Gobiodon citrinus-Luis A M

[Luis A M]

I imagined G.citrinus,being larger than G.okinawa,would produce larger eggs/larvae.But no,they are about the same,only that the number of eggs is much larger.
This is a larva few hours after hatch.Size is only 2.8 mm!



Notice that the whitish yolk has moved to the rear gut and cloaca.The oil globule remains in the yolk sac area.



The otoliths can be seen behind the eyes as small white dots.Then the oil globule.Then the air filled air bladder,which looks like a bubble,and the gut and cloaca.
The copepod is a Parvocalanus sp.

[spawner]

Not bad Luis. 2.8 at hatch is not a bad size.

[Suzy]

What amazing photos! What camera are you using?

How about the nursery? Is it a brt?

[Ben]

Very nice pics
Would like to know as suzy does what are you using to take such great pics
Was looking at one of your threads elsewhere today on the prolarvae pygmys and could not believe how good the pics where
2.8mm looks like about the same size as what i think my orchid dotties at hatch are maybe a bigger
But would like to know how you measure such a small living larvae
As for the pics they are great
I striped a batch of banggii eggs this arvo 5 days old and tried to take pics of them to post to see if people thought they were fertile
Cant even do that

[Luis A M]

Thanks guys
I use an old Cybershot which I connect,via an adaptor to my compound or my dissection scopes.Measurement is explained at the "New Born Album",where you can see A G.okinawae larva as well. viewtopic.php?f=141&t=458
Suzy,yes,in a BRT.

[Luis A M]

One week old.Larvae are now 3.5 mm long:

[Suzy]

Very, very cool! They look strong!

[Luis A M]

Yes,they are a nice batch! Larvae are now 3.8 mm.
At two weeks some faint pigmentation over the gas bladder can be seen in the dorsal view



And in a lateral view the flexion of the notochord can clearly be seen:

[Suzy]

I am amazed at how much clarity is in your photos! The larva look really healthy.

[Luis A M]

Gobiodon are slow growers!.At 22 dah,this larva is 4.4 mm TL.

[EasterEggs]

Maybe they are just slow growers because they don't get very big in the end! Good work!

[Luis A M]

yes,but citrinus is the largest of Gobiodon
See how the profile and the head´s shape is slowly changing,and pigmented areas are turning reddish brown.

[Luis A M]

At 4 weeks,they are large (as clown gobies go),the fish shown below is 4.9 mm,but others were larger.They now swim at full speed around the BRT,behaviour shared with large,pre-settlement damsels .Settlement (which we often confuse with meta)is now around the corner;see the well developed pelvic fin suction disk in the last pic.For all practical purposes,they are complete gobies though colourless and still in the pelagic mood!

[rortreefer]

wow, these shots are awesome. I am thinking of attempting to breed some local gobies out here. While not clown gobies, it will be cool to relate my "hopefull" breeding to these guys!

[Luis A M]

[Suzy]

I dont. Did they swim around in one direction too?

My YWG took forever to get to meta. Over 30 days.

[Luis A M]

Ha,no,a crowd of inmates walked around a pole,in some kind of a Turkish prayer,always to the right.When a newcomer tried to walk to the left,the group was offended and forced him in the "right"way Perhaps the English title of the movie was different?
May be they are working out? This behaviour wouldn´t have been possible in a square tank.
My few okinawa took 40 days,but edgar´s lot took 30.I think that if I place a piece of coral,settling will be induced.

[Luis A M]

40 days and still none settled.But they seem very close
A piece of Acropora put in the tank didn´t change their minds

[Suzy]

They will surprise you, and catch you off guard, I bet. But you are better at this than me, so maybe not!

[Luis A M]

Yesterday,at day 51 (50 DAH) a fish clinged to the wall for a few seconds.Brief as it was,this was at last the first move towards settlement.
Today some few,among the larger ones,stop their crazy race and rest for a while on the wall,hopping and looking for food like gobies do.
So this is SETTLEMENT at last,and I could raise a new species before the year was finished!

[Suzy]

Strong work, my good man! You are my goby hero!

[Luis A M]

Thanks,Suzy! .This brings my reared fish count to 17 spp,plus some shrimp.
Last night,some juvs slept attached to the algae covered wall,for the 1st.time.And today some are definitely settled.Funny,none seemed to like the coral piece as the okinawa did.A still faint yellow shade is developing.

[Suzy]

Wow! 17 rox!!!!!

[Luis A M]

[Suzy]

No, you should let everyone know! That is really cool! I'm only at 6, unless I can count pods and brine shrimps!