A good start to 2016

Well I spent all of 2015 working towards better larval rearing methods and a better understanding of the larval requirements for the Bandit Angelfish, A. arcuatus. To end the year, I started two larval runs a week apart from each other and with all that was going on during the holidays I suffered a classic case of trying to do too much. This resulted in the loss of the younger batch of fish at day 17 days old. I have learned (again) that it's best to focus on one larval run at a time.

The good news is that the older larval run is 40 days old today and I'm seeing signs that the larvae will begin to settle out this week (knock wood). Here's a video taken today. At this stage the larvae have a fairly bright orange/red color at the caudal area. there is also some darkening on the dorsal part of the body. There are two larvae displaying a thin white stripe down the middle of their forehead which is the start of the juvenile colors coming in. I'm sorry I couldn't get either of the those two larvae to participate in the video.
https://youtu.be/fivhrfWdyV4

There is also some very exciting news to start off 2016 and that is the addition of several adult C. interrupta which will hopefully become future brood stock, (since Faith and Fabio have not come through with enough fertile eggs). I hope these new fish will help us get back on track with the Faith and Fabio project! They are still in quarantine and I'll keep you posted as to their progress.

A Quick Update

Since the last post the 7 bandit angelfish babies have been doing well and are now in a larger grow out tank. They get along well together and are so cute I wish I could keep them all. I also still have some masked angel juveniles in grow out so everything is black and white and lovely, even if not colorful. :)

I'd like to improve larval rearing protocol for the bandits and have been waiting for a good batch of eggs. I did get a good spawn a week ago and although I wasn't sure which fish produced the eggs I started a larval run so as not to miss an opportunity. Then two days ago there was another good spawn and I'm fairly certain these are bandit angel eggs. So I'm now running two larval tanks (double trouble) during this busy holiday season and thinking I must be nuts! I hope I can come up with enough larval feeds, time and energy!

I don't think I'll be posting again until January (unless something exciting happens) so I'd like to wish you all a Wonderful Holiday Season and Happy New Year!

Karen

Bandit Angelfish at 50 days old

Here's a link to a video I took today of the bandit babies. They're so mellow compared to other angels I've raised who would be zipping all over the place at this age. These girls seem very content in their grow out tank.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uG2DW6BLtho

Lot's to catch up on!

It's been a good two months since I last posted and I did start another Bandit Angelfish (A. arcuatus) larval run soon after the last one. There are 7 little fish left in this run and I moved them into their new grow out tank today. They're 47 days old and five of them have juvenile colors with two others lagging slightly but I think all 7 will do well in grow out. Here's a link to a video of them as they are acclimating to the grow out tank. In the video you can see the different stages of development they are in as they go through metamorphosis.
https://youtu.be/No8Q4kBqRfM

I also have an update on Faith, Fabio, Jaws and Connie. You may recall that at one point I introduced Jaws and Connie (the C. joculator pair) to the tank housing Faith and Fabio (the C. interrupta pair). At that time Faith and Jaws seemed to have a connection and hid together while Fabio went after Connie who was just a young small fish. I had to rescue Connie ASAP and moved her and Jaws back to their tank. Since then Jaws had shown some pre spawning behavior and Connie puts up with it but hasn't been truly interested. So I decided to try and introduce the two couples again. This time into a neutral tank containing a pair of Tinkers Butterflies. I hoped that this time around  Faith and Jaws would still hit it off and because Connie is more mature now I hoped she could hold her own.  I introduced Jaws and Connie to the tank in the morning to let them have the day to settle in. Then just before dark I introduce Faith and Fabio and turned out the lights. Next day I kept an eye on the tank and was surprised to see that Jaws did not like Faith at all. He and was hassling her and not letting her eat at feeding time. Connie and Jaws started showing more pre spawning behavior and Fabio took it upon himself to try and break up every attempt that Jaws and Connie took to spawn. Here's a video of the interaction.
https://youtu.be/zrIjoKnzkQ4

So I'll be taking apart the tank to move Jaws and Connie back to their own tank. Hopefully they'll continue to try and spawn and we can raise some cute C. jocular babies in the future.

I'm also in the process of trying to get a new pair of C. interrupta with the remaining funds from the Faith and Fabio campaign. It would be great if we could have both jocular and interrupta babies in 2016.

Baby Bandits have graduated to a grow out tank

Now that the little bandit angels have settled out, I've moved them to their Big Girl tank (grow out tank). That was yesterday at day 50. You can see them acclimating to the new tank at this link. http://youtu.be/56j8TzHnFcE  There are four that have settled and two that are way behind in development. All are now in the grow out tank.

I plan to start another larval run with the next new moon. Hopefully we'll get some fertile eggs. It doesn't matter to me which broodstock pairs cooperate with this but I sure wish it would be Faith and Fabio or Jaws and Connie (hint hint to you two couples!).

I'd also like to let you all know that I was convinced to try Facebook and so I have been posting videos there as well. It's actually easier to post there without having to go through You Tube but the page also containers other non fish stuff.  I'm still learning my way around Faceboook but feel free to check it out. I try to check it everyday to confirm friend requests.

Cute Little Bandit Angelfish

Today is day 47 for this A. arcuatus larva run and settlement has begun. The video (link below) shows three larvae going through metamorphosis. The furthest along started two days ago at day 45. I didn't think meta would happen this fast for them and I find it pretty amazing to watch their development. Almost like watching weeds grow!

http://youtu.be/rdqtB0jQfto

Day 45 of the A. arcuatus larval run

Here's a video I just took of two of the larvae. One is the most developed in the group and the other is the least developed. As you can see the larger larva has more black pigment on the dorsal area of the body and if you look closely there is now a little bit of black on it's tail and fins. You can also see the white skunk stripe along the top line of this larva.
The other larvae in the group look pretty much the same as the smaller larva in this video. All of the larvae are showing behavioral changes as they start to associate with pieces of coral rubble and pvc that I've placed on the bottom of the tank.

https://youtu.be/NWz8IdTPLHo