Success with Fiji devils-30 years late

[Luis A M]

http://eefcentral.com/gallery/data/522/44505C_taupou2.jpg
http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/522/44505C_taupou1.jpg
Excuse the very poor quality of these pics but it´s the best focus I could get of this tiny (10mm) 30days old juvenile Fiji devil (Chrysiptera taupou)soon after metamorphosis and still coloring up.
As far as I know,it could well be the first of this species ever captive raised.The first and only because this fish is the only survivor of several hundred hatched larvae.
Even so,I feel very happy with it,and take it as a long awaited acomplishment.I have a special crash with this fish:D

Thirty years ago...(here comes a long boring story which you should skip or stay at your own risk
:lol: )Well,no,I´ll make it short.I set my first marine aquarium,very pioneer way,almost all DIY,including the salt,there was nothing available here at that time.I had a mixed group of fish including a pair of C.taupou.I was lucky because this fish is very aggressive and hard to pair off.Anway,I found them one day spawning in a big barnacle shell.I was astonished,books of that time didn´t mention fish could breed,keeping them alive was good enough.Coming from FW breeding,I said "why,they´re just like cave spawning cichlids".So I put the shell with the nest into a HOB Dynaflo filter,with the return flow hitting the nest.Sure enough,the eggs developed and one day I found hundreds of new born fry.The larvae were obviously too small for bs,so I tried hard egg yolk (a common FW food),but they soon died.Then I lost the parents,and all my fish,with an Amyloodinum outbreak.
But this close encounter with breeding proved addictive and I kept thinking about getting a new pair,breed them and RAISE them.
Then I moved to San Antonio,Tx.for a pot-doctoral fellowship.There I met Nelson Herwig and Steve Walker,then (1977) of the local Aquarium.They were raising Neon gobies and almost every day I visited them.As C.taupou were impossible to find,Nelson suggested the yellow tail damsel,C.parasema.They are cheap,easy to find and breed easily.So most of my breeding attempts were made with parasema until I first could raise some few,some years ago.But taupou was my first love and I kept dreaming on raising them.This is why I find this tiny blue thing so special :beer:

[ediaz]

FELICIDADES LUIS !

Me dejaste con la boca abierta, deja que Todd se entere!

Parece que la moviste de su tanque para la foto?

Edgar

[Luis A M]

Gracias Ed!:cool: Las crie en uno de tus "BRT"(black round tank)
Right,took the pics while moving it from the larval tank to grow -out.
Here comes the one that didn´t show.
http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/522/44505C_taupou2.jpg
Not any better:( but you can see the yellow fins and blue body.

[MarinaP]

That is an astounding accomplishment.

First love...

Congratulations, Luis.

[NicoleC]

Congratulations!

[spawner]

Luis,
Good to see you post the pictures, one species down 999 to go ;)

Don’t let Luis fool you, he conceals the fish in a bad photo intentionally so the Great Salami will not claim them.

BTW, Luis how was dinner with George and Hugo?

[h2joe]

do u have any pics of the parent fish? i would love to see what they look like and could you provide some info about how you raised them.

thanks and congradulations again,

Mark

[Kathy55g]

Great News!

Thanks for sharing.

[oama]

Originally posted by Luis A M
[Fiji devil (Chrysiptera taupou)soon after metamorphosis and still coloring up.
As far as I know,it could well be the first of this species ever captive raised.

Congrads Luis!
Tough buggers to crack!
But, not the first time.

[marinebetta]

Congrats, Luis!:beer:

A major accomplishment, to say the least!

[Luis A M]

Thank you pals for the congrats:) I promise better pics of baby and parents in the future.Doug,I´ll love to hear about that "first time".

I can raise between 0 and 3 Chrysiptera damsels per spawn.Would you people call it a success or a failure?Well,it´s all relative.I can say "I bred a new species"and post pics and bred a 2nd generation.But honestly there´s nothing successful in losing 99.5% of every spawn.I will keep working with them until I find the way to raise a decent number of larvae,say 50% of the spawn.And learn to take better pics:rolleyes:

[spawner]

Luis,

You should give your self more credit. It always gets easier, once you make that first break through.

[spk]

Luis,

Congratulations. This is truly great news and a big boon for the hobby. Keep those little ones coming.

looking forward to seeing a pic of the parents.

Thanks for the information


Steve

[fish lad]

congrads

hopfullly more babys to come

[kungen]

Congratulations!

It's always a great inspiration to read about other peoples succes! Without the Fish Breeding Forum and the stories here I wouldn't be where I am today...
I've done Occelaris and Bangaii.... my Fridmani fry are almost 2 weeks old and look fine. Considering what to try next...

[Julio]

CONGRATS!!! sometimes the most abundant species are the greatest accomplishments.

[Paul B]

Luis, congrats. Although I have had blue devils spawn many times I never raised any of the fry. I think 1 to 3 fish per spawn is great. In the sea there are probably only 4 or 5 that live.
Good luck.
Paul

[Luis A M]

Thanks for the encouraging concept. Will keep posting any improvement with survival.
I posted here couple of years ago a pic of a taupou larva very close to MMP:
http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=2145192
See that the middle body is taller than the previous "cephalic hump".The black lines near the tail fin in a dorsal view seem a precaudal black spot.
My current taupou juv.started MMP as dorsal blue coloratin at 27 dah.
It is growing nicely and one of these days I will take some better pics to post here.

[fishtail22]

Hey Luis,

Great Job! I'm happy to hear that you're still at it. This is a great accomplishment. Keep the photos and the good news coming.

Congratulations,
Todd

[spawner]

Todd,

Called your cell phone all weekend. I've got your seahares lined up.

Luis expects to see a paper based on his work ;)
Can't wait to see some better pictures of the little guys.



andy

[fishtail22]

Luis,

When can we expect a paper?

Andy,

Why didn't you leave a message? I'm ready for sea hares. Anyone down there need sea horses? I've got an experiment ending tomorrow.

[spawner]

Todd, that was an inside jab to Luis, you should be able to figure it out.

I'll phone you this afternoon.

andy

[fishtail22]

I got the Jab. I'm suggesting that Luis should actually get the credit for his accomplishment this time.

[Luis A M]

Originally posted by fishtail22
Luis,

When can we expect a paper?



I can´t write papers,I´m just a hobbyist.Andy is pulling my leg because of that guy who used all my data on C.parasema to publish a fake article in Aquaculture pretending he did it.I´m sure you know.

[ediaz]

Luis te dije que le iba a gustar...

How's the damsel?

Todd, wonder if your domino are still down there...

Ed

[SEA YOU LATER]

Congratulations Luis :hmm5:

[fishtail22]

I'm hoping to get an update from Bill this week.

[spawner]

I have a home for them Todd. Somehow I am betting that they aren't their.

[fishtail22]

A home for who?

[Luis A M]

My baby fish is 66 days old.

http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/522/44505Ctapou66dah.jpg

The fish is growing fast (faster than my photography skills) and has doubled it´s size.It is now about the same size of my two year old C.parasema which are starting to spawn,but yet half the adult size.IME C.parasema and C.hemicyanea are extremely slow growers.In fact Martin Moe said once that damsels are some of the slower fish to grow.This,combined with the fact that they are very difficult to raise and that their commercial value is almost nil,makes damsels not attractive to commercial breeders.

But this devil is growing really fast,even belonging to the same genus Chrysiptera. It is growing faster than clowns and being large and beautiful,is sure a good species for commercial hatcheries.

[aaron23]

terrrific!!! CONGRATS :D

[spk]

Congratulations. Looking good.
When is the next nest due?

[clownfish75]

I have spawned OTB (C. cyanea) before but have had nil success getting them to survive, do you have any tips?

Thanks

Christian

[Kathy55g]

That is a beautiful fish!

[Luis A M]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6242771#post6242771 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by kmleah

That is a beautiful fish!

But a very bad picture:mad:



SPK-I lose a new big larva recently,my rots cultures crashed and I had to give bbs.This seems to produce sudden death at MMP.



Christian-No tips other than my old reports in the BR list shown in: http://www.reefsuk.org/.

Search "damsel"here.



Perhaps because of their aggressiveness,two of the many Chrysiptera species have been called "devils",C.cyanea and C.taupou.These two devils share other unique character among pomacentrids;they show sexual dimorphism (which is different in each geographic location).



It was surprising to find how fast this fish is growing,while other species of this genus are extremely slow.(My previous post was unclear,I mean C.parasema are 1/2 adult size,not the devil).

[Luis A M]

Checking this old thread,I realized that I never produced a decent pic of Baby Blue.
So here it is,at 10 months,a young adult in all it´s glory!:fish2:
http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/522/44505_cid_3CBCBD25-6173-474F-B66A-9E1D294B831E_local.jpg

[Kathy55g]

That is a beautiful fish! And a great picture!

[Dman]

Luis,
That is truly amazing. Have you had any more success with them in the last 10 months?
I see your photography skills have improved as well. :D

[FuEl]

Wow! Hats off to those who don't breed fish solely based on their value. Hey Luis, perhaps starkii damsels now? :rollface:

[jake levi]

Congratulations Luis,

modest as ever , " I'm just a hobbyist",

something like Edison saying he was a tinkerer.

The Fiji Devil is one beautiful fish, its encouraging that you have cracked the wall , I'm looking forward to your F3s.

[Luis A M]

Thanks:)
No,I didn´t raise any since then.The male died and it took some time to replace him.I am now playing with larvae again.
I did obtain some F2 of C.parasema and H.reidi.I had the naif hope that they being the offspring of survivors should prove easier to raise.That was not the case:(
Junkai,sure,but first I need to learn how to raise decent numbers of larvae (any other than clowns).

[mwp]

How did I totally overlook this thread...OH, the date gives it away. STILL VERY COOl!

Matt

[manuel ferrer]

Enhorabuena Luis and buen trabajo.

[FishGuttz]

Wow, amazing! That is a beautiful fish! Are you still making attempts to breed more?

[mwp]

Luis, you mention that this species shows some sexual dimorphism? What are the traits in male vs. female?

Matt

[adamprice271]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6037065#post6037065 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Luis A M
But honestly there´s nothing successful in losing 99.5% of every spawn.I will keep working with them until I find the way to raise a decent number of larvae,say 50% of the spawn.And learn to take better pics:rolleyes:

You raised ONE fish. Previously you have raised NONE, as have others from what I see. That is nothing short of success!! Give yourself the credit you deserve. I'm a lurker on this forum and LOVE reading about the success stories of people who have accomplished somthing of this degree such as yourself. Please keep it up, and I wish you the best of luck in the future.

Adam

[oama]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8147134#post8147134 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by adamprice271
You raised ONE fish. Previously you have raised NONE, as have others from what I see. That is nothing short of success!! Give yourself the credit you deserve. I'm a lurker on this forum and LOVE reading about the success stories of people who have accomplished somthing of this degree such as yourself. Please keep it up, and I wish you the best of luck in the future.

Adam

I concur, Luis. Bravo!

[Luis A M]

Thank you folks!A pat on the back always helps!:)
Both devils,blue and Fiji,show different sexual dimorphism depending on where they come from,sometimes they don´t.
Fiji females show a sulphur yellow dorsal,while those of males are off cream with a dark blue edge.Blue females have clear caudals,males´ are deep blue or orange.

[Paul B]

Actually loseing 99% of a spawn is pretty successful. Thats about what happens in the sea. Don't forget a fish like a stripped bass may lay a few million eggs so one percent is quite a few fish.
I remember when I raised my only batch of blue devils I think I only raised two of them to maturity. So you are better than I was.
Have a great day.
Paul

[Paul B]

I may as well put this here. Here is a picture of my tank in the seventees. The blue devil male is hovering over his nest of eggs.
The pair spawned every month or so for almost seven years. I only tried to raise them once.
I am glad you are trying to raise some of them now. It is a very important aspect of this hobby that many people are not that interested in.
Good Luck Dad.
Paul
http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/500/13094Historic_4.jpg