spawning mandarins???

[novahobbies]

I think....my two green mandarins just spawned!! I've got a male and a female in my 110g, and while I was messing with the tank tonight I noticed they were hanging out right next to each other.....like the female was snuggled in right alongside the male. Then they swam up almost to the top of the tank, and as they parted I thought I saw a milky white cloud. My flow is pretty high, so WHATEVER I saw was dispersed really quickly. The two fish settled down on a rock again...close but not too close....then just started picking pods like nothing was going on. Timing was about right, it was the evening and my actinics had just recently gone down to 108 watts (half of my usual actinics) so it looks like late evening to the tankmates. SUpposedly they spawn at night, so IDK.
I know that whatever I saw will just go to feed the filter feeders in the tank, as you've got to be right on the ball with collection equipment and sterile tanks to attempt to hatch the eggs, but still....it was really cool to see! The little dance they did around each other as they swum up was very pretty.

 

[loopy101]

wow that is cool to be able to see! ive saw it once on a documentary but im sure its much better to see in person!

 

[roxannej]

Timing sounds about right - my spawning pair being the dance and rise as the lights go out for the night. They usually rise to the surface many times, though, before the actual spawn. You can almost set a clock by mine, lights out, pumps off - eggs 1 hour later after much rising, chasing and displaying.
I got eggs just now as well. If the pumps are off, you can collect them pretty easily as they float on the surface for a while.
I collect them in a specimen cup and put the cup on the rim of the tank until they hatch to maintain temp - 12 to 16 hours later they hatch. Then, I move them into a growout tank and begin feeding rotifers at 4 days. They don't have eyes or a mouth until day 4.

 

[novahobbies]

Cool! From what you described maybe mine were just "practicing"......I only saw them do the dance up the water column once, and whatever was released didn't float ('course, my pumps were all on, so maybe that was why). I'm nowhere near set up to attempt raising the fry, but I may consider trying at some point in the future. As it stands, I'm just happy that they're both comfortable enough in the tank to get busy.

Roxanne, it sounds like you've done this before....have you been able to raise them to full adulthood? I've read Matthew Wittenrich's excellent article on the subject, and I'm really excited that others may be doing this as well. If I may ask...what size tank do you start out with as a growout tank? Do you use a foam filter as filtration? How often do you feed the fry when they're taking rotifers? I have some knowledge about raising H. reidi seahorse fry and I can imagine the difficulties ahead if I try to raise these lil buggers!