newb_reefer Posted January 9, 2011 Share Posted January 9, 2011 I am new to this forum but have been reading it for some time now. I have found tons of good info. here. I have had a 16 gallon bow front set up for about 7 months. I have two yellow tail damsels in it. They seem to lay eggs about once/twice a month under one of the live rocks. Most of the time I come home and they are gone with no sign of what happened, but this morning I saw tons of tiny fish swimming all over the tank. I caught as many as I could in a tupperware container while the moon lights were on and floated it in the top.I can already see most have died. How do I keep at least some of them alive? I realize odds are they will all die, but I'd like to at least give it a try. Quote Link to comment
ednangel Posted January 9, 2011 Share Posted January 9, 2011 (edited) ASAP start reading on the clownfish breeding threads as they belong to the same family. Chances are this are all doomed but if they are going at this rate you'll have another spawning soon. These are not a fish with a big profit margin but I would love to see them grow. I’m into research right now trying to figure out what fish species to try to reproduce, just imagine 10% of nano-reef members reproducing a different fish species each... I would recommend you "the complete illustrated breeder's guide to marine aquarium fishes" from Matthew L. Wittenrich Edited January 9, 2011 by ednangel Quote Link to comment
newb_reefer Posted January 10, 2011 Author Share Posted January 10, 2011 ASAP start reading on the clownfish breeding threads as they belong to the same family. Chances are this are all doomed but if they are going at this rate you'll have another spawning soon. These are not a fish with a big profit margin but I would love to see them grow. I’m into research right now trying to figure out what fish species to try to reproduce, just imagine 10% of nano-reef members reproducing a different fish species each... I would recommend you "the complete illustrated breeder's guide to marine aquarium fishes" from Matthew L. Wittenrich Thanks for the reply. I will watch the clown thread. So far it's been a day and about 15 remained alive. I'm not looking to make a buck on them. I just felt that since I actually caught them hatching I'd give it a try rather than just let them die off. It sounds like it's pretty rare to get the conditions that a fish will want to spawn. This whole SW tank project has been a learning experience for my daughter and I. It's very addictive! Quote Link to comment
Arc Katana Posted January 12, 2011 Share Posted January 12, 2011 First food is the issue - they are about 1/3rd the size of a clown larvae. Rotifers won't cut it, so you're looking at copepod naupilli. Lots and lots of copepod naupilli. My P. bankieri lay around 2-2.5k eggs now every 5-6 days. Quote Link to comment
mrbigshot Posted January 12, 2011 Share Posted January 12, 2011 wouldnt s starin rots work? (pretty hard to get though) Quote Link to comment
Pickle010 Posted January 12, 2011 Share Posted January 12, 2011 I agree food is a major issue... For research I recommend you go to MOFIB.org - there is a lot of great information and people on the site currently breeding damsels. Good Luck Quote Link to comment
Arc Katana Posted January 12, 2011 Share Posted January 12, 2011 wouldnt s starin rots work? (pretty hard to get though) Even those are too big. The thing about damsels is that if you can crack those, you've got a good shot at 75% of the species out there. Quote Link to comment
ignatz Posted January 12, 2011 Share Posted January 12, 2011 Even those are too big. The thing about damsels is that if you can crack those, you've got a good shot at 75% of the species out there. Have you had any success with these guys? If so, which copepods are you culturing/using and what are you feeding them? Quote Link to comment
newb_reefer Posted January 12, 2011 Author Share Posted January 12, 2011 The last couple died off yeasterday. I will read up on it more as there are already more eggs under the rock. Thanks for all of the tips. Quote Link to comment
Arc Katana Posted January 13, 2011 Share Posted January 13, 2011 Have you had any success with these guys? If so, which copepods are you culturing/using and what are you feeding them? I've gotten to day 3/4 - I don't have the amount of naupilli now to raise them. Give me a month and I will Quote Link to comment
Pam and Jeff T Posted March 15, 2020 Share Posted March 15, 2020 My husband and I have 3 yellow tail Damsels We went to Mexico and bought small conch shell washed and clean very well and placed them in our reef tank since then our damsels have been breeding fools. The male is so attentive to the shells that he has now taken over as his breeding places. He is a great parent to the eggs constantly grooming cleaning fanning water and guarding his shells very cool and sweet to watch Quote Link to comment
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.