Yellow head jawfish spawning - Page 3

taricha · 03/11/2017, 08:43 AM

I need a better method for collecting. Or get luckier figuring out when the hatch will be.
No hatch at dawn yesterday (day 7), so I took the lights low manually for sunset last night. No sign of hatching followed for 45 minutes or so. So I took the tank all dark so I could be in place for manual lights-on dawn today (day 8).
Eggs gone before lights came on. Almost no sign of any hatch overnight except 2 dead fry on the water surface. Scoured the tank looking for a live fry - couldn't find sign of a single one.
My tank devours fish fry and leaves no trace. Issues of breeding in a reef tank.
I maybe could have upped the chance of a fry lasting the night if I had remembered to cut off the strong powerheads and leave only the minor flow running.
Ah well. Jawfish back to courting immediately. 20 second video of courtship activity.
https://youtu.be/r3iU1omu5IE

Male on the left initiates. Twirl around each other angled upwards, mouths open.
Spawning should happen in a day or two.
In actual spawning, the female would follow male into his tunnel, and lay eggs there for male to mouth brood.

taricha · 03/14/2017, 11:45 AM

New spawn 8:00 this morning:
Spawn Dates...
(first two night/morning?) 2/10-11, 2/20-21, 3/3 AM, 3/14 AM.
The last two have been 11 days since previous spawn and I actually witnessed spawning within an hour of lights on. The first two dates I assumed spawns happened at sunset because that's what others said, But the two spawns I actually witnessed were at dawn.

I got this one on video (the part not in the tunnel obviously) will upload later, after I have time to edit it down from the original 30 minutes.

farfromsea · 03/15/2017, 12:09 AM

I wonder if you can put some sort of mesh bag thing over their hole to catch the fry on/around the days they will release them?

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farfromsea · 03/26/2017, 10:46 PM

Any luck?

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taricha · 03/27/2017, 05:40 AM

Some luck, just not on fish front. I'm much better at growing phyto now, should be a long time before I have to buy any more stock. And the parvocalanus pods are easily stable now, too.
Male swallowed last batch (3/14 spawn) 3 or 4 days in. But is currently holding another batch. spawn dates:
(first two night/morning?) 2/10-11, 2/20-21, 3/3 AM, 3/14 AM, 3/25 AM (probably)

farfromsea · 03/27/2017, 09:51 AM

Nice! Looks like you should have another batch next week. Wonder why he swallowed them...

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taricha · 03/27/2017, 06:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by farfromsea

Nice! Looks like you should have another batch next week. Wonder why he swallowed them...

Wish I knew. Would be better to know what I was doing wrong than wondering if it's amount of food, choice of diet, water chemistry, other environmental, or he just randomly keeps eating them.

ginpang · 03/30/2017, 04:11 AM

I don't think it has much to do with water chemistry...
probably more with practice.
The pair I had in the early 2000's took about 8 or 9 dry runs before reaching the full incubation.

The male I have now seems very experienced and holds eggs very well. Though unfortunately had his female jump out recently.

They also take breaks during the year. I think that has a link with photoperiod and temperature.

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taricha · 03/30/2017, 03:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ginpang

I don't think it has much to do with water chemistry...
probably more with practice.
The pair I had in the early 2000's took about 8 or 9 dry runs before reaching the full incubation.

The male I have now seems very experienced and holds eggs very well. Though unfortunately had his female jump out recently.

They also take breaks during the year. I think that has a link with photoperiod and temperature.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Yep. Wouldn't be so annoying if he hadn't carried the very first batch all the way to hatch.

taricha · 04/08/2017, 06:14 AM

Any ideas on male swallowing eggs?
More batches swallowed on day 2-3. The dude is so well-fed it looks like he couldn't possibly eat eggs, yet he does.
I've tried removing aggressive fish, feeding more, adding food variety, blocking sump light from entering tunnel. Stumped.
Frustrating because I have 3 types of phytoplankton and 5 cultures of pods all stable and ready to go, after lots of failure.
If I could manage to steal eggs somehow, what would be necessary? Small chamber with an aggressive bubbler, water changed frequently?

farfromsea · 04/13/2017, 09:45 PM

I looked into it and I couldn't find any good information on why they swallow the eggs. Some people suggested the fish felt intimidated. In fact there is a public aquarium somewhere where a guy got a jawfish to breed regularly on display by attaching something to the glass so that it worked like a one-way window i guess. "So that people could see in but the fish couldn't see the people" the article said.

I guess you could try putting a sheet on the tank so you don't disturb him? Haha this is a crazy idea but if you're feeling crazy

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taricha · 05/02/2017, 09:39 PM

Ok, so on the topic of male eating eggs. Last 3 batches, he ate them on day 2. :-(
I'd been trying feeding unusually high amounts of food to get him fat enough he wouldn't be tempted to eat the eggs, but it was precisely while feeding the tank on day 2 that he'd swallow the eggs. So maybe something about the constant rain of food was encouraging him to swallow eggs. I dunno.
Anyway, so now I'm trying much less food.
Fed tank on day 1. He's never had a problem stashing eggs and eating on day 1. Then no food on days 2 & 3. Fed on day 4, and he stashed the eggs and ate without problems. No food day 5 today. I'll try to feed tomorrow on day 6, and then no food till hatches on day 7.
Anyway, very scarce feedings is working much better at the moment than the heavy feedings did.
Maybe in nature he would typically not eat all that much for the 7 days.

farfromsea · 05/02/2017, 10:13 PM

Interesting! I just got my mated pair so I'm even more excited to follow along. Keep us posted on the hatching! Fingers crossed

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taricha · 05/03/2017, 06:56 PM

Stupid fish swallowed eggs on day 6 just before I was about to feed the tank.
I'll try again with scarce feeding. 6 days is a lot closer to hatch than 2 days.

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taricha · 05/09/2017, 06:16 AM

If anyone is interested in thinking about breeding stuff, and wants some starter cultures - check my thread out. If you are within my 1 day UPS ground shipping zone, I'll gladly hook you up.

taricha · 06/29/2017, 09:15 PM

I have fishies hatching tonight! First time the make has made it full 7 days since the very beginning.
Maybe I'll get lucky and manage to collect a few.

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eastlake · 07/03/2017, 06:29 AM

Awesome! Hopefully you can catch a few and raise them out, good luck!

taricha · 07/03/2017, 08:18 AM

Very few hatched, of those some abnormalities, those that seemed normal last one made it to 48hr only.
Sounds like diet during egg development may have been lacking
Oh, and my parvocalanus pods got contaminated and overrun by tisbe.
Got a lot to figure out. Maybe shoulda started with clownfish? :-)

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farfromsea · 07/04/2017, 02:43 PM

Exciting except for the premature death part. Hopefully the next round is better

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gabloo · 07/05/2017, 06:41 PM

Good Luck!

SueAndHerZoo · 05/26/2020, 07:50 PM

Yes, I know this thread is almost three years old, but learned a lot from reading it and was hoping I could bring it back to life. I have a pair of pearly jawfish and in the past few weeks I've seen the male with eggs in his mouth a few times. I would love to attempt to capture a few of the fry and I do realize the chances are slim of keeping any alive, but I've successfully raised seahorse fry and clownfish fry to adulthood so I do love a challenge.

My first learning curve will be how to capture the fry: do the eggs hatch at first light of day or at night? I don't remember the details of why I did it but I had blacked out all the sides of my clownfish tank when I knew the eggs were about to hatch.

I purchased a Vossen fry catcher and it apparently works on a battery-operated LED light to lure in the fry, but I can't leave it on all night - the battery won't last that long. Do I black out the tank and then add some light to encourage hatching?

Also, the two batches of eggs I've seen in his mouth have never had eyes so I'm not even sure they are fertile, but I do see the male and female locking their jaws together a lot so I assumed that was the transfer of eggs?

Anyway, if anyone is out there that still reads this thread and can jump in and offer any tips, I'd appreciate it.
Sue

05/26/2020, 07:50 PM	#71
SueAndHerZoo Registered Member Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: Central Connecticut Posts: 1,445	Yes, I know this thread is almost three years old, but learned a lot from reading it and was hoping I could bring it back to life. I have a pair of pearly jawfish and in the past few weeks I've seen the male with eggs in his mouth a few times. I would love to attempt to capture a few of the fry and I do realize the chances are slim of keeping any alive, but I've successfully raised seahorse fry and clownfish fry to adulthood so I do love a challenge. My first learning curve will be how to capture the fry: do the eggs hatch at first light of day or at night? I don't remember the details of why I did it but I had blacked out all the sides of my clownfish tank when I knew the eggs were about to hatch. I purchased a Vossen fry catcher and it apparently works on a battery-operated LED light to lure in the fry, but I can't leave it on all night - the battery won't last that long. Do I black out the tank and then add some light to encourage hatching? Also, the two batches of eggs I've seen in his mouth have never had eyes so I'm not even sure they are fertile, but I do see the male and female locking their jaws together a lot so I assumed that was the transfer of eggs? Anyway, if anyone is out there that still reads this thread and can jump in and offer any tips, I'd appreciate it. Sue __________________ * 92 gallon corner tank * 46 gallon bowfront * 34 gallon Red Sea Max * 14 gallon biocube * 2.5 gallon Fluval Spec * 5 gallon feeder tank *

03/11/2017, 08:43 AM	#51
taricha Registered Member Join Date: Mar 2010 Location: NE Miss Posts: 608	I need a better method for collecting. Or get luckier figuring out when the hatch will be. No hatch at dawn yesterday (day 7), so I took the lights low manually for sunset last night. No sign of hatching followed for 45 minutes or so. So I took the tank all dark so I could be in place for manual lights-on dawn today (day 8). Eggs gone before lights came on. Almost no sign of any hatch overnight except 2 dead fry on the water surface. Scoured the tank looking for a live fry - couldn't find sign of a single one. My tank devours fish fry and leaves no trace. Issues of breeding in a reef tank. I maybe could have upped the chance of a fry lasting the night if I had remembered to cut off the strong powerheads and leave only the minor flow running. Ah well. Jawfish back to courting immediately. 20 second video of courtship activity. https://youtu.be/r3iU1omu5IE Male on the left initiates. Twirl around each other angled upwards, mouths open. Spawning should happen in a day or two. In actual spawning, the female would follow male into his tunnel, and lay eggs there for male to mouth brood.

03/14/2017, 11:45 AM	#52
taricha Registered Member Join Date: Mar 2010 Location: NE Miss Posts: 608	New spawn 8:00 this morning: Spawn Dates... (first two night/morning?) 2/10-11, 2/20-21, 3/3 AM, 3/14 AM. The last two have been 11 days since previous spawn and I actually witnessed spawning within an hour of lights on. The first two dates I assumed spawns happened at sunset because that's what others said, But the two spawns I actually witnessed were at dawn. I got this one on video (the part not in the tunnel obviously) will upload later, after I have time to edit it down from the original 30 minutes.

03/15/2017, 12:09 AM	#53
farfromsea Registered Member Join Date: May 2016 Posts: 549	I wonder if you can put some sort of mesh bag thing over their hole to catch the fry on/around the days they will release them? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

03/26/2017, 10:46 PM	#54
farfromsea Registered Member Join Date: May 2016 Posts: 549	Any luck? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

03/27/2017, 05:40 AM	#55
taricha Registered Member Join Date: Mar 2010 Location: NE Miss Posts: 608	Some luck, just not on fish front. I'm much better at growing phyto now, should be a long time before I have to buy any more stock. And the parvocalanus pods are easily stable now, too. Male swallowed last batch (3/14 spawn) 3 or 4 days in. But is currently holding another batch. spawn dates: (first two night/morning?) 2/10-11, 2/20-21, 3/3 AM, 3/14 AM, 3/25 AM (probably)

03/27/2017, 09:51 AM	#56
farfromsea Registered Member Join Date: May 2016 Posts: 549	Nice! Looks like you should have another batch next week. Wonder why he swallowed them... Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

03/30/2017, 04:11 AM	#58
ginpang Registered Member Join Date: Jul 2015 Posts: 612	I don't think it has much to do with water chemistry... probably more with practice. The pair I had in the early 2000's took about 8 or 9 dry runs before reaching the full incubation. The male I have now seems very experienced and holds eggs very well. Though unfortunately had his female jump out recently. They also take breaks during the year. I think that has a link with photoperiod and temperature. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

04/08/2017, 06:14 AM	#60
taricha Registered Member Join Date: Mar 2010 Location: NE Miss Posts: 608	Any ideas on male swallowing eggs? More batches swallowed on day 2-3. The dude is so well-fed it looks like he couldn't possibly eat eggs, yet he does. I've tried removing aggressive fish, feeding more, adding food variety, blocking sump light from entering tunnel. Stumped. Frustrating because I have 3 types of phytoplankton and 5 cultures of pods all stable and ready to go, after lots of failure. If I could manage to steal eggs somehow, what would be necessary? Small chamber with an aggressive bubbler, water changed frequently?

04/13/2017, 09:45 PM	#61
farfromsea Registered Member Join Date: May 2016 Posts: 549	I looked into it and I couldn't find any good information on why they swallow the eggs. Some people suggested the fish felt intimidated. In fact there is a public aquarium somewhere where a guy got a jawfish to breed regularly on display by attaching something to the glass so that it worked like a one-way window i guess. "So that people could see in but the fish couldn't see the people" the article said. I guess you could try putting a sheet on the tank so you don't disturb him? Haha this is a crazy idea but if you're feeling crazy Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

05/02/2017, 09:39 PM	#62
taricha Registered Member Join Date: Mar 2010 Location: NE Miss Posts: 608	Ok, so on the topic of male eating eggs. Last 3 batches, he ate them on day 2. :-( I'd been trying feeding unusually high amounts of food to get him fat enough he wouldn't be tempted to eat the eggs, but it was precisely while feeding the tank on day 2 that he'd swallow the eggs. So maybe something about the constant rain of food was encouraging him to swallow eggs. I dunno. Anyway, so now I'm trying much less food. Fed tank on day 1. He's never had a problem stashing eggs and eating on day 1. Then no food on days 2 & 3. Fed on day 4, and he stashed the eggs and ate without problems. No food day 5 today. I'll try to feed tomorrow on day 6, and then no food till hatches on day 7. Anyway, very scarce feedings is working much better at the moment than the heavy feedings did. Maybe in nature he would typically not eat all that much for the 7 days.

05/02/2017, 10:13 PM	#63
farfromsea Registered Member Join Date: May 2016 Posts: 549	Interesting! I just got my mated pair so I'm even more excited to follow along. Keep us posted on the hatching! Fingers crossed Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

05/03/2017, 06:56 PM	#64
taricha Registered Member Join Date: Mar 2010 Location: NE Miss Posts: 608	Stupid fish swallowed eggs on day 6 just before I was about to feed the tank. I'll try again with scarce feeding. 6 days is a lot closer to hatch than 2 days. Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Tapatalk

05/09/2017, 06:16 AM	#65
taricha Registered Member Join Date: Mar 2010 Location: NE Miss Posts: 608	If anyone is interested in thinking about breeding stuff, and wants some starter cultures - check my thread out. If you are within my 1 day UPS ground shipping zone, I'll gladly hook you up.

06/29/2017, 09:15 PM	#66
taricha Registered Member Join Date: Mar 2010 Location: NE Miss Posts: 608	I have fishies hatching tonight! First time the make has made it full 7 days since the very beginning. Maybe I'll get lucky and manage to collect a few. Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Tapatalk

07/03/2017, 06:29 AM	#67
eastlake Registered Member Join Date: Apr 2016 Location: willoughby Posts: 648	Awesome! Hopefully you can catch a few and raise them out, good luck!

07/03/2017, 08:18 AM	#68
taricha Registered Member Join Date: Mar 2010 Location: NE Miss Posts: 608	Very few hatched, of those some abnormalities, those that seemed normal last one made it to 48hr only. Sounds like diet during egg development may have been lacking Oh, and my parvocalanus pods got contaminated and overrun by tisbe. Got a lot to figure out. Maybe shoulda started with clownfish? :-) Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

07/04/2017, 02:43 PM	#69
farfromsea Registered Member Join Date: May 2016 Posts: 549	Exciting except for the premature death part. Hopefully the next round is better Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

07/05/2017, 06:41 PM	#70
gabloo Registered Member Join Date: Feb 2017 Location: San Jose Posts: 85	Good Luck!