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Another world first (1 Viewer)

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alstang1

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All credit to Chad Walton
Thank you for allowing me to be a part of this.

Edit: update 5-20-22
This is a first known recording of frogfish spawning in any environment out of the ocean. This is the only reported bonded pair anywhere in captivity. This spawn is on day 5 post hatch and has expended all yolk sack nutrients. Today marks the first day of introduced food. Since they are still to tiny to eat anything larger than a single cell organism, we have a specific treat for them. Tian Sorg has been doing some experimental work on prolonged rotifer cultures without the need of water changes. At week 26 it was discovered that protist (ciliates) were present and taking over a Rotifer culture in a home environment. Ciliates happen to be a known first food source for some pelagic spawners. We are not sure this will work but we are giving it a shot. The frogfish should be large enough to show up on camera in the next 3-4 days. Using the droplet microscope counting method we are estimating numbers well over 150k fry. These numbers will be drastically reduced in the coming days, as frogfish are canablistic at a very early age as a means of survival. At some point in the somewhat near future these adolescent frogs will require individual direct live feedings. At that point, costs to continue research with an expected 150 survivable clutch will become an outsourcing request due to cost and availability. I have dedicated my offspring clownfish to the rearing of these amazing creatures in an attempt to be a small part of this amazing journey.

The previous attempt a few weeks back was abruptly ended due to a 4 hour power outage in the middle of the night. That issue has been resolved with an alarm loud enough to make Lazarus come forth.

 
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alstang1

alstang1

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That’s awesome
And first known recording of frogfish spawning in any environment out of the ocean. This is the only reported bonded pair anywhere in captivity. This spawn is on day 5 post hatch and has expended all yolk sack nutrients. Today marks the first day of introduced food. Since they are still to tiny to eat anything larger than a single cell organism, we have a specific treat for them. Due to accidental mishap in rotifer culturing, a bacteria was discovered taking over a Rotifer culture in a home environment. This bacteria happens to be a known first food source for pelagic spawners. We are not sure this will work but we are giving it a shot. The frogfish should be large enough to show up on camera in the next 3-4 days. Wish us well.
 
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alstang1

alstang1

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At that stage do the eat the same food as clowns?
No…. They actually eat clowns. They must be removed from the tank one at a time and fed a clown fry. If they consume more than 3 per week they will stop feeding permanently and die of starvation. It is a very delicate and meticulous stage of their life.

This is all based on hypothesis but we have lost over $3000 in adult frogfish to this feeding anomaly.
 
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alstang1

alstang1

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We think day 5 was a tad to late on first feeding. Only 300ish made it to day 6. Microscopes dead babies and no apparent food in the bellies on about 40 checked. That’s ok. We got more supplies and we caught another spawn on camera around 1am today. It’s larger than the last. We are gonna introduce first food on the night of the 3rd day.

Lembeh Straight dive team does research on the frogfish. Chad is reaching out to them today to share info and compare notes. Hopefully we get a little more insight on what to expect.

More to come.
 
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