Help with spawning firefish

[Juck]

A couple of months ago a mithrax nailed my male firefish while he was watching over their first batch of eggs. I had a 'quiet word' with the crab and after promising he wouldn't do it again, he killed a couple of YTB damsels in another tank,,, now he's enjoying the holday of a lifetime in my septic tank.

Aaaaaanyway, I got another male and they've just spawned again,,,,I can't see the eggs in their cave but he's staying inside and bothering any other fish that come close,,, exactly what the other male did before his run-in with the crab. Their cave is under the biggest piece of LR in the tank so removing the eggs before hatching isn't really an option.

I really really want to try and raise the fry,, has anyone here had any success with this species? I looked in the breeders registry and could not find anything helpful.

I've raised 2 lots of premnas before with reasonable success using golden pearls and bbs,,, so I have fry tanks set-up.

 

[Anonymous]

You need a timeout tank.

If I were you I would try to Google 'captive breeder's registry' (I'm assuming you're talking about searching our registry), contact JeremyR (he's often on #reefs, I think), and look for anything related to captive breeding on gobies in general. Then, apply your knowledge with the premnas, though I don't know that what we do for clowns is applicable for gobies. Maybe, just MAYBE, OSI would be willing to share information with you, I believe.. IIRC, they do a lot of captive breeding/raising. Sorry I couldn't be of more help, but I sure would love to know that you succeed. If so, definitely please post here, and keep the best records you can.

 

[Juck]

Thanks seamaiden,,, I did search the registry at http://www.breeders-registry.gen.ca.us/ and there was one entry about spawning but the guy didn't try to raise the fry.

Are firefish really Gobies? I forget where, but I'm sure I read something somewhere sometime that said they weren't really gobies.

I'll post something when/if the fry hatch.

 

[Anonymous]

You know, I'm only going from memory of WWM's subweb photo index, so I don't really know.

 

[Anonymous]

LOL Seamaiden!

When will the madness end? I think you must be a rep for an aquarium manufacturer what with all the various tanks you advocate using.

Ps my "breakfast" tank is going well. I move the fish there every day to feed them. It keeps the main tank clean and stuff.


just givin' ya a hard time!

 

[WannaBeReefer]

Juck, how did you pick out a male from female? I would like to get a pair but have almost given up on the idea because I cant tell one from theother.

 

[Juck]

The female will sometimes be visibly fatter around the middle,, especially just forward of the anal fin,, unfortunately, my male sometimes gets fatter in the same area,, I have no idea why,, so maybe that's not the best way.

I've heard the best guide is the tall dorsal fin,,, the males' are noticeably longer and he doesn't 'flick' it as much as the female. My male definitely has a longer dorsal.

I've read that two females can live happily together but two males are likely to fight,,, if this is true then there's no guarantee that two living together at your LFS will be a real pair (Unless you see them humping or whatever they do).