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.
