Regal Tangs spawning

jerwin · Jun 15, 2014

I was told since I have gotten a pretty good idea what to look for right before they spawn. When they get close they start to swim in circles side by side. at this point I will turn off the main pump. once they have actually spawned then I will turn off the main lights to the tank an the powerheads.I will wait for them to float to the surface. then I a going to skim them off the top of the surface of the water.

I am going to see about making an acrylic. I am thinking about using some mesh from a filter sock to allow some water to move in to the box but not let the eggs come out. I am thinking I want to try to keep them suspend with in the water column.

If anyone has a better idea please let me know. Any suggestions on food for the babies?

brian_reefragr · Jun 15, 2014

That's great, good job on catching it!

Mike J. · Jun 15, 2014

Exactly, a mesh to let circulated water in and out of the tank and a circular tank to keep them from sticking in corners and such. Aeration would come from water returning from over the tank via a spray. As the fry get older increase the flow and size of mesh. I was trying to find a link, but I'll keep looking. There has been great strides made recently in raising spawn of angelfish and butterfly fish, too. I used a circular vase the last time I raised shrimp and got the idea from a yellow tang rearing tank I saw somewhere. I'll post it when I find it.

The real question is are you ready to be an innovative hobbyist/scientist? Hobbyist are actually very influential in this area. Best of luck to you.

prsnlty · Jun 15, 2014

Following. I hope this all pans out with lots of little fry

Congrats!

jerwin · Jun 16, 2014

I can say I am not a scientist by any means. But I am willing to try to work on this some to see how well I can do. At least I can see if we can figure out some ways to improve the possibility have rearing these fish in captivity. It could take some pressure off of the wild caught ones.

jerwin · Jun 18, 2014

Hippo tangs are still at it. They are almost breeding every night now. They spawn on the following dates confirmed by me. They might of spawned on other dates as well but might not of been in the room to see them.

6/10/2014, 6/14/2014, 6/15/2014, 6/18/2015.

All I can say is teenagers in love.

Tonight I was able to turn off the main return pump when I saw them swimming around in the pair circle dance. Then right after they spawned in the tank I turned out the lights and the other power heads. I waited about 5 minutes and looked in the tank with an led flash light and shot video of it. I would say there were some 200 eggs all over the surface of the water. I will work some this weekend build a container to collect up the eggs and place them in for protection. Below is the video I shoot of the eggs on the surface of the water. The eggs are the light blue sphere on the surface. These eggs are blue in color compared to my clown eggs or even Discus eggs. I will try to get a better video in the next couple of days of the eggs on the water surface.

[video=youtube;r_MlWUJp50E]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r_MlWUJp50E[/video]