Today I pulled about 30 Fundulus grandis eggs from two extra long spawning mops. This fish has several common names including Gulf Killifish, Mud Minnow, and Cocahoe Minnow and is a common saltwater bait fish. The sparkling gold spangling on the dark brown sides and yellow outlining on the fins make this a very pretty native fish once it colors up (they were all a generic light gold when collected). These particular fish were collected on the same Tampa Bay trip as the Lucania parva but it took a bit longer for eggs to start appearing in the mops in the 55g Grandis tank. As would be expected from a much larger killifish species, the eggs are much larger (slightly bigger than Chrysotus eggs) and have a brownish-gold tint (as opposed to the virtually clear Parva eggs).
Unlike the Parva that has limited breeding information on the web, there is a lot more info on the Grandis because of its popularity as a bait fish. Specifically, LSU has posted detailed info about breeding and raising this fish in pools and ponds (http://www.lsuagcent...aitfish/minnows) - their approach is to use SpawnTex breeding pads suspended in the water column using PVC floats. I was pleasantly surprised to see that the Grandis also use spawning mops (although my egg count is much smaller than what LSU extension center is reporting). Even though I used a much longer spawning mop (50% longer than normal) virtually all of the eggs were found within the top one inch of the mop. The eggs are now water incubating so I now have my fingers crossed for hatching.
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