Shotgun Orchid Dottyback help please!

[Piker]

So I purchased 2 orchid dottyback and they arrived on January 25th. From what I'd read I should have had 6 months before they started mating. They were tiny! I noticed some of the mating dance about 3 weeks ago... and tonight when doing a water change I saw eggs in the PVC pipe. Morty and Jessica are getting busy early.

So I'm completely new to all of this! I researched the pairing and romancing end but not the feeding and growing end. I thought I had 3 months from the literature I'd read prevoiusly. I'm not expecting this clutch of eggs to survive but I want to get going asap so the next time this happens, I am ready. I'm hoping to get the quick and dirty of exactly how to get phyto rotifers, artema and anything else i need. Also, I was hoping to raise the fish with an isolation box incubator/holder within the same aquarium. I'm not sure If I need to get another aquarium going to rear the clutch, but I need any and all info and will appreciate any help

I feel unprepared and like this was a failure for sure, and am hard enough on myself. So if someone has some judgments on me for my lack of prepairedness I ask that you keep them to yourself because I already feel quite bad for not being prepaired. Also, if there is someone in Michigan who is interested in this first clutch of eggs, please PM me.

I have included 2 images of their setup. They are the only fish and are only accompanied by some soft corals and a pretty standard clean up crew.

Thank you!

 

[Larry L]

Don't be so hard on yourself, I'd be surprised if anybody really expects that the first time they try to breed a fish they are going to have a successful result. And a lot of times it takes a number of spawns to get a good batch of viable eggs anyway.

It might to take a number of attempts to get a successful spawn, a number of attempts to collect eggs/larvae from a successful spawn, a number of attempts to raise larvae to settlement stage from a successful hatch, etc. etc. Treat it as a learning experience - takes notes of when the spawn happened, what time of day or night, what you were feeding at the time, how many eggs there were, how long it takes the eggs to hatch in whatever your water temperature is - all of that is useful information both for you and for other hobbyists.

 

[Piker]

Thanks Larry, I've ordered supplies to get phyto going and a couple round black tubs for larvae. I'll be prepared for the next clutch.

 

[Surfzone]

What do you plan on feeding the larvae? I know you can get them through on rotifers, but copepods are better. I would also sugest getting some experience on raising both so next time you can be prepared for a hatch. Also remember to limit cross contamination try to work with phyto first the copepods then rotifers. If you can culture rotifers in a different room they have a tendency to contaminate copepod cultures. Also what kind of phyto are you planning to grow?

Some people have reported that the dottyback parents start to eat the eggs for some reason or another. If this is the case an egg tumbler would be recomended for incubation.

Don't be so hard on yourself either. Breeding is trial error and a bit of luck. Just tank notes on what is happening and what you did during this first trial. Things like Temp, days until hatch, flow rates, food density, anything you do tanks a note of it. This way you can find what mistakes you may make or may have made. These notes came in handy when I raised mandarins. Also, keep notes on the parents this will give you an idea of how often they are spawning.

Feeding is also is important. I always feed LRS fertility frenzy along with mysis. The parents diet transfers to the quality of the spawn and hatch rate. I would make sure that you feed a varied diet multiple times a day if nothing else.

 

[Skydvr]

I'm getting ready for my fridmani to start breeding as well. Got most of my reading done. Ramping up cultures and getting my space set up. I've noticed the male starting to try to get the female to follow him into his cave occasionally, but he isn't making a very good attempt and she isn't interested.

Don't worry about not getting the first batch. From what I've read of others, it takes a few attempts (or more) for them to figure things out and start reliably producing viable spawns. There will be a point where you will need to be selective about which spawns you try to raise. Unless you have a decent amount of dedicated space, one pair can quickly fill out your larval rearing and growout tanks. They can be prolific frequent spawners.

As surfzone said, logs will be helpful. That will probably be the most difficult part for me. I'm not good about keeping logs long term.