking at least eight foot trips through the plumbing. Freakin' damsels.... I lost one of your orange clowns, BTW, but never figured out why. Never found the body. Probably still living in an overflow somewhere. The Banggais and B&Ws are doing fine. In fact, the oldest two Banggais are on their second set of eggs (swallowed the first, dang it).

John--Hmm. Maybe you have something there. I should go back to not feeding the fish.... I'm really not ready to try the gobies yet. I've perfected the ciliate cultures but need to work on the calanoids.

I just figured out something really cool! Small Parts sells their mesh screens through Amazon now. And since I pay up front to Amazon for shipping for the year, I get 2nd day from them for free.

["Umm, fish?"]

Today's goby egg installment:

[ig]http://www.ummfish.com/citron_eggs_01_7-20-09.jpg[/img]

[ig]http://www.ummfish.com/citron_eggs_02_7-20-09.jpg[/img]

[ig]http://www.ummfish.com/citron_eggs_03_7-20-09.jpg[/img]

["Umm, fish?"]

I want to say up-front that I have _not_ given up on the sixlines. But they are being difficult right now (everything's set up and ready and they stopped spawning). So, in an effort to encourage them to get their act together I decided that I would try collecting some other larvae and see if I can make them jealous.

So, I set up the monster of a larvae snagger:

[ig]http://www.ummfish.com/larval_snagger.jpg[/img]

And got some gobies, first night. I need to tweak the placement a bit as the catch was a bit disappointing. But the live ones went into the larval rearing tank. This little guy didn't make it, but bravely volunteered to go under the microscope for me:

[ig]http://www.ummfish.com/citron_larvae_8-15-09.jpg[/img]

[chris melb]

Very Nice Pics Andy,

What are you offering these guys as a first food?

["Umm, fish?"]

Well, the likelihood is: Not much. My A. tonsa culture did not make it. I have overstocked their tank with rotifers, hoping there'll be enough juvenile rots that they can get enough to eat. I didn't manage to collect that many gobies, though, so my hopes aren't terribly high. The parents laid another nest yesterday, though. That is a good thing about them: Lots of chances with not a lot of time to wait in-between.