Attempt at Breeding Greissenger Gobies...Any Tips?

[livinlifeinBKK]

Hey guys, I'm interested in breeding one of my favorite fish which just so happens to be pretty tiny in stature. I'm referring to the Greissenger Goby. Since i can get them for much cheaper here than people can get them in other places, I'm in kind of a unique position. Since I'm unaware of a visual difference between male and females I'd be buying 3+ at once to ensure i have a male and female. Do any of you have any advice regarding breeding similar fish perhaps?

 

[livinlifeinBKK]

Surely someone out there has some insight...

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

A long quote from one of my other posts to start, then a bunch of links to my posts with info on breeding different gobies - the last link is not about gobies, but gives a bunch of info on rearing difficult species and troubleshooting problems with the rearing. (I really need to get around to organizing this info one of these days.)

"Some general advice that might help:
- Have a tank ready to move the larvae into (basically a tank with an air stone, a dim light, and a heater - a kreisel tank is ideal, but not necessary; you don't want a filter, a skimmer, uncovered pumps/powerheads, etc. - it needs to be as pelagic larvae safe as possible).
- Be prepared to catch the young when they hatch (ideally, you'd be able to move the eggs immediately before hatching into the new tank, but I'm assuming you don't know exactly when they'll hatch) - catch them and move them into the larval rearing tank as soon as possible.

ISpeakForTheSeas said:
Assuming you have fertile eggs, the advice I would give is this:
- if possible, get some Parvocalanus crassirostris pods too (rotifers are great, and I would expect the larvae to go for them, but some fish larvae are picky and prefer pods over rotifers - having both seems like a good way to ensure you have good, small foods for them... Artemia and other larger pod species would likely be good to have on hand too for the larvae as they grow.

- Get various sizes of very fine sieves so you can control the size of the feeders being offered to the larvae as/if needed.

- Add phyto directly to the larval rearing tank. It’s a good method of ensuring that the feeders are gut-loaded and healthy, and it makes them easier for the fish to see (better feeding/survival rates are typically observed with this method).
- Observe and note information about the larvae (things like how big the eggs are, how big the larvae are, when the larvae settle, when coloration comes in, etc.) and the larval behaviors (stuff like if they are attracted to light, how they react to light, if they are attracted to certain colors, what feeders they eat and what what sizes of feeders they eat at what days post hatch, what kind of substrate they prefer to settle on, are they cannibalistic, etc.).

- Watch for developmental bottlenecks and issues with your rearing methods.

- A lot of people run into feeder issues their first few times breeding, so I’d have a backup plan in place to be able to get some feeders quickly if you find yourself needing some.

With regards to the sieves and feeder sizes:
- You may need to screen the feed initially to only offer Parvocalanus nauplii.
- Observing the larvae eating when/if possible is important for telling if they are accepting/able to eat the food you are offering them.

ISpeakForTheSeas said:
Generally the main thing to watch for at this stage is a bottleneck where the young start dying off - these usually happen after a few days (day three post hatch seems to be one of the most common bottleneck days for fish that hatch with a yolk they can feed off of - if the rots and phyto don’t provide the proper nutrition for these guys, you might see a die off sometime around here). Some fish run into multiple bottlenecks, including some that happen around/after 2-3 weeks post hatch, so you really need to keep an eye on how things are going. Bottlenecks typically occur because the food the fry is eating isn’t nutritious enough for them, or they’re not interested in eating the food offered, or the food isn’t the proper size for them to eat.

ISpeakForTheSeas said:
if you do run into a bottleneck and lose this batch, don’t get too disappointed by it - this happens frequently in trying to breed a new species (even to the professionals), and every attempt gets one step closer to success.

With regards to the substrate settlement:
- Some species need sand, rock, dark areas, specific colors, or other oddly specific things to settle on/in (from what I've seen, inverts are usually a lot more picky with this), so it may help to have a ledge or cave (PVC should be fine for this, if it's even needed, which I honestly kind of doubt) and a little sand in the larval rearing tank.


That’s all I can think of at the moment - hope it helps!"

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[livinlifeinBKK]

A long quote from one of my other posts to start, then a bunch of links to my posts with info on breeding different gobies - the last link is not about gobies, but gives a bunch of info on rearing difficult species and troubleshooting problems with the rearing. (I really need to get around to organizing this info one of these days.)

"Some general advice that might help:
- Have a tank ready to move the larvae into (basically a tank with an air stone, a dim light, and a heater - a kreisel tank is ideal, but not necessary; you don't want a filter, a skimmer, uncovered pumps/powerheads, etc. - it needs to be as pelagic larvae safe as possible).
- Be prepared to catch the young when they hatch (ideally, you'd be able to move the eggs immediately before hatching into the new tank, but I'm assuming you don't know exactly when they'll hatch) - catch them and move them into the larval rearing tank as soon as possible.

With regards to the sieves and feeder sizes:
- You may need to screen the feed initially to only offer Parvocalanus nauplii.
- Observing the larvae eating when/if possible is important for telling if they are accepting/able to eat the food you are offering them.


With regards to the substrate settlement:
- Some species need sand, rock, dark areas, specific colors, or other oddly specific things to settle on/in (from what I've seen, inverts are usually a lot more picky with this), so it may help to have a ledge or cave (PVC should be fine for this, if it's even needed, which I honestly kind of doubt) and a little sand in the larval rearing tank.


That’s all I can think of at the moment - hope it helps!"

pregnant blueband goby!

Hello all. So...I got a pair of blue band sleeper gobies from my lfs today and the female is heavily pregnant. I have got all sorts of fish in my mixed reef. Clownfish, tangs, wrasses, mandarins, cardinals. Is there anything I can do to save the babies? My lfs said it is almost impossible in a...

www.reef2reef.com

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I went to clean out a 3d printed sort of kreisel shape that I was trying to raise shrimp larvae in, and behind the light blocker on the outside of it, there was a mass of eggs. There are a few fish in the tank it was in, but the only adults where there were more than one fish are masked gobies...

www.reef2reef.com

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Is anyone aware of anyone breeding green banded gobies, or have a location where they may be available? I've been looking to buy a pair or multiple, but have one local fish store who has never gotten them. I'd like to attempt to breed them, but need to find them first. If someone else is...

www.reef2reef.com

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Thanks @ISpeakForTheSeas ...always helpful to say the least. To my understanding these gobies havent been successfully bred in captivity to date so it's kind of uncharted territory...

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

Thanks @ISpeakForTheSeas ...always helpful to say the least. To my understanding these gobies havent been successfully bred in captivity to date so it's kind of uncharted territory...

Sorry, linked the wrong post from the first link (I corrected it now).

Yeah, the Sunshine Chromis and Diamond Watchman Gobies (linked in the Blueband goby post linked above) haven't been aquacultured yet either, so every step closer is exciting and informative.

Edit: The Blueband Gobies too.

 

[livinlifeinBKK]

Sorry, linked the wrong post from the first link (I corrected it now).

Yeah, the Sunshine Chromis and Diamond Watchman Gobies (linked in the Blueband goby post linked above) haven't been aquacultured yet either, so every step closer is exciting and informative.

Imo the way forward doesn't consist of expectations to discover everything but to further what is currently know which helps foster future success. Therefore, even if i fail in my attempt, the knowledge and information gathered would be of use to the next person to attempt the same endeavor.

 

[livinlifeinBKK]

@ISpeakForTheSeas i don't anticipate failure however. That's one sure way to guarantee it.