Domino Damsels spawned today!

42 hours posthatch, eyes and mouth are developed

By accident I killed this little bugger, but at least he was sitting still in front of the camrea. Before, this tiny 1,5 mm long larvae was swimming through the tiny drop of water. The other larvae from the second egg is still swimming. Surprising for me.
So to keep hundreds of them alive until they are able to eat, shouldn´t be a problem.
Now I have to find the right food until they will take rotifer.

This little one got actually blue eyes, just like me. Coincidence?;)

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LuckyFish said:
Michael, I can get any size plankton I need.
I just take some water, have a look under the microscope and here we go.
Then the real problem starts. The right size is one thing. Now the plankton needs to make the right moves, otherwise the larvae won´t recognize it as prey.
Next thing is, it has to be easy to digest and it has to have the right nutrients, especially the right fatty acid ratio.
And then this perfect plankton has to be cultured in high quantity, with normal equipment.

That is the task!

But, I got some things already in mind. Even if I can culture a good mixture out of different planktons in a good quantity, then it will work.
A nice mixed platter!
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Ja so you got to go make Lekker Kos for them little buggers.
 
Anemone said:
Looking good! What rotifer strain are you using? How big are they?
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Brenda, I would say it´s the L-strain. The only strain available in South Africa, if you got some good connections. You can´t buy rotifers in SA or nannochloropsis.
Enrichment products have to come from Europe and pellets for marines as well.

The rotifers I got are all falling through a normal 190 micron artemia mesh. So it might work.

The remaining larvae from the two eggs is still swimming around in his 3 ml water.
It seems, the larvae is quite tough.
 
LuckyFish said:
Brenda, I would say it´s the L-strain. The only strain available in South Africa, if you got some good connections. You can´t buy rotifers in SA or nannochloropsis.
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Ouch!!!! That's unfortunate. I think you would do much better with the SS-strain or maybe the SM-strain. Off hand I don't know anyone that would ship them to SA. If I'm not mistaken the SS-strain is about 1/2 the size of the L-strain and the SM is somewhere in betwen the two.

I do hope the L-strain does work for you!
 
LuckyFish said:
It seems, besides me nobody is disappointed. I did not expect such poor larvae development from the dominos. On the other hand, where is quantity there is no quality.
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Perhaps the parents just need to be conditioned for breeding for a while before they will produce quality eggs.

What is the dominos role in taking care of the eggs? Is it like clownfish where the male tends to the nest?
 
Just had to rate this thread as excellent.
 
Anemone said:
Perhaps the parents just need to be conditioned for breeding for a while before they will produce quality eggs.

What is the dominos role in taking care of the eggs? Is it like clownfish where the male tends to the nest?
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Brenda, there is nothing wrong with the egg quality. The larvaes are strong. My broodstock food is brilliant. That´s what a marine biologist told me.
The poor development is normal for dominos, that´s why they spawn such high quantities. Freespawner spawn even more and more often, but the larvae development is extremly poor.

The male takes care of the eggs, but the male is the bigger one. The female get not chased away.

The yellow belly male is also bigger than the female, but she get chased away all the time.
 
I do understand the poor development when there is high quantities. But there is always hope that this can improve. After all, there are some things we do in this hobby better than mother nature. Maybe in time this will be true for the dominos.

I wasn't questioning the food quality, but the amount of time that you've had the dominos and the amout of time they've been eating the food.
 
Anemone said:
I do understand the poor development when there is high quantities. But there is always hope that this can improve. After all, there are some things we do in this hobby better than mother nature. Maybe in time this will be true for the dominos.

I wasn't questioning the food quality, but the amount of time that you've had the dominos and the amout of time they've been eating the food.
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Sorry, I misunderstood your concern.
I don´t think that will make any difference. As long as they get the right food, when the eggs are starting to develop.
If I feed my broodstock a other diet, poor diet, I will see it in the next batch already.
I mean, swimming now for the third day in 4 ml, I topped it up a bit, shows me the domino larvae is very strong and healthy. Pity, I don´t have any small food.
Will start this weekend, to find the right food source. The next batch should come soon.
 
Anemone said:
Ouch!!!! That's unfortunate. I think you would do much better with the SS-strain or maybe the SM-strain. Off hand I don't know anyone that would ship them to SA. If I'm not mistaken the SS-strain is about 1/2 the size of the L-strain and the SM is somewhere in betwen the two.

I do hope the L-strain does work for you!
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I could order SS cysts from the states, but after a few weeks the rotifer develops back into normal size. I also could force the rotifer to grow small with raising the salinity, but that is too much hassle. I don´t have the time for things like that. Everything must be simple and easy. Otherwise it is not worth it.
Brenda, do you sterilize your bottles after the brines hatched?
In every book and article about breeding is standing a big load of what to sterilize.
After use, the coke bottles have to be sterilized, etc.
 
LuckyFish said:
Brenda, do you sterilize your bottles after the brines hatched? In every book and article about breeding is standing a big load of what to sterilize. After use, the coke bottles have to be sterilized, etc.
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Yes I do. Everything gets sterilized, bottles, nets, tubing, buckets, the fry tank even gets torn down once a week and bleached.
 
Ok now I'm thinking twice about breeding marines as I don't really have the time because of working 7am - 7pm. So keeping my killies going for a bit longer. Marcel I never thought that trying to breed marines was so much work & you really need the time for marine breeding right? You have my utmost RESPECT & am still holding thumbs for you:thumbup:
 
Anemone said:
Yes I do. Everything gets sterilized, bottles, nets, tubing, buckets, the fry tank even gets torn down once a week and bleached.
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The only thing I sterilize is the seawater when I use it for the algae cultures.
In my opinion, the whole sterilization thing is nonsense. It works for me without all this.
The only thing is, I clean the fry tank every 4th day, but I don´t sterilize it.
 
MistaOrange said:
Ok now I'm thinking twice about breeding marines as I don't really have the time because of working 7am - 7pm. So keeping my killies going for a bit longer. Marcel I never thought that trying to breed marines was so much work & you really need the time for marine breeding right? You have my utmost RESPECT & am still holding thumbs for you:thumbup:
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Michael, I start 8.30am in the breeding room and I close the breeding room after preparations for the following day at 10pm. Every day! 365 days per year!
If possible I feed 10 times a day, if not at least every 4 to 5 hours.
Only when we have a reefclub meeting, I think of myself. Which is not that often, but it looks like it is going to become regular.
 
LuckyFish said:
The only thing I sterilize is the seawater when I use it for the algae cultures.
In my opinion, the whole sterilization thing is nonsense. It works for me without all this.
The only thing is, I clean the fry tank every 4th day, but I don´t sterilize it.
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I've done both and have had better results with the sterilization. But keep in mind I'm working with seahorses that drag their tail across the bottom (and everything else) frequently. I've had fry get infections on their tails and their tails fell off.

It may not be necessary for what you are doing.
 
LuckyFish said:
Michael, I start 8.30am in the breeding room and I close the breeding room after preparations for the following day at 10pm. Every day! 365 days per year!
If possible I feed 10 times a day, if not at least every 4 to 5 hours.
Only when we have a reefclub meeting, I think of myself. Which is not that often, but it looks like it is going to become regular.
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That's what made me realize that I would not be able to breed marines just yet but someday I will. So for now I have a shit load of research to do.
 
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