Breeding Canthigaster solandri

[Pufferpunk]

A gal just bought these guys for breeding:
http://www.liveaquaria.com/diversden/it ... DN-_-PRDCT

Hopefully, she'll post her progress here!

[lilacamy931]

I certainly hope so, that would be amazing to document!

[Corvus]

The upper one is the female, the lower one the male, btw.

[Chelsey]

That gal would be me I received these guys on Thursday and they're currently in QT. With the exception of a porcupine puffer in my mom's tank at her house I don't really have any puffer experience so these guys will be my first.

In case the DFS picture goes away before I take some more (I'd like to let them settle in before taking a bunch of pics so that I don't stress them out too much), here's the DFS picture, saved and rehosted by me:



I was able to find three manuscripts regarding reproduction in the Canthigaster genus:

The courtship and spawning behaviors of bear valentini - William Gladstone

THE EGGS AND LARVAE OF THE SHARPNOSE PUFFERFISH CANTHIGASTER VALENTINI (PISCES: TETRAODONTIDAE) ARE UNPALATABLE TO OTHER REEF FISHES.- William Gladstone

Spawning Behavior and Early Live History of the Sharpnose Puffer, Canthigaster rivulata, in the Aquarium - Hiroshi Arai and Shiro Fujita

After reading those three manuscripts, here's what I learned:

-One paper (Arai et al) says that the spawning season lasts from late June to mid September and occurs every 4 days, but the other two papers state that spawning occurs daily, year-round. Spawning reportedly occurs between 8am and 4pm, with a peak between 10am and 12pm.

-Separate sexes with no sex reversal, dimorphism occurs to some extent, at least in C. rivulata and is as follows:
1. Male is larger than the female
2. (color/pattern characteristics for C. rivulata)
3. Male has a well developed skin fold along the mid-dorsal and mid-ventral lines, which is elevated during courtship. Female's skin folds are poorly developed.

-Demersal spawners

Spawning behavior is as follows (not species specific, for the Canthigaster genus in general):
Female signals to approaching male by flexing her caudal fin toward him and lifting her head to display her egg swollen abdomen, male follows the female around like a puppy. The leading and following ritual happens a few times and then the female begins to pick at different areas on the substrate, primarily at algae clumps and depressions in the rock. The female becomes more deliberate with her pecking and as the male comes by she twists her abdomen and extended ovipositor toward the male. The pair fertilizes the eggs over the clump of algae and the male leaves. After this, the female stays over the spawning site and moves forward and backward with her anal fin beating rapidly. This is thought to either ensure fertilization of the eggs or to push the eggs deeper into the clump of algae. There is no parental care after this, and apparently the female does not use the same spawning site twice.

I'm only assuming that spawning is similar for all of the Canthigaster species, I don't know for sure, and obviously first hand accounts should be taken into consideration over what I've read in manuscripts

Egg characteristics per Arai and Fujita: spherical, 0.53-0.73 mm in diameter, adhesive, transparent, pale yellowish orange, contain a cross-shaped/asteroid cluster of oil globules. Incubation ranged from 73.5 hours to 145 hours depending on temperature

Larva characteristics as per Arai and Fujita: newly hatched larvae are 1.38 to 1.98mm total length, yolk sac absorbed ~3 days after hatching. Larvae were fed oyster larvae, blue mussel larvae, sea-urchin larvae, and rotifers, but none of the puffer larvae survived past 16 days.

[Pufferpunk]

I don't know about other fish but generally, puffer larval survival is halted by improper foods. What are you planning on feeding your fry?

[Corvus]

As noted above the dimorphism or more exactly dichromatism of C. solandri is quite clear in your pair.

I'd except their spawning to be similar of those of the other Canthigaster spp., although the social life itself is different in C. valentini, which in contrast to your species often occurs not in pairs, but in larger groups.

[Chelsey]

I don't know about other fish but generally, puffer larval survival is halted by improper foods. What are you planning on feeding your fry?

I've got a few different things I'll be trying. From what I've read rotifers don't work, whether they're L or S strain. Since those are presumably too big NHBBS would also be too large. I'm thinking I'll try a few different copepod nauplii. I'm fortunate enough to be with one of the few people to have successfully raised Centropyge, so if the nauplii he suggests worked for angels then it should hopefully work with puffer fry as well

[Pufferpunk]

How are they adjusting to their now home? Tell us more about their behavior--are they doing their loving, happy dance yet? What kind of housing are they in?

[Chelsey]

They are currently in QT and will be there for the next 6 weeks, so they're not really "home" yet They seem to be adjusting ok, though since they're in QT the furnishings are a little sparse. They both like to hang out in a half flower pot and seem a little on the shy side, at least for now. However, if I stand across the room and remain very still I can watch them investigate their tank and interact with each other. I haven't seen any happy dances yet, though I attribute this to them stlil being in QT.

Eventually, when out of QT, they'll be in a 55g tank by themselves with a few pieces of rock and some macro algae and a few flower pots/half flower pots for caves. The 55g will be tied into the rest of the broodstock system, but the turnover rate will be slower because their water will need to be about 10 degrees cooler than what I run the broodstock system at.

[Chelsey]

Here are two crappy pics of them in QT. Please ignore the dirty glass, lack of focus, and poor white balance

[Pufferpunk]

Thanks for the update & pics!

[lilacamy931]

Gorgeous puffs, hope they are settling in well and cant wait to see them out of quarantine

[Chelsey]

Two more quick pics. They're still in QT but are doing great. They eat like pigs and are very personable, especially the male!



"Quit taking my picture and FEED ME!!!"

[Pufferpunk]

What a face!

[autophotos]

wwwwwwwwooooooooooooow nice fish