Breeding fish from Tampa Bay

[Peace River]

About a month ago I had the chance to collect fish in Tampa Bay (with a permit). I brought home a few species and also was able to acquire a few other species (fresh and saltwater) during the same weekend. So far, the Diamond Killifish (Fundulus xenicus) have laid several batches of eggs and many have hatched. Just this past week the Sheepshead Minnow (Cyprinodon variegatus) has also laid eggs and I am currently waiting on them to hatch. Additionally, I was also able to collect juvenile Gold Spotted Killifish (Floridichthys carpio) and Rainwater Killifish (Lucania parva) from the bay. When these grow out then hopefully I will get a chance to be part of their breeding process as well. Previously I have breed the Gulf Killifish (Fundulus grandis) and the Rainwater Killifish (Lucania parva) that were collected in Tampa Bay and bred in full saltwater. Please let me know if you are interested and I can share the details of the breeding process and answer any other related questions.

 

[Peace River]

Here is a picture of a Diamond Killifish egg:

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

Please let me know if you are interested and I can share the details of the breeding process and answer any other related questions.

I'm always interested in these sort of projects - I'd love to hear the details.

 

[Peace River]

After successfully transporting the fish (in this case I used buckets and a cooler with air stones), the next step is placing the fish in an appropriate sized aquarium set up and acclimating the fish. Once the fish have settled in, finding food that they will eat and, preferably, high protein foods that will help them prepare to lay eggs. Because the fish that I acquired are all plant-spawning, I set them all up with spawning mops (in this case I added three mops per tank). I make the spawning mops with acrylic yarn. I typically use a small book (approximately 7-8" tall) and wrap the yard around the tall end of the book about 100 times. I then cut the yarn to create 100 single ~15" lengths of yarn and take on of the length and tie the rest of the yard together in the middle of the strands. At this point I collect all of the mops that I am making and boil them in a pot on the stove to get rid of any dye and other unwanted chemicals, etc. After the mops cool, then I tie each mop to a styrofoam ball (I have also used cork with less success) which will allow the top of the mop to float when place in the water. Once the mops are added to the tanks, I typically pull the mops out of the tank twice a week to check for eggs. I place any eggs found in a small glass bowl with tank water and allow the eggs to water incubate. Additionally, I add a few drops of methylene blue to keep fungus from developing on the eggs. Every day I perform a 50% water change so by the time the eggs hatch the dark blue water has because nearly clear again. Depending on the species of fish, the eggs typically take 7-9 days to hatch.

 

[Peace River]

One of the next challenges is to find tiny food for the tiny mouths of the fry. Thankfully when the Diamond Killifish (F. zebrinicus) fry hatch they are larger than other comparable species so a combination of powdered food, whatever micro organisms living in pinches of GHA, store-bought rotifers, and Reef Nutrition phyto feast seem to be meeting their needs because the fry are alive and growing. After a few days the fry were moved from the small glass bowl to a larger glass bowl with an air stone and then to a 2 gallon container with a small sponge filter. The challenge is to keep the container small enough that the bits of added food will be available to the fry. With a larger container to soon there is a risk of the fry not finding the food and the food fouling the water. Finding a balance between enough food and clean (or at least clean enough) water is important. There can also be a risk of the larger fry predating on the smaller fry, but that doesn't seem to be an issue with this species.

 

[danenelsen]

This is so cool! I’m following! I always love these breeding posts!

 

[Peace River]

Eggs almost ready to hatch

 

[Peace River]

A newly hatched fry

 

[Daniel@R2R]

This is really cool! Thanks for sharing!

 

[EricR]

This is cool!
I always have these fleeting thoughts of setting up a tank from local nearshore life <<<would of course research legality first>>>
...but I'm a southern Californian and it seems unrealistic for me,,, would need a chiller,,, and/or tidepool environment would be awesome but no way I have the knowhow to mimic that.

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Wow, this is awesome!

 

[SteveMM62Reef]

The kids picked up some Saltwater Killifish here in Maryland on a Field Trip. I Put them in a 15 gallon with just a Sponge Filter, a bit of Caribsea, and some brown broken bottles for shelter, for them. Next thing I know, have a bunch of growing baby fish. Didn’t do anything special for feeding them.

 

[AlyciaMarie]

Any updates @Peace River ??

 

[Peace River]

This is cool!
I always have these fleeting thoughts of setting up a tank from local nearshore life <<<would of course research legality first>>>
...but I'm a southern Californian and it seems unrealistic for me,,, would need a chiller,,, and/or tidepool environment would be awesome but no way I have the knowhow to mimic that.

Unfortunately California has very restrictive laws on collecting and keeping native fishes. Fundulus parvipinnis is a California killifish that I would like to work with someday, but it won't be coming from CA - maybe Baja California.

 

[Peace River]

The kids picked up some Saltwater Killifish here in Maryland on a Field Trip. I Put them in a 15 gallon with just a Sponge Filter, a bit of Caribsea, and some brown broken bottles for shelter, for them. Next thing I know, have a bunch of growing baby fish. Didn’t do anything special for feeding them.

Do you have any idea what species they were? @Chasmodes is more of an expert on MD and Chesapeake Bay fishes than I am, but there are several saltwater killifish in that area. Murdy et al. (1997) list the following:

• Sheephead minnow (Cyprinodon variegatus)
• Rainwater killifish (Lucania parva)
• Banded killifish (Fundulus diaphanus)
• Spotfin killifish (Fundulus luciae)
• Striped killifish (Fundulus majalis)
• Marsh killifish (Fundulus confluentus)
• Mummichog (Fundulus heteroclitus)

 

[SteveMM62Reef]

It was about 20 years ago. They caught them at Myrtle Point Park near Solomons Island, Maryland. The Patuxant was very Salty at that time. I do remember they had either Stripes or Bands on them.

 

[Peace River]

The stripes and bands give them great camo for the salt flats and other areas of submersed vegetation where they tend to hang out. Many coastal killifish can tolerate swing of salinity from brackish to full salt and often can breed in both habitats. They are also great "canary" fish that can tell us a lot about the health of the surrounding ecosystem.

 

[Ichtha_yo Stuff]

I purchased a group of Fundulus Xencia from a local auction here Tampa Bay. These are F1’s. I am going to raise them up to and breed them for a couple generations and maybe even put some in my mangrove tank. They aren’t very colorful but I like their behavior and would like to see if they will get along in a group.

 

[Daniel@R2R]

I purchased a group of Fundulus Xencia from a local auction here Tampa Bay. These are F1’s. I am going to raise them up to and breed them for a couple generations and maybe even put some in my mangrove tank. They aren’t very colorful but I like their behavior and would like to see if they will get along in a group.

Great photo! Sounds like a fun project!

 

[MoshJosh]

Awesome! I haven’t ever bread this exact type of fish, though I did breed Japanese rice fish for a while. Similar or same process using the mops. I will try and dig up some photos of my breeding set up. But I think what worked really well was harvesting the eggs from the mop and then putting them inside hang on breeder boxes before eventually moving them to their own grow out tanks (also had some Home Depot ponds):