Yellow Belly Damsels spawned today!

LuckyFish

LuckyFish

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Today my Chrysiptera hemicyanea spawned. Around +1000 eggs. Should hatch on coming Monday night. Then the real work starts.
Have to prepare more algae and rotifer as they need to swim for 3 weeks in green water and fed of rotifer only. Copepod naupli would be better, because they are much smaller than rotifer and easier to diggest.
Will post some pictures of the larvaes and some informations about numbers, losses and survivors.
If I can get as much damsels as Brenda got horses through Meta, I will be more than satisfied. But not for long!;)
 
My Yellow Tail Damsels frequently spawn in my display. Eggs are quickly taken care of by the shrimps and hermits. They normally spawn at about 9 to 10 in the morning. So I only witness it if they do the deed on Saturday or Sunday.
 
RiaanP said:
My Yellow Tail Damsels frequently spawn in my display. Eggs are quickly taken care of by the shrimps and hermits. They normally spawn at about 9 to 10 in the morning. So I only witness it if they do the deed on Saturday or Sunday.
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That is very unusual. When I had them all together with shrimps and hermits, the male beat the crap out of them, if the were to close to the eggs.
 
Wow, you are realy doing a great job by breeding all these fish!
 
Annoying said:
Wow, you are realy doing a great job by breeding all these fish!
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To get fish to spawn is not such a big deal, but now I have to prove that my raising technique is really better than others.
I am convinced it is, but that is still a bit of a theory when it comes to tricky species like damsels.
 
LuckyFish said:
To get fish to spawn is not such a big deal, but now I have to prove that my raising technique is really better than others.
I am convinced it is, but that is still a bit of a theory when it comes to tricky species like damsels.
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Again congrats Marcel, just 1 Q why do you say damsels are tricky with raising?
 
MistaOrange said:
Again congrats Marcel, just 1 Q why do you say damsels are tricky with raising?
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The damsel larvae are only 2 to 2.5mm in size. Firstfood becomes an issue because of the size. Rotifer are a bit to big and not that easy to digest. Copepod naupli would be better, but it is not so easy to culture copepods in quantity.
Raising damsels is a problem due to hygienic issues. Usually they kept in green water for three weeks together with their prey, rotifers and/or copepod naupli, and the breeder got more or less no idea what is going on in the rearing vessel.
If green water is added, you can hardly see any larvae, so any dead ones will lay at the bottom and will cause an bacteria overpopulation in the rearing tank.
My technique is very different, very simple and so far very efficient. That is why i don´t allow any visitors in my breeding room.
I am in control of everything, every day. I know how many larvae I had at day one, how many I lost at any time, and how much they eat, and so on.
This technique is so simple, I am still surprised that nobody so far came up with the same or smilar idea. But I think with beeing a master plumber by trade for 25 years, that makes the difference. I know physics around water very well and can build whatever is needed by myself. Now I just need some time to see how it works out with the damsels. If I can get 100 yellow bellies through meta, I am the damsel king. Only a few breeder worldwide raised a few out of a few hundred.
What works for tricky damsels will work for any other fish larvae, as long as the food chain is provided.
 
mandarinman said:
well done marcel! or should i say well done fishies!?
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Glen," well done Marcel " is right.
I made lekker kos, thats why they had desert!
 
LuckyFish said:
Today my Chrysiptera hemicyanea spawned. Around +1000 eggs. Should hatch on coming Monday night. Then the real work starts.
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Congrats!!! Hmmm….1000 eggs, yes the “real work” starts on Monday! Yikes!


LuckyFish said:
If I can get as much damsels as Brenda got horses through Meta, I will be more than satisfied. But not for long!
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You will get there, maybe not this time, but you will get there. I’m actually glad my batch was small. I’m afraid that if the seahorses gave birth to what they are capable of I wouldn’t have been able to keep up with the food supply.


Do you plan to keep them all together or will you separate them?

LuckyFish said:
Raising damsels is a problem due to hygienic issues. Usually they kept in green water for three weeks together with their prey, rotifers and/or copepod naupli, and the breeder got more or less no idea what is going on in the rearing vessel.
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LuckyFish said:
If green water is added, you can hardly see any larvae, so any dead ones will lay at the bottom and will cause an bacteria overpopulation in the rearing tank.
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They sound similar to seahorse fry that also need to be kept off of the bottom where waste collects.


LuckyFish said:
My technique is very different, very simple and so far very efficient. That is why i don´t allow any visitors in my breeding room.
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What? No Sharing?

LuckyFish said:
I am in control of everything, every day. I know how many larvae I had at day one, how many I lost at any time, and how much they eat, and so on.
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LuckyFish said:
This technique is so simple, I am still surprised that nobody so far came up with the same or smilar idea. But I think with beeing a master plumber by trade for 25 years, that makes the difference. I know physics around water very well and can build whatever is needed by myself. Now I just need some time to see how it works out with the damsels.
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Good luck with your new system! Looking forward to seeing pictures of the fry!
 
Brenda, I will start with each batch with around 400 larvae. That's enough to play with and see how it goes.
Yes, the main problem with breeding is the waste and bacteria that builds up at the bottom. The ocean is bottomless, so the larvae will never get in touch with a bottom in the wild.
And yes, no sharing. I am going to dobthe breeding in fulltime and why must I share my results in such early stage? If there is big money to make, I am going to make it.
Later, When I am tired of breeding, I want to write a book about practical breeding.
All the available book are just full of basic information, but what you really need to know is written between the lines. The book will be more a users manual, based on the informations from the existing books.
More pictures than text, plenty of DIY, because we can't buy what we need.
If I will be very successful with my breeding project, my book will also a huge success.
That simple!
 
jacquesb said:
Congrats Marcel! Do you think that you would be able to rear them to semi-adulthood?
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Yes Jacques, it won't take long until I will get good numbers through Meta.
I know, I am taking my mouth very full with writing this, but you guys will see, that I am going to succeed.
 
LuckyFish said:
Later, When I am tired of breeding, I want to write a book about practical breeding. All the available book are just full of basic information, but what you really need to know is written between the lines. The book will be more a users manual, based on the informations from the existing books. More pictures than text, plenty of DIY, because we can't buy what we need. If I will be very successful with my breeding project, my book will also a huge success.
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I agree that what is currently available is very basic, and there is a definite need for more details and DIY. You will do well! But if you never get tired of breeding……You still need to write the book! ;)
 
Anemone said:



I agree that what is currently available is very basic, and there is a definite need for more details and DIY. You will do well! But if you never get tired of breeding……You still need to write the book! ;)
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Brenda, I am not surprised that you second the fact, that these books are prety basic, once you are busy in the breeding process.
You are looking for answers for all the questions that are coming up all the time and the answer you will find only in your own mindset.
I set my targets always very high, so the result will be at least a bit rewarding.
 
It is even more exciting to raise the yellow belly damsel, than the domino damsel as there is a market for yellow bellies.
Yellow bellies are perfect inmates for reeftanks as they are much less aggressive than the yellow tailed damsel. They stay small and they are even more beautiful in colour, than the yellow tailed damsel.
I reckon, captive bred yellow bellies will be even less aggressive than they already are.
Captive bred dottybacks are much less aggressive than wild caught ones and I would not be surprised if the yellow bellies follow the same pattern.
I am very excited and nervous. I can't wait for them to hatch. It feels
like a boy, three weeks before christmas, who can't wait for christmas eve to unpack the presents. On his wishlist right on top is the latest playstation.
Now he has to worry for the next three weeks if his dream will bevome true or if he gets just a few new clothes for christmas as usual.

I am three weeks away from the biggest success in my life or one of the biggest disappointments.
Before I ever raised clowns, I tried to raise the damsels. It was like trying to drive a motorbike without having tried to ride a bicycle.
If I succeed, then I have to review my plans for my new hatchery.
To have bred the worlds first marine albino strain was just luck, but now it will be a proof of my skills. I applied for an exceptional skills work permit and by the time I will receive this permit, I will know if I really deserve it!
You guys are probably following this thread with mixed emotions.
A few people, who know my setup and who know me in person, will believe in me.
A few others are probably just curios and others might think, I am going to fail.
Which I fully understand, because only a few breeder worldwide managed to raise a handful damsels out of a few hundred.
When I think of Louis Magnasco from Argentina, he tried different damsels over many many years. I would have given up on them long time ago.
SA is going to make history with having the soccer world cup.
By kickoff, maybe SA made history already with the ability to breed damsels for the first time on a commercial scale.
 
Slagter said:
Good luck with this Marcel. It's an impressive undertaking you are doing. I wish you all the best. I also have the utmost confidence you'll succeed.
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Thanks Sean, I know I got a few fans on MASA, but I also want to make my circle bigger! :)
 
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