(How do I?) Breeding Barnacle Blennies

[ArowanaLover1902]

Well after a few hours of my three new blennies I'm pretty close to getting rid of all my other fish and focusing on just them. The only problem is they only live for 1.5-2 years, I'd love to get a bit of sustainable population, there is extremely little information on them (mine are mexican barnacle blennies, but barnacle blennies as a whole seem neglected). My questions are as follows:
- How to gender the fish?
- Parameters preferred for breeding?
- Any catalysts required for breeding, raise in temperature or etc?
- I know the male keeps the young, should I remove them and raise them separately?
- About how many should I keep in my 35 gallon (15 gallon sump) to keep the population stable and fish happy?

Thanks for any advice and help. I'd love to hear about your barnacle blenny setups too.

 

[Reefing Madness]

 

[I_Got_Crabs]

8 month BUMP!!!

 

[sabeypets]

Well after a few hours of my three new blennies I'm pretty close to getting rid of all my other fish and focusing on just them. The only problem is they only live for 1.5-2 years, I'd love to get a bit of sustainable population, there is extremely little information on them (mine are mexican barnacle blennies, but barnacle blennies as a whole seem neglected). My questions are as follows:
- How to gender the fish?
There are no sexual dimorphism between male and female
- Parameters preferred for breeding?
As close to natural habitat as possible
- Any catalysts required for breeding, raise in temperature or etc?
As close to their breeding season as possible
- I know the male keeps the young, should I remove them and raise them separately?
Male won't care of larvae, separate tank needed
- About how many should I keep in my 35 gallon (15 gallon sump) to keep the population stable and fish happy?

Thanks for any advice and help. I'd love to hear about your barnacle blenny setups too.

 

[PiggyPuffin]

Bump!

 

[sorinwilcox]

Did you ever find out? Have you had any success?

 

[ThRoewer]

Pictures would help identifying the species you have.

The sad thing with many Caribbean and East Pacific barnacle and sailfin blennies is that males and females can be so distinctly different that they are not easily recognized as the same species. Especially with the sailfin blennies only the males are flashy in mating colors while the females are generally always in a rather drab camouflaged coloration. For that reason often only the males are collected and the females stay behind.

Gulf signal blenny, Emblemania hypacanthus from the Gulf of California/Sea of Cortez.
Male in mating colors:

Male in normal coloration:

Female:

In the past I had a group of Acanthemblemaria hancocki and with that species males and females are pretty much indistinguishable unless the males show mating colors. And they regularly show up in the trade.