Breeding Journal: Neopomacentrus Bankieri (Lyretail Damsel)

[FlynnFish]

Breeding Journal DataSheet

This first post should be updated regularly to include new information as events take place
or changes are made to your system

General
Species: Neopomacentrus Bankieri (Lyretail Damsel)
Social Structure: colony of 8 individuals
Size of Individuals: 2inches
Age of Individuals: >1yr
Date added to Tank: 7/28/10

Broodstock Tank Details
Size of Tank: 25 gallons of 1400 gallon system
Substrate Details: black aragalive
Filtration Details: sump with live rock, filter socks, moving sandbed filter, skimmer
Water Changes: 80 gallon water change once a month
Water Temperature: 76
Lighting: fish need it 36 inch fixture, one white bulb, one blue bulb
Lighting Cycle: 10am-7pm
Other Tank Inhabitants: two tomato clowns

Broodstock Feeding Details
Food Types: pellets, frozen, flakes
Feeding Schedule: three times a day

Spawning Details
Date of First Spawn:been spawning regularly for past year, spawn of the eggs collected around 7/12/11
Spawn Time of Day: unknown
Dates of Consecutive Spawns: every three or four days
Courtship Details: unknown
Egg Size: tiny-1mm
Egg Color: clear
Egg Count: hundreds

Hatch Details
Hatch Date: july 15th 2011
Hatch Time of Day: night
# Days after Spawn: unknown- ~4
Larvae Description: super tiny, clear, silver eyes, yolk sac


Larval Tank Details
Temperature: 74.3
Size of Larval Tank: 10 gallons
Substrate Details: bare bottom
Other Tank Decor: rock, heater, air stone
Filtration Details: water changes
Lighting: small 12inch T5- window
Lighting Cycle: 8pm - 10pm
Water Changes: none done yet

Larval Feeding Details
Food Types: rotifers- algae(rotigreen, phytofeast, tetraselmis 3600)
Feeding Schedule: once a day

Metamorphosis/Settlement
Date of Settlement Start:
Days after Hatch:
Date of Settlement End:
Description of Fry:

Grow-Out Tank Details
Temperature:
Size of Grow-Out Tank:
Substrate Details:
Other Tank Decor:
Filtration Details:
Lighting:
Lighting Cycle:
Water Changes:
Size at Transfer:
Age at Transfer:

Grow-Out Feeding Details
Food Types:
Feeding Schedule:

Additional Information
Miscellaneous Information:

[FlynnFish]

These pictures are older, I will have to get updated photos.
Picture of the female


Pictures of possible mates


I know damsels are hard to raise past 4 days old, but I thought I would give it another chance.
Damsels are born four days after spawning occurs, they still develop more after hatching. Either their mouth parts arn't fully developed after four days or they are still using their yolk sac until then but that time is when they are sart to die off. I would assume that if they are dying off then they arn't eating the rotifers, so my thought is that maye the rotifers are too big, so I put in some tetraselmis 3600 Instant algae from Reef Nutrition. the Tetra 3600 is at 5-10 microns size while rotifes are around 100-250 microns. I'm hopping that the fry will eat some of the algae until they can eat the rotifers. Just my thoughts.

While waiting for my percula eggs to hatch on July 14th I looked into the larval tank of the damsels and saw two swmming around. The next night I saw alot more.




To the trained eye of fellow breeders there are 6 fry in this picture along the silicone in the corner.
you will see three black dots together which looks like a face, two will be the eyes and the third will be the gut, the rest of the body is clear. The bubble on the upper edge of the tank, below and to the left of it is a fry.Below that same bubble in the silicone line is another fry. There are two in the very corner of the silicone. There are three bubbles on the right side of the picture on the tank glass follow those down to the bottom of the tank and just below that point there are two more fry.

[MizTanks]

I'm praying for them an you FlynnFish

[CableGuy]

Good luck!!

[larryandlaura]

Are you crazy? Who breeds these evil devil fish! Lol good luck !

[FlynnFish]

LOL. I know what you mean. This particular species is actually very docile and is also commonly called Lyretail Chromis. The colony that I have was housed with clownfish, blennies and tangs and they had no issue with any of them.They are very shy and hard to get good pictures of.

[FlynnFish]

I took a video of the fry on Sunday and finally got it start downloading to youtube.

MVI 3021 - YouTube

so it didn't upload my edited version of the video so excuse my child screamming at the end! he stubbed his toe on a chair.

I guess the babies are doing fine. I saw one fry yesterday cruising around the tank. It was a bit larger than at hatch but still clear except the gut and the eyes. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

[FlynnFish]

I haven't seen any fry in the last 5 days, so I would assume they have all passed on. I'll be ready for another attempt in a few weeks.

[MizTanks]

Awww this makes me sad-poor lil buggers-that one sure was boot scootin around though

[mpedersen]

I'm curious for more insights on how you're sexing these guys and how you've determined it's the female vs. male who is doing egg tending duties. I ask because in my Neopomacentrus nemurus, it was the male who cared for eggs, so removing all other information, my automatic assumption would've been that it was your male doing nest care.

Very curious indeed to hear more!