My Starry Blenny laid eggs....

Cristy17 · Mar 19, 2017

At some point during the early morning, the eggs hatched. I was not awake to siphon them out. The only way I knew this, was because I could see the fish eating the water! These things are SO small, I am not even sure how I would have been able to see them to siphon them out! I was able to fully see one and it floated right over to my Scolly that is healing on my frag shelf. Well, this batch did not make it, but the good news is the female looks pregnant again! I am about to go out of town for a week, so its probably better that I did not get attached to the babies! Should this happen again, I will just continue to post on this thread. Thanks for all the support and well wishes!

eyecandyaddict · Aug 20, 2017

Try to put a small tube or something they might spawn on so you can remove the eggs and put them in a separate tank to hatch. Probably will hatch in about 4-5 days so i would take it out on day 5 the aerate the tube or other surface till they hatch. Siphoning them would probably kill most these larvae like you said are veryy small.

tj w · Aug 20, 2017

Any updates Cristy?

Cristy17 · Aug 20, 2017

tj w said:
Any updates Cristy?

eyecandyaddict said:
Try to put a small tube or something they might spawn on so you can remove the eggs and put them in a separate tank to hatch. Probably will hatch in about 4-5 days so i would take it out on day 5 the aerate the tube or other surface till they hatch. Siphoning them would probably kill most these larvae like you said are veryy small.

Eyecandyaddict- Thank you for the suggestion. I would have done this but they never laid anymore eggs. Or if they did, the hid them somewhere with in my corals. The male blenny actually changed to a whitish color a few weeks later and thats exactly what happened before I saw him guarding the eggs the first time. I am getting ready to move the corals and reef occupants in the early part of Sept. to a larger 75 gallon..to Florida. I have started a build thread titled "Going from 57 to 75 Gal Mixed Reef..1400 miles apart". I am hoping everything survives andonce thetank is established, the blenny pair will assume breeding. I wil have a much better set up there with a rear reef room to house new hatchlings...fingers crossed!
Tj w- Thank you for inquiring about the blennies!

zuri · Aug 20, 2017

Cristy17 said:
Eyecandyaddict- Thank you for the suggestion. I would have done this but they never laid anymore eggs. Or if they did, the hid them somewhere with in my corals. The male blenny actually changed to a whitish color a few weeks later and thats exactly what happened before I saw him guarding the eggs the first time. I am getting ready to move the corals and reef occupants in the early part of Sept. to a larger 75 gallon..to Florida. I have started a build thread titled "Going from 57 to 75 Gal Mixed Reef..1400 miles apart". I am hoping everything survives andonce thetank is established, the blenny pair will assume breeding. I wil have a much better set up there with a rear reef room to house new hatchlings...fingers crossed!
Tj w- Thank you for inquiring about the blennies!

this is soooo coool my starries has been doing this same behavior male flash's white and gets hostile. I have to get a magnifying glass and see if I can find eggs. This is my male when he gets all crazy with me!

Cristy17 · Aug 21, 2017

zuri said:
this is soooo coool my starries has been doing this same behavior male flash's white and gets hostile. I have to get a magnifying glass and see if I can find eggs. This is my male when he gets all crazy with me!

Yes..start looking for where he sits. He will guard the eggs once the female lays them. The eggs are easy to see without a magnifying glass. I had done some research when I discovered the eggs, see my second post from March 13, 2017.
The hard part is the eggs usually hatch very early in the morning. I guessed mine hatched around 6 am or earlier. By 7 when I got up, the other fish were feasting. So if you can move what ever the eggs are attached too and the male blenny to an isolated tank, at least the fry may survive. The other thing is you have to have the only thing they eat.rotifers. And not just any rotifer, they have to be super small. You can order them by mail, but you have to time it so they are alive when the fry hatch..Good luck! Hope this helped! Other R2R members offered lots of great advice as well!

zuri · Aug 21, 2017

Cristy17 said:
Yes..start looking for where he sits. He will guard the eggs once the female lays them. The eggs are easy to see without a magnifying glass. I had done some research when I discovered the eggs, see my second post from March 13, 2017.
The hard part is the eggs usually hatch very early in the morning. I guessed mine hatched around 6 am or earlier. By 7 when I got up, the other fish were feasting. So if you can move what ever the eggs are attached too and the male blenny to an isolated tank, at least the fry may survive. The other thing is you have to have the only thing they eat.rotifers. And not just any rotifer, they have to be super small. You can order them by mail, but you have to time it so they are alive when the fry hatch..Good luck! Hope this helped! Other R2R members offered lots of great advice as well!

thxs I will look into this I hope yours begins again aswell!xD