332 replies to this topic

[Irate Mormon]

I normally click the "report" button.  It will have to do until we find something better.  BTW, has anybody noticed that people are getting randomly kicked from the forum?

[Chasmodes]

I normally click the "report" button.  It will have to do until we find something better.  BTW, has anybody noticed that people are getting randomly kicked from the forum?

 

What happened?  Did I miss something?

 

thanks

[Irate Mormon]

Haha, forgive me...you have missed nothing.  Just click "report" for any post you like, that's the ticket.

[Chasmodes]

Tank update:  I noticed that the fish in the 20g long were breathing heavily, mostly due to constantly defending their territories, but after a couple water changes to clean up detritus, I decided to also add an airstone.  I also cleaned the HOB filter and powerhead and now there is much more flow.  As a result, the fish are out much more and much more photogenic.  While cleaning the filter, I discovered several tunicates in there, and also some inside some of the oyster shells.  My original ones all died, so I assume that these are progeny.  The three small anemones disappeared since I added the fish.  I don't know if the fish killed and ate them, or if they simply moved or are hiding.  In fact, all of the invertebrates except for the shrimp rarely come out (crabs, worms, etc.).  Their vacation is over!  Time for some pics...

 

Full Tank Shot

 

Male striped blennies battle over oysters and the lone female.  The blenny that I dubbed "King" is on the left.  He pretty much rules the roost but the one on the right holds his own and sometimes wins these battles

The next couple pictures show King sporting his spawning colors:  the bright blue dorsal fin spot, the dark anal fins trimmed in black and white, the yellow/orange dorsal fin stripe, peach colored gills and mouth, and orange trimmed pectoral and tail fins.  Notice how dark King gets in the above picture during the standoff.

 

The object of their affection, the lone female in the tank.  Notice the drab coloration.  She is quite a bit smaller too.  The males chase her constantly, nipping at her, and sometimes shaking their bodies.  I suggested to them that they take a nicer approach to courting, but it's hard for them to break bad habits.

 

King peeking out of his oyster shell that he defends constantly.  

 

I have a couple more cool videos and will post them as soon as I can.

[Chasmodes]

My blennies spawned, probably on Friday.  I didn't see the spawning activity, but was wondering why I wasn't seeing one of the largest males.  The reason he wasn't out and about was because he was guarding eggs.  He does make quick trips to come out to eat during feeding time, but goes back and forth between the oyster shell and the food.  

 

Here's a pic of him guarding the eggs.  You can see the eggs and also the female to the right hanging out.  He is tolerant of her, but still chases her off if she hangs out too long.

 

Here is a pic of the shell and eggs that he left to chase off another fish:

 

Here is a cool video of him guarding the eggs.  There is another male that challenges him, not for his eggs, but rather to defend another oyster shell that he is claiming as territory.  This is interesting, because he is somewhat smaller and not even a week ago, but two larger males were picking on him pretty bad.  Now he fights back and stands up for himself.  My guess is that he's claiming his own spawning location:

[gerald]

Has this species or any other Chasmodes blenny been raised from eggs in captivity?  Are you plannig to try?  If there's any clownfish breeders in your area you might be able to get some suitable rotifers.

[Chasmodes]

I'm not sure, but I'll check into it.  A researcher in Texas that I know has been breeding blennies from the Gulf, including Chasmodes longimaxila.  I'm not sure how successful he's been.  I'll shoot him an email and find out.

 

I personally don't have an grow out tanks, so that is something that I may work on in the future.

[mattknepley]

Kevin, this is fantastic stuff. (Yes, I know I'm tardy to the party...) Thanks for sharing it on here. Y'know, I bet if you were to do a Fish in Focus or another such write up on these really cool fishes you have a passion for, it might make it into American Currents. Wink, wink, nudge, nudge, say no more...

[Chasmodes]

Thank you Matt.  I guess I'd better hit the keyboard then!  I'd be happy to do that.

 

I just wrote an article about my blenny obsession on a reef forum.  If you all are interested, then I can post a link to that post here.

[Chasmodes]

Y'know, I bet if you were to do a Fish in Focus or another such write up on these really cool fishes you have a passion for, it might make it into American Currents.

 

Matt, what is the process for doing this?  What format should I use (MS Word, PDF, forum post, etc.)?  And, if when I'm done, who should I send it to?  I searched the forum and didn't see any info about doing this...maybe a stickied thread somewhere might be a good idea to answer questions like this?

 

Thank you.

[littlen]

Congrats on the spawn.  I'm sure you were and still are pumped about that.  Try sticking your finger near the spawning site.  And record it of course.

[Chasmodes]

Congrats on the spawn.  I'm sure you were and still are pumped about that.  Try sticking your finger near the spawning site.  And record it of course.

 

Thanks Nick!, I will give that a try.  Right now, if I stick my hand in the tank to do anything, they associate that with food and bite me all over my hand and forearm.  The skilletfish stick to my forearms.  I haven't tried getting near the spawning site with my hand yet though.  It's behind one of the oyster cultches, in a cave, not easy to reach, but I may be able to poke a finger in there.

[mattknepley]

The sticky note is a pretty good idea. I might do a little begging and post a "how to" that a mod can pin. It might help with submissions.

The process is extremely difficult. Type it however you want and submit it. That's it! A pdf or word doc is usually best, and easiest. Don't rearrange any margins or anything like that and it will make things easier for Olaf to format later. Attach any photos separately or add 'em directly to the doc. If there are any concerns Olaf will get ahold of you. Email your stuff on to me (pm me if you need my email) and I will be happy to forward it on.

[Chasmodes]

Thank you Matt!

[Chasmodes]

So the female striped blenny is very brave, despite being smaller than all of the males.  She struts about the tank and gets chased and harassed by all of the males.  But, she keeps doing her thing.  However, sometimes the chasing is more like corralling.  Normally, a male will chase and bite her to scare her away, as he does rival males.  However, when he wants to breed, he chase, nip, or sometimes push her to get her into his oyster shell, while at the same time positioning his body between her and the escape routes away from his shell, while shaking (flashing), with fins erect and displaying his colors to her.  This is an attempt to push her into his oyster shell.  I saw this happen a couple nights ago, and ran upstairs to get my phone.  But, by the time I had it set on my tripod, another male blenny chased her off.  He actually kept her from going near the other male, although probably not on purpose, rather, just to chase her away.

 

Meanwhile, another male on the other side of the tank had a different approach.  He would just come out of his oyster shell and position himself higher on the reef above her, and kept doing that until she got close to his shell and eventually she would enter.  He would follow her in and then she’d shoot out and swim away until this started all over again.  He was so close!  It was so fun to watch that I was down there from 10 PM until well after 1 AM watching this, trying to get a good video and/or pics.  They never seem to behave the way you want when the camera is pointed at them.

 

Also, the territorial battles between the males and their shells is fun to watch in itself.  Most of the time, the skirmishes are just all show.  Sometimes, albeit rarely, they trade bites and even take chunks out of each other’s fins!

 

However, last night, I was able to capture some of this drama on film.  Instead of one male doing this, three of them were competing for her!  One of the males actually pushed her half way across the tank toward his shell, but she got away.  I'm not sure if I got that on film or not.  It's not in this video, but maybe I caught it in another one.  I have to go through those videos to see if I can find if I caught it or not.  Anyway, this is the best video of the action so far, especially the first third of the video.  I can watch them for hours!

 

 

 

[gerald]

Chill out guys!  Just let me have all the food and there will plenty of eggs for all of you.

[Chasmodes]

I know, right?

 

The male on the left really gets angry when another male steals his oyster shell at the 58 second mark.

[mattknepley]

I say you name the poor girl Madeline...

 madelinek.jpg   11.24KB   1 downloads

Perfect music by the way....

[Chasmodes]

Thanks guys.

 

Hilarious movie!

[Chasmodes]

I have some exciting news!  After I got home from work, I went down to my tank to feed the fish and noticed that one of my skilletfish wouldn't leave his clam shell to come up and stick to the glass and beg for food.  So, I shined a flashlight inside the shell, and when he moved away, I saw eggs on the upper shell half!  He was guarding eggs and only feeding on food drifting by his shell.  I made a point to plunge my hand into the tank in front of him with a pinch of frozen food, and he ate after a little bit of coaxing.  It was weird because the other day, I only could find three skilletfish coming out for food, and I searched the tank high and low with a flashlight and couldn't find the fourth one.  At that time, there were no eggs in any of the shells.  So, apparently, the female skilletfish was the one that I couldn't find, and she was probably somewhere near the clam shell out of my view the entire time.  I took a video of him guarding and fanning the eggs.  I found it entertaining.  Hope you all do as well.

 

Also, the gobies are acting differently, constantly flaring their fins and chasing each other, so my guess is that they will be next.  The female blenny is about due to spawn again as well, as she is getting very plump.