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My Psycho Anthias Spawned!

GDawson

GDawson

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Last night just after sunset (sky was dark grey not black yet) the male started doing his dance and flashing REALLY bright colours. He’s been courting her for a couple of months now. He starts at the top of the tank and does a dive to the sand and pulls back up in a giant U. This is nothing new as he’s been doing this for a while. Last night I noticed that he was doing his dance in the back corner of the tank behind some rocks far from his usual territory (I have 4 males and they each have a discrete territory in the tank) with the female. Interesting to note this is the area with the least amount of water flow. He started at the top of the water line, dived to the sand and came ½ way up the rock wall and the female would slide up next to him, barely touching, and a few VERY small white pinpoint eggs came out of her. Then he repeated the process maybe ten or fifteen times. The eggs floated toward the surface and are most likely in my overflow pre-filter or sump now.

It was very cool to watch.

Nice to know that the fish are healthy and happy!

-Gregory
 
Forgot-

They're Pseudanthias rubrizonatus or Tri Colour Anthias. The link goes to a pic of one. The pic is exactly the colour the male was last night. Very cool colours.

http://en.microcosmaquariumexplorer.com/wiki/Redbar_Anthias

-Gregory
 
In my somewhat limited experience, most or all Anthias at LFS's are wild caught and considered very fragile and difficult to keep for long term. Only two of my original five juvenile lyre tail anthias have survived for more than 8 months. Given the behavior you are witnessing, perhaps there's hope that given a safe sanctuary for the eggs and fry, you might be on the cusp of captive bred Anthias. Sounds a little exciting to me............
I've had a few species of fish produce eggs, a few of those hatch into fry and a very few of those survive to adulthood. Thanks for sharing your experience. I wonder if anyone else has observed similar behavior. My anthias that have not shown similar behavior with anthias. Perhaps the multiple males factor influenced this behavior.
 
Maybe the multiple males make the difference.....The group started as 1 male and 5 females, within a very short time it became 4 males, 1 female, and 1 disappearance. Since then the males have setup discrete territories and a rigid pecking order. The spawning was with the super-alpha male.

Looking online there doesn’t seem to be any information on rearing the young, though there are several reports of spawning in hobbyist’s tanks. I suspect rearing them is not a beginners project and may be fool hearty to attempt at my level.

-Gregory
 
screebo said:
In my somewhat limited experience, most or all Anthias at LFS's are wild caught and considered very fragile and difficult to keep for long term. Only two of my original five juvenile lyre tail anthias have survived for more than 8 months. Given the behavior you are witnessing, perhaps there's hope that given a safe sanctuary for the eggs and fry, you might be on the cusp of captive bread Anthias. Sounds a little exciting to me............
I've had a few species of fish produce eggs, a few of those hatch into fry and a very few of those survive to adulthood. Thanks for sharing your experience. I wonder if anyone else has observed similar behavior. My anthias that have not shown similar behavior with anthias. Perhaps the multiple males factor influenced this behavior.
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Not to take away from the cool event as it's always cooland a good sign that your fish are actually spawning...

All anthias are wild caught, they have never been captive bred. There are reports all day long of them spawning in tanks but none of them ever have eggs to last. They have a lengthy planktonic larval stage that is long (won't survive in aquaria) and their first feed is unknown (double whammy) at this time.

BTW Captive Bread???? I'll take mine sour dough please... captive bred :p
 
This was one of the most concise sources I found:

3.5 – Courtship:
Anthias spawn at dusk....this translates to "lights out" in the aquarium setting most likely. Courtship may or may not start prior to lights out.
Courtship has been described as per Thresher as "U" swimming. Basically, the male starts at a position above the reef and dives towards the substrate, flicking the ventral fins, returning to a position above the reef. Hence, the term "U" swimming, which very accurately describes the path the fish takes through the water column.

3.6 – Spawning:
As courtship displays by the male continues, the male attracts a female. During one of the "U" swims, the female is said to join the male at the bottom of the "U", swimming together for a few seconds and releaseing gametes.

4 – Eggs:

4.1 – Size:
As per Thresher, less than 1mm in diameter for the species sampled.

4.2 – Quantity:
Unknown.

4.3 – Characteristics:
Anthias are pelagic spawners, with boyant transparent eggs with a single oil droplet.

4.4 – Incubation period/Hatching temp:
15-16 hours.

5 – Larvae:

5.1 – Size at hatching: 1-2 mm
5.2 – Yolk sac present at hatch: Yes - eggs hatch into prolarvae
5.3 – Mouth present at hatch: No
5.4 – Eyes developed at hatch: No

6 - Rearing:

6.1 - Breeding & Rearing Techniques
Unknown at this moment in time. Rearing techniques applied to groupers may be applicable.

6.2 – Day at first feeding:
Possibly 3 days.

6.3 - Starvation Time:
If known, include the time post-hatch that larval will live without feeding. This can often be found in larval studies where scientists do not feed the larvae, as well a accounts of failed larval rearing attempts.

6.4 – Feeding scheme:
Unknown

6.5 – Age at meta:
Unknown

7 – Species been reared successfully
Apparently none at this time.
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http://www.marinebreeder.org/phpbb/viewtopic.php?p=14091&sid=3e5d8a84a6f325e9cf8951ff39c87e76

Nope, that doesn't look optomistic.

-Gregory
 
If you don't want to try to hatch them out, let me! :D Next time collect the spawn and I'll come and get it from you. :D


Thats so so dirty somehow.
 
Very cool! Would be fantastic if we learned even a little bit more about how to CB these fish from the ones you have in your tank. Ask Rich, though - trying to be a parent to non human babies can be really a lot of work! Might even make you think that fish sex is dirty...Of course, we already know that cuttle porn is. ;-)
 
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