Lol, got the goods… good luck i cant wait, lol…
I tried the video capture setting of the camera today. Still having trouble with the focal length but I had to share the images of the little guys in motion with everyone. I’m sorry to report that Niles is extremely camera shy. Spot and Blotch have finally settled down after two days of fighting while White Tip and Mako decided to put on a little show for the camera…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FI7UCEEMXhI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r1Dmbd9vSZ0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=41p3gjdPjOU
Is there a way to embed video on this forum?
The little Picassos have survived their first week with me after the big move. That means it’s time for some new videos and log updates!
Of the three pairs, Michigan and Niles have clearly developed the strongest bond together. They appear perfectly comfortable leaving the confines of the flower pot and I took some video of them out for a swim together. All the fish are developing black now over their bodies, but Michigan in particular is showing dark black coloration bleeding off her bars.
Spot and Blotch are also progressing nicely. Spot now allows Blotch to share her swimming space and has stopped chasing him away from the flower pot. Blotch has developed dark black on his dorsal and tail fin. I’m really hoping that they end up turning completely black. You can see this coloration in the video.
White Tip and Mako don’t seem to be getting along as much as when they were first introduced. In fact, the only time they interact is when they are defending the invisible territory line that they’ve established. I didn’t paint the sides of the 20 gallon tank initially and I’m starting to think that I’m going to have to. The fish refuse to leave their comfort zone and will even pass on food if it’s more than a body-length away. The upside of this is that I can take some great close-up video of the two of them!
Michigan & Niles
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L4a85uvcREw
More Michigan & Niles
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S-CMsS3MA9k
Spot & Blotch
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CWg0qF95H6I
White Tip & Mako
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Y9BJoUkCuw
Looks like the Picassos are in the spirit of changing their appearance for Halloween. I wanted to share some quick pics to show Blotch’s color development. Earlier this week he had a single pigment of black on his Spiny Dorsal Fin and Caudal(Tail) Fin. Now he sports a smear of black on both of those fins and his Anal Fin as well. Two other fish have decided to follow in his footsteps. Spot and Mako both have the first signs of black appearing on their Caudal Fins. I imagine all six fish will have this color development within a week.
A blurry Blotch.
Blotch and Spot (hard to see her black).
Better pic of Spot’s Caudal Fin.
Week two is in the books for the fish and it was a pretty busy week. I got around to painting the 20 gallon tank after being concerned that my third pair, White Tip and Mako, were having privacy issues(more on that later). I also rearranged the brood stock tanks slightly because the water flow was knocking around some of the decorative plants. The fish seem petty happy with the new arrangement but it has made taking photos and video a little more challenging with all their new hiding spaces. But the big event is the miniature jellyfish infestation.
On Saturday I did a water change. When I was done, I noticed a hydroid of some sort swimming in the sump. Upon closer inspection, I counted nearly a dozen of them. I’ve seen them before and wasn’t too concerened. They’ve popped up and then disappeared within a few days in a few of my systems. 72 hours later, I’d estimate there are over 200 throughout the entire system. They are attaching to the walls and bottom. The fish don’t seem to notice them and don’t view them as a food source like the other little critters I see them hunting from time to time. If they’re still around this Saturday, I’m going to siphon them out with the weekly water change. The sheer volume of them has me concerned. Back to the fish.
Not much to report on Michigan and Niles this week. Niles is spending a little more time on his own now that he has a new decorative plant forest in the corner of the tank. The only time I see him now is when he goes out for a swim around the tank perimeter or during feedings.
Spot and Blotch have really amazed me with their continuous color development. I know that this is mostly the normal Amphiprion percula color pattern that I’m seeing (referring to the black on the fins) but it’s interesting that these two fish are developing at the same rate and the other pairs haven’t begun this at all (with the exception of Mako). If you really take a look at the pictures I’m posting, you can clearly see that Spot and Blotch look significantly more mature than the other fish. Another really interesting thing is the appetite of these two. They are eating faster and more aggressively than any of the other pairs. Blotch (who I still presume to be the male based on behavior) has grown significantly. Spot is still the dominant fish, but I’m almost postive that Blotch is now as large, if not larger than Spot!
I think the painting did the trick because White Tip and Mako are finally spending a little time together. White Tip seems to get lonely and seeks out Mako every now and then just to give him a hard time. I’m a bit worried that Mako isn’t eating enough. He’s still afraid to leave his comfort zone and I see him looking at food eagerly but unwilling to go for it unless it’s in his immediate vacinity.
Here are a few pics of the fish. I’ll be posting videos later tonight when the camera is recharged.
Michigan
Michigan
Niles
Spot and Blotch
Spot and Blotch
Blotch
White Tip
White Tip
AwwweSome! They look way cool, Man! But , hey! Do you think we should take up a collection or something, to send them to a fishie Orthodontist or somethimg to straighten out their stripes or something? You know , so they don’t feel self conscious in a crowd of fish? or something?
I think technically they would need a fishy dermatologist for that. verdict_in
[quote=“kaptken, post:26, topic:573”]
AwwweSome! They look way cool, Man! But , hey! Do you think we should take up a collection or something, to send them to a fishie Orthodontist or somethimg to straighten out their stripes or something? You know , so they don’t feel self conscious in a crowd of fish? or something?[/quote]
So ken… were you a little hungover today? BoNg
that was a hilarious comment…( i just didnt wanna say lol so i made it longer ) lOl
will be keeping an eye on this thread. Good luck with everything!
Thanks, nemmy! It’s fun to track them on a week by week basis. And I can’t think of a better way to kill a year or so while we wait for them to mature!
No, not hungover till the morning after. Thanks. I am enjoying your post though. very much.
They look pretty cool Jason!!
Theres no telling how long they take to start spawning. I bought my two percs, very small. They can spawn at about a year old or little more in the wild. But mine just fooled around for 5 years before starting to lay eggs. I dont know why. they were always well fed, had staked out a corner of the old reef tank as their territory and where always together. they started spawning about a year after i moved them to my shallow frag tank.
So i hope your Picaso’s have a shorter courtship.
I’m guessing mine were 4-6 months old when I got them. I read in Joyce’s book that spawning has been observed in as little as 14 months in certain clownfish species. My expectation is that at least one of the three pairs will begin spawning around 18-24 months which places it between Dec 2010 and May 2011. But it wouldn’t be unheard of if I got lucky and they started spawning as early as August 2010.
I’m not really surprised that your fish didn’t spawn in a reef tank. I designed this system to be a brood stock system, not a captive reef. And there’s a big difference.
Please correct me if I’m wrong but I’m assuming you had other fish in your reef tank. It’s my understanding that if you give the clowns a well-defined territory with plenty of privacy and absolute minimal distractions… the natural drive to reproduce will kick in pretty easily. But once you add another fish competing for food and territory you can delay the spawning for years. I know that fish spawn in reef tanks, I’m just saying it’s easier to control all the other variables in a tank designed for brood stock. I won’t be repositioning or target feeding corals. I won’t be scraping the glass daily or even weekly. I’ll run the tank at 80-85 instead of 75-80 degrees. I won’t have ambient lighting or noise in the room at random times during the day and night. Stuff like that.
Then there’s the personalities of the individual fish to consider. Already, I’m seeing strong bonds and not-so-strong bonds in the fish as well as clearly distinct behavior patterns. The coolest thing so far that I’ve observed is that the level of courtship appears to have a direct impact on the rate of color development. But my point is that I have three pairs. One of them has to have the right combination of personality and drive to get things going!
In the end, I hope you’re right. I’d very much like to see a short courtship!
all the privacy info makes sense. my pair shaired the shallow 12 inch deep frag tank with a 5-6 inch blue hippo tang and a couple yellow clown gobies. the hippo stayed away from their corner during the day. they would chase it away. but at night, the hippo liked to curl up in the corner by the overflow strainer, just a couple inches above the clowns sleepin on the sand next to their egg patch. and no problem. they had just worked things out.
I was always moving corals around and cleaning glass, and the clowns would swim out and bite my hand if i got close to the eggs. Draw blood too. then when i was done, they would pick up and move all the nearby frags around to suit their own Feng Shuai. it is pretty funny. so i guess they can adapt. but your controlled environment, a little mood lighting , soft music should work. If not, Try dosing a little Vodka on Saturday nights!
THat’s a cool set up. Getting small juveniles should allow them to match up and gender change to make partners. I bet something happens by next summer.
man, that’d be great. I’ll tell the fish you said, “by next summer”! ;D
only thing left to decide is Sky or Absolute?
Today marks the 21st day since the Picassos arrived.
Chris and Barb were kind enough to stop by this week for a visit and some frag swapping. One of the smallest Superman Mushrooms they traded me had detached in my reef tank and I’ve added it to the sump of the Broodstock system for good luck. I haven’t shown a picture of the sump for over a month so I thought I’d document some of its progress as well. While I was taking pics of the new mushroom, two serpent stars emerged from the live rock to say, “hello.”
Michigan and Niles continue to spend most of their time apart with the exception of the nightly perimeter swim prior to lights out. They have also begun to show a little aggression towards each other during feedings. There was no significant color development this week and they are clearly behind the other pairs in that regard.
Spot and Blotch continue to be the model brood stock pair. They interact constantly and depend on each other for protection when leaving the flower pot during feeding time. Their existing black bars continue to thicken on every fin and their bodies have taken a two-toned appearance where I predict they will eventually be all black. Blotch is officially my favorite fish and is turning out to be quite the handsome devil. I got a pretty good pic of Spot this week. First time the camera really did her justice.
White Tip and Mako have shown real progress this week. They spend most of their time apart but Mako does enter the bowl on a daily basis and puts up a good fight with White Tip. Mako is the only other fish with a black tail stripe and is also developing the two-toned look on his body. White Tip just started showing the first signs of black pigments appearing on her tail yesterday and I’m hoping to see some real difference there by next week.
Sump
Superman Mushroom & Serpent Stars
Michigan
Niles
Spot
Blotch
White Tip
Mako
One month has now gone by since I first got the Picassos! I know I promised pictures of another female showing black pigments on her tail this week but instead you get to see TWO!
I’m going to start referring to the fish pairs as Alpha, Beta and Gamma for easier documentation.
The Alpha pair (formerly Michigan & Niles) will get to keep their nicknames. The alpha female is “Michigan”, the alpha male is “Niles”.
The Beta pair (formerly Spot & Blotch) are getting a name revamp. Every time I looked at the beta male, I’d think “Spot”. I view it as a masculine name. The name Spot could just as easily refer to the pigmentation on his face so I’m officially swapping names and will be referring to the beta male as “Spot”. The beta female will be named “Helen”, a tribute to her Spartan-like helmet and her fierce, warrior-like aggression.
The Gammas (formerly White Tip & Mako) will also see one minor name change. White Tip is not feminine enough to describe the gamma female fish’s graceful beauty. I’m renaming her “Rose”. Mako gets to keep his badass name.
The Alphas still aren’t spending a whole lot of time together. I was very surprised to discover that the alpha female did infact develop some black pigmentation this week that I didn’t even notice with my naked eye. I might need to rethink the aquascaping in that tank because I’ve inadvertantly created two distinct territories in the tank that might be contributing to the pair’s behavior. Next week we should see some real improvement in her coloration.
The Beta pair is doing just fine but unlike a few weeks ago, it has become increasingly harder for me to tell if they have figured their gender roles out. The displays of aggression are practically non-existant. But when they do happen the Beta male appears to be the victor and the Beta female retreats. The fish have both grown to the same size and I really can’t tell which is bigger. I’m still betting on Helen being the female based on the last month’s worth of observation, but if I were to look at them today for the first time, I wouldn’t be sure who was what.
The Gamma pair is spending a lot of time together. The gamma female, Rose, developed black pigmentation on her tail this week. It’s not as obvious as I was hoping it would be but I’m sure it will fill in fast now that the base is there. Mako has expanded his territory tremendously and I’ve seen him swim more than halfway across the tank during feedings. Picture time!
Alpha female, Michigan, with some new black pigmentation.
Michigan
Alpha male, Niles, being a pain to photograph.
The evasive Niles.
Beta female, Helen.
Beta male, Spot.
Spot likes to ruin every picture by swimming vertically at the last second…
The Gammas, Rose and Mako.
Here we can see black developing on Rose’s Caudal Fin.
Note the white coloration bleeding onto Mako’s Pectoral Fin.
Looking good, it was nice meeting you at the meeting you really know a lot and it will be interesting to see the system and the fish develop over the next year.