One of our many projects are with the gramma family, such as the royal gramma and black cap basslets. These fish are pretty cheap in the USA which makes commercial production not very profitable. I'm convinced there's a way to commercialize them and make them profitable, and hopefully we can prove that once we get more space to expand. Right now we have a group of 4 consisting of 1 large and 3 sm/md. The large gramma is the male. Pairing or grouping gramma species is as easy as adding several small individuals with one larger individual, at the same time.
Here's an older photo showing 3 of our initial 4.
Their spawning site consist of PVC fittings to create a cave-like structure with artificial nesting material inside.
Their spawning season is during the winter, however one of the females seems to be spawning right now. We found some eggs to confirm this activity.
The eggs are covered in bumps, which I think have tiny hooks. These eggs behave a lot like velcro, as they stick to strands of algae or other fibrous material. We have not started any larval runs yet, but they are about as easy to raise as dottybacks. The drawback is that they only lay small numbers of eggs at a time, making any larval run very small. Hopefully during the winter, all 3 females will begin spawning together, improving our larval runs.
Here's an older photo showing 3 of our initial 4.
Their spawning site consist of PVC fittings to create a cave-like structure with artificial nesting material inside.
Their spawning season is during the winter, however one of the females seems to be spawning right now. We found some eggs to confirm this activity.
The eggs are covered in bumps, which I think have tiny hooks. These eggs behave a lot like velcro, as they stick to strands of algae or other fibrous material. We have not started any larval runs yet, but they are about as easy to raise as dottybacks. The drawback is that they only lay small numbers of eggs at a time, making any larval run very small. Hopefully during the winter, all 3 females will begin spawning together, improving our larval runs.