Scooters mating???

[HARRISON]

Ok, It's my turn. This one is easy for flaming so I have to tread lightly.

I have a male and female scooter blenny. (dragonet I know) anyway, last night they were going nuts in the tank. The male was dancing around and chasing the female all over the tank. Then the two of them would get side by side and swim to the top touching. When this was over the male would still follow the female "flagging" with his top fin. He just flat would not leave her alone. Then they would get together and swim while touching all the way to the top.

Now I am pretty sure they were breeding but I have not had a pair of these before. If someone has seen this or read about it I would love to get more information. If they did breed what will follow, time frames and such?

I know it sounds dirty and I am a little embarrassed to say, but I took pictures. These two went at it for like an hour. I need to go through the pics and see how they turned out.

If someone is interested I will mail them out or make a web page or something.

Thanks
HARRISON

 

[Anonymous]

I'd really like to see some of those pics Harrison! please post 'em.

 

[HARRISON]

I am not sure what this room is rated...

I will try to figure out how to do that in a little bit. May take some doing.

Hoping to get some info first. If I can't figure it out I will mail them to you.

 

[HARRISON]

Well, they are back at it again tonight. I am pretty darn sure they are breeding. I mean its been a while for me but I'd say that it looks alot like it...

Here are a few pics. I may try to get more tonight but I don't want to disturb them. I mean how how would you feel if you were gettin jiggy with it and someone was shooting pictures with a flash every couple minutes. Envigorated was the only word I could come up with. haha

take a look and let me know what you think. These are in web format so if you need to zoom in for a close up I will have to send you the original picture.m (sicko)

Scooters

 

[Anonymous]

Good Job Man!! very inspiring!

that gives me a big incentive to swap my CC for a DSB and add a refugium. i've already got a female. but i didn't know she was female till i saw your pics.
Especially for the sake of captive breeding, I'd like to encourage you to try and publish those pics in either a fish magazine or book or something. they're beautiful.

*******
i always feel like a voyeur when i catch my cockatoo's going at it. so far i haven't got any pictures. when i try to sneak up on them with a camera, they break up and start squawking like demons at me.

 

[HARRISON]

Thanks PO,

The pics of the male turned out pretty good. I am going to switch out the one I have on my web page with that one.

The picture of the male looking at me up against the glass is funny. He looked like he was trying to run me off, and I am sure thats exactly what he wanted...

I will keep you posted.

 

[delphinus]

Ooops, here I go, jumping in late like this again. sorry ...

Scooters do spawn in captivity. It is a very mesmerizing thing to watch they are very elegant and graceful. I've had this happen in my tanks. It would be neat to try and video the event (yeah we're all dirty minds here.. HEY it's to further our knowledge of the species! The sacrifices we make for science...)

The real trick is trying to keep these guys alive beyond 18 months or so. I don't even know what their natural lifespans are but it has to be longer than that (methinks)...

I don't imagine that collecting the eggs and trying to raise the larva would be any easy task. ...

 

[HARRISON]

Delphinus,

Thanks for the response. I take you are convinced they were mating then? Do you have any information about this. I have been unable to read up on this. I may venture to the LFS today and see if they know of anything. I have a 30 gallon refugium set up to try to keep them going and I have watched at least the male eat frozen brine. I will watch to see if the female does too. That will help I am sure. Last night it went on for a couple hours while i was in the office working so I am oretty excited about it. If anyone has suggestions let me know or a good resource on them...

 

[HARRISON]

Interesting stop at the LFS. I talked to one of the guys I usually deal with that is very knowledgeable and another customer about this stuff. Both say that tons of people claim to have breeding pairs that spawn all the time and how easy it is, but there are very few babies brought in. And that most don't survive. I was hoping that someone here would have a little more insight on this. If they are going to breed and spwn in my tank then we WILL have babies if it is at all possible. I will set up whatever cultures I need to keep them alive and well if it is at all feasable. Just need to find a place to start here.

 

[EmilyB]

I don't have any experience with scooters, however, having had a breeding pair of false mandarins, also known to be short lived in the aquarium, I thought to just add that mandarins are now being captive bred, was mentioned by Mary at one point.

I would suggest you try the breeders registry first, and also post your specs there.

 

[toptank]

I am going to take that camera away from you. No privacy at all

Can you move them to your other thank?

Barry

 

[HARRISON]

Barry, I don't think putting them in the other tank is a good idea. It hasn't been set up long enough to keep them alive. (not enough pods to eat) Although I have gotten both of them to eat frozen brine. I need to see if I can get the to accept mysis as well.

I hope between the 30 gallon refugium and the frozen brine that they will be ok. I think so. If they start looking a little thin, I will add another refugium to the system. Right now I don't think it will be necessary.

 

[delphinus]

<blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by HARRISON:
<strong>Delphinus,

Thanks for the response. I take you are convinced they were mating then? Do you have any information about this. I have been unable to read up on this.
[...]</strong><hr></blockquote>

Sorry for the very belated reply, haven't used the 'pooter much in the last few days.

I too found very disappointingly limited information on the breeding of this species. The only info I ever did come across was a video on Discovery where they filmed a massive coral spawning event, where they showed two scooters doing a spawn. The male would take the female "fin in fin" (so to speak) and then the pair would swim up ... and then swim down, and then up .. and down ... and so on. Every time they got to the "top" and switched directions down again, there would be a little "smokey cloud" released into the water.

When my pair swawned, this is what happened exactly.

I would try the breeders registery as already suggested. I wish you all the very best of luck in this endeavor, it would be really cool if we could learn more about this species.

 

[HARRISON]

Delphinus,

Thanks for the reply again,

That is axactly what they were doing. I was surprised by the lack of info I found on these guys and also the lack of posts from people. I would have thought more people would have had these guys before. I never really saw the little puff while they danced but they were only under a moon light so I don't know. I guess I will have to keep track of them and see about collecting the eggs next time and trying to find out how to feed them when they hatch. I will continue looking to see what I come up with...

 

[HARRISON]

They were at it again last night and the male is strutting around looking like he is gonna get a little tonight too. Has anyone seen anything written in books or anything. The breeders registry was of little help. I am still in hopes to find the right info to help these guys out...

HARRISON