Citron clown goby breeding

[alexysr]

Has anyone bred citron clown gobies that could tell me how to go about it, like male vs female (ive heard you cant tell at all; you have to be lucky, and also that they mate like clownfish do so im not sure which is correct) and anything else I should know? Ive tried looking everywhere for answers and I cant seem to find anything. I have one right now who is my day 1, but Ive heard that they might like kill each other, so Im kinda scared to just go into it blind. Thank you! (this is also my first time using this site so sorry if i did something wrong!)

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

Welcome to Reef2Reef!

like male vs female (ive heard you cant tell at all; you have to be lucky, and also that they mate like clownfish do so im not sure which is correct)

From what I've read, they should change sex to ensure you have one male and one female, but to help them bond smoothly, you should introduce your second one into the tank in a breeder box for a few days - this allows them to see each other and "smell" each other chemically, so they get used to each other being there; this greatly increases your risks of successfully getting them to bond over just dumping them into the tank together and hoping for the best. In theory, you should be able to see their behavior change when they bond, but as long as they don't seem aggressive, it should be safe to let the newcomer out after a few days.


For other stuff you should know - some clown goby breeding specific stuff (summarized below and expounded upon in the first two quotes), then some general aquaculture stuff (the third quote):

-They lay eggs on corals (typically SPS), but you may be able to get them laying eggs on a fake coral as well. (You'll either need to collect the larvae after they hatch and move them into the larval rearing tank, or move the eggs shortly before they hatch into the larval rearing tank; if the gobies are laying the eggs on a fake coral, then you can move the fake coral with the eggs and replace it with a different, identical one to try and prevent disrupting them too badly.)

-The male guards the eggs, which should hatch after 4-5 days.

-You need S-Strain Rotifers and Artemia (Brine Shrimp) to rear the young; feed the rotifers for 7-25 days after hatching, and transition the young to Artemia nauplii at some point between day 7 and day 25; after day 25, they should no longer be feeding on rotifers. Around day 33 (they should settle around day 33) to day 40 post hatch (when they should start to color up and be ready to find their own coral), you can start feeding normal aquarium foods (like frozen, pellets, etc.).

"Larvae of clown gobies and Paragobiodon spp. are generally smaller than cleaner gobies and may require live feed organisms of a smaller size (smaller than 180 μm) (Wittenrich 2007; Calado 2017). Additional studies have shown increased survival rates during first feeding using small ciliates (Euplotes spp.), rotifers (B. rotundiformis), and enriched brine shrimp (Olivotto et al. 2005). As the larvae begin to grow, they can be gradually transitioned from smaller plankton to larger brine shrimp at about 7 days post hatch (DPH). The feeding regimen should have an overlap or "weaning" period that includes both types of live feed so that smaller individuals do not starve. As growth and development of the larvae continue, they can be weaned from live feeds to commercial microparticulate larval feeds. These commercial diets are normally introduced around the time of settlement."*

"Although captive spawning is a regular occurrence in Gobiodon species, raising the small fry seems to be less than easy. Obtaining a pair is simply a matter of obtaining two of the same species, since they will change sex to become a mated pair. Once mated, the female will attach circular bands of eggs around the branches of their preferred coral. The male immediately fertilizes and guards the eggs. The egg mass, that can contain up to 1000 eggs, hatches on the evening of the fourth or fifth day. Rotifers should be the first food offered to fry, with a possible transition to newly hatched Artemia nauplii around day 25. Around day 33, the fry go through a metamorphosis, settle, and begin to perch on the sides of the aquarium's glass. Their first coloration has been noted to occur on day 40 (Breeder's Registry)."**

*Source:

FA226/FA226: Aquaculture Applications of the Family Gobiidae

University of Florida, Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences Extension outreach is a partnership between state, federal, and county governments to provide scientific knowledge and expertise to the public. The University of Florida (UF), together with Florida A&M University (FAMU)...

edis.ifas.ufl.edu

**Source:

https://reefkeeping.com/issues/2002-10/hcs3/index.php

Doing a bit of research, it looks like rotifers are the recommended first food for similar Gobiodon (clown goby) species, so I'd recommend trying to culture some rotifers to start them off on (I'm not sure what strain of rotifers would be the best, but I'd start with small strain rotifers and try moving up size-wise from there if it doesn't work out). It looks like around day 14 post-hatch you'll want to start transitioning from rotifers to newly hatched Artemia nauplii (baby brine shrimp), and you should pretty well exclusively be feeding the Artemia nauplii by day 25. At some point they should start preying on available pods, but I'm not sure when (it wouldn't hurt to have some available in the tank). By day 40 post-hatch they should be ready to start on dried foods too. ...The only other thing I can think to add about the feeding is that you'll likely want to make sure you have another source of food readily available for the fry in case your culture crashes (i.e. have someone you can get more rotifers from that same day), ...

Beyond the food side of things, it looks like clown gobies will have the male (most likely the bigger of the two - they change sex as needed to ensure they can pair up) guard the eggs (so you can probably expect some aggression if there are other, small fish nearby in the tank, and you'd probably want to just protect the coral the eggs are on so other fish can't get to the eggs), and the eggs should hatch after 4-5 days. They typically lay the eggs on the host coral, and after about 33 days post-hatching the fry will undergo metamorphosis and start perching (typically) on the aquarium walls. They should start coloring up around day 40 post-hatch. After about day 40 they should also be large enough to go find their own coral perches. As a reminder for while the fry are young, you'll need to keep the fry safe from the mechanical pieces (filters, powerheads, etc.) of the tank, and you'll need to be careful while doing water changes not to remove them. Obviously, you'll need to maintain good water quality throughout the rearing process as well.

On the breeding side of things, the bigger (and emptier/safer) the tank, the more likely the broodstock (parent fish) will be to breed. As long as they are comfortable enough, though, they should still (at least theoretically) breed fairly regularly in just about any size of tank. Twenty gallons might be a bit on the small side, so don't be too discouraged if they don't breed super readily/regularly (I've seen recommendations from 30+ gallons all the way up to 100+ gallons). One source mentioned that you might be able to trigger a spawning event for them by raising the temperature a couple of degrees (keeping it in a safe, not detrimental to the tank range), but, again, as long as the conditions are good enough and peaceful enough, they should still spawn unprompted.

Hope this helps, and good luck!

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General Summary:

Anyway, that's my species specific advice for this, now here's my general advice.


A quick summary:

-Setup a little, simple tank.
(The larval rearing tank).

-Add the larvae.

-Add the larval food and enough phytoplankton to tint the water green.
(The phytoplankton helps dim the lighting so it's not too bright for sensitive larvae, it makes it easier for the larvae to see the feeders, and it gut-loads the feeders so they're more nutritious when eaten).

-Adjust feeding as needed as the larvae grow; you typically should start feeding regular fish food in addition to the larval food around settlement.


Now the details - sorry, it's still a bit disorderly (I'm working on it).
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Larval Rearing Tank:

The larval rearing tank should be setup prior to the eggs hatching if possible, and you should be prepared to move the eggs/larvae into it. Ideally, you'd be able to move the eggs into the larval rearing tank immediately before they hatch, but - if you don't know exactly when they'll hatch or if they've already hatched - you can also collect the larvae after they hatch and move them into the larval rearing tank (sorry, I haven't written up about larval collection methods yet - I'll probably get around to it eventually).

Anyway, for a simple larval rearing tank, all you need is:

-A small tank filled with saltwater (kreisel tanks are ideal, but not necessary)

-An airline/air stone/gentle sponge filter (for flow/oxygenation)


Depending on individual circumstances, you may also need:

-A heater (or chiller, though these would rarely be needed for anything other than temperate/coldwater species; these should be sectioned off from the larvae - such as with a 40 micron or smaller mesh - to prevent injuries to the larvae and to keep the feeders where the larvae can get to them)

-Light(s)*


You don't want standard tank filters, skimmers, uncovered pumps/powerheads etc. - those are not pelagic larvae safe.

The size of the larval rearing tank may vary depending of the species you're working with, but, generally speaking, you want it to be pretty small so you can easily keep the proper densities of feeders and phytoplankton.

For an example of a simple larval rearing setup:

Breeding Palaemon Elegans (Mediterrane Rock Pool Shrimp) Guide

Hi, Im going to post a breeding guide of palaemon elegans shrimps here. Two females are preparing for spawning so if you are interested you may want to stick with me. This breeding guide will be interchangable for every kind of shrimps but i stick elegans because: - With cleaner shrimp we are...

www.reef2reef.com

*A quick note on lighting for the larval rearing tank:
Some species require lighting, others don't; running a light that's bright enough to ensure the larvae can clearly see the feeders in the tank without being overly bright is generally a safe option. A 12 light:12 dark or 14 light:10 dark lighting schedule is generally suggested; some people also run dim "night lights" in the room away from the tank for the larvae.

If you see larvae headbutting the wall of the tank, that's a sign the light is reflecting off the tank wall and attracting the larvae, causing "head-butting syndrome" where the larvae ram into the wall often until they die - if you see this, you'll need to blackout the tank, but I haven't seen this be a big issue for most people, especially not when they're using the "green-water" method and tinting the larval rearing tank's water green with phytoplankton.
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Feeding:

Much like human babies need special foods, larval fish also need special foods to survive. For larval fish, those foods (which I'll refer to generally as "feeders" after this) are things like live rotifers, Artemia (Brine Shrimp), and copepods, but each species of fish has specific food needs. Most larval fish need their feeders to move in specific ways in order to entice them to eat, so live food is typically a must.

As a note, some larval fish hatch with a yolk sac that they feed off of, but the yolk usually only lasts about two days - after those two days, the larvae need feeders or they'll starve.


Anyway, for a feeder to be useful in the rearing of larval fish, they need to:

-Be the right size for the fish to eat

-Be enticing to the fish

-Meet the larvae's nutritional needs at the time they're offered to them

-Be offered in the right quantity and density (for example, when rearing Ocellaris Clownfish using rotifers, the ideal density of rotifers for rearing the larvae is ~10 rotifers per mL, but you can't just put the larvae in a 1 mL tube and expect it to have enough food to eat; you need a reasonable density in a reasonably sized tank - also, some species [such as some cuttlefish, which are actually invertebrates rather than fish] may not eat if the feeder density is too high; so too low of quantity/density, and the fish starve, but also too high of density and they may starve)


In addition to these requirements, you (the aquarist attempting to rear the larvae) must be able to supply enough of the required feeders consistently throughout the duration for which they may be needed - this typically means that you will need to be culturing the feeders (and the phytoplankton needed to culture them) yourself to ensure that you always have enough of them on hand.

A lot of people run into feeder issues their first few times breeding, so having a backup plan in place to ensure that you can quickly obtain more of the right feeders (or their needed phytoplankton) quickly in an emergency is also a good idea.

Typically, feeders are best when gut-loaded (i.e. fed something - typically phytoplankton - immediately before they're offered to/eaten by the larvae) - the green-water rearing method (i.e. where the water in the larval rearing tank is tinted green with phytoplankton) is generally a useful, easy way to gut-load the feeders.

Now, to discuss more about the points above.


The right size feeders:
-Larval fish can typically only eat feeders that are approximately 20% of the size of their gape; this means that the smaller the larval fish are, the smaller their feeders need to be. To say it another way, if the feeder is too big, the fish can't eat it.

-Some feeders are the right size at specific life stages, but not at others, so you may frequently need to sieve the feeders to ensure you're offering the fish the right size of feeders.


An example to help explain sieving:

Adult Parvocalanus crassirostris copepods get up to 400 microns, whereas stage 1 Parvocalanus nauplii are about 40 microns. This means that the Parvocalanus nauplii should be ~1/10 the size of the adult pods - the stage 1 nauplii are a good size for a lot of small fish larvae, but the adults are too big.

So, to make sure you're only offering the stage 1 nauplii, you could take a 45 micron sieve and pour the Parvocalanus culture into it - the stage 1 nauplii at 40 microns are small enough that they would fall through the sieve's 45 micron holes, but the other stages (including the adults) would be too large to fall through. This lets you collect only the stage 1 nauplii to offer to the larval fish.

Similarly, as the larval fish grow, they can begin eating larger feeders (say, 120 microns, for example), so you can use larger sieves (say 130 microns, for example) to ensure that you keep offering only the feeders which are small enough for the fish to eat (the sieve's size is the maximum size the feeders could be when you offer them to the fish).

Now, while I used copepods for the example above, sieving is useful/needed for things like Artemia nauplii [A.K.A. Baby Brine Shrimp/BBS] as well, since adult brine shrimp are much larger than baby brine shrimp. Again, it's all about controlling what size of feeder you are offering to the larvae.

Typically, when the larvae are ready to settle they're also ready to start being weaned onto "normal" aquarium feeds like frozen foods and pellets, but these also need to be offered in appropriate sizes (Otohime and TDO Chroma Boost pellets, for examples, are available in a wide range of sizes, including sizes that are appropriate for most newly settled fish).


Larval nutritional needs and changes (Bottlenecks):

As mentioned, larval fish have special food needs. Some species need rotifers, others copepods, others Artemia, etc.

For some species, though, those needs change at different points of their larval development. This means that a feeder (such as rotifers) that meets their nutritional needs at one point in their development (such as immediately after hatching) may not meet their nutritional needs at another (such as 15 days after hatching). So, you may need to switch what is being fed (such as switching from rotifers to Artemia nauplii) to the fish at or slightly before that point in order to meet their new/changing nutritional needs.

We refer to these points as "bottlenecks," as the number of larvae that survive beyond these points without a change of feeders is typically very low or zero.

We typically find out about these bottlenecks by - unfortunately - watching them happen. This can be incredibly disheartening, but the good news is that once we have identified a bottleneck (days 2 and 3 post hatch are common bottleneck days, and there's often another bottleneck after about 2-3 weeks), we know to adjust something (typically the feeding) to account for it with the next batch and try to get larvae surviving through it.

Remember, every attempt gets us one step closer to successfully rearing the species - don't give up!
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Settlement:

Some species need sand, rock, dark areas, specific colors, specific chemical cues, or other oddly specific things to settle on/in (from what I've seen, inverts are usually a lot more picky with this), so it may help to have a ledge or cave (PVC should be fine for this, if it's even needed, which I honestly kind of doubt) and a little sand in the larval rearing tank just in case the fish need it.
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Final notes:

Since marine aquaculture is still a developing field, any information you can gather is helpful for both you and others.

With that in mind:

-Watch for developmental bottlenecks and issues with your rearing methods - some species may require fine-tuning things like the lighting, flow, broodstock (parental) diet, etc. Fine-tune your larval rearing process, and if you can't get past a certain bottleneck, you may need to start looking at things other than the larval foods.

-Observe and note information about the larvae (things like how big the eggs are, how big the larvae are, when the larvae settle, when coloration comes in, etc.) and the larval behaviors (stuff like if they are attracted to light, how they react to light, if they are attracted to certain colors, what feeders they eat and what what sizes of feeders they eat at what days post hatch, what kind of substrate they prefer to settle on, are they cannibalistic, etc.).

Any information you get can bring us closer to success.


Finally, this last link gives a bunch of info on rearing difficult species and some ideas about trying to troubleshoot problems with the rearing:

Has anyone successfully raised Sunshine Chromis from fry?

Hey all, So I have a breeding pair of sunshine chromis in my reef tank. They have laid 3 batches of eggs that I’ve seen so far, and by the third day, all the eggs are gone (I’m guessing the snails knock them off or my purple tang eats them). I managed to collect and hatch a handful from the...

www.reef2reef.com

If you have any questions, please ask - I'll help when I can.

I hope this helps - good luck, and keep us updated!

If you need help figuring out the cultures needed or anything else, just ask.

 

[alexysr]

Welcome to Reef2Reef!

From what I've read, they should change sex to ensure you have one male and one female, but to help them bond smoothly, you should introduce your second one into the tank in a breeder box for a few days - this allows them to see each other and "smell" each other chemically, so they get used to each other being there; this greatly increases your risks of successfully getting them to bond over just dumping them into the tank together and hoping for the best. In theory, you should be able to see their behavior change when they bond, but as long as they don't seem aggressive, it should be safe to let the newcomer out after a few days.


For other stuff you should know - some clown goby breeding specific stuff (summarized below and expounded upon in the first two quotes), then some general aquaculture stuff (the third quote):

-They lay eggs on corals (typically SPS), but you may be able to get them laying eggs on a fake coral as well. (You'll either need to collect the larvae after they hatch and move them into the larval rearing tank, or move the eggs shortly before they hatch into the larval rearing tank; if the gobies are laying the eggs on a fake coral, then you can move the fake coral with the eggs and replace it with a different, identical one to try and prevent disrupting them too badly.)

-The male guards the eggs, which should hatch after 4-5 days.

-You need S-Strain Rotifers and Artemia (Brine Shrimp) to rear the young; feed the rotifers for 7-25 days after hatching, and transition the young to Artemia nauplii at some point between day 7 and day 25; after day 25, they should no longer be feeding on rotifers. Around day 33 (they should settle around day 33) to day 40 post hatch (when they should start to color up and be ready to find their own coral), you can start feeding normal aquarium foods (like frozen, pellets, etc.).



If you need help figuring out the cultures needed or anything else, just ask.

Wow thank you so much!! I think you answered every question in the back of my mind lol! Lifesaver. Time to start my little journey of breeding my first fish! I'll definitely ask if I have any other questions!

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

Wow thank you so much!! I think you answered every question in the back of my mind lol! Lifesaver. Time to start my little journey of breeding my first fish! I'll definitely ask if I have any other questions!

Just remember you need good water quality and a good diet for the broodstock (the breeding pair) to get them laying healthy eggs - in some cases (I don't think this applies to these gobies), you may need good lighting PAR and spectrum too.