Reefs.org Forums

[Ummfish]

Sixline wrasse embryonic development series.

[Nemo2007]

This is really great. I am rather impressed and wondering if I have room in the budget for a microscope.

[Ummfish]

Well, thanks. Microscopes open up a whole new side of your reefkeeping. You may think you don't have many animals in your tank, but there are probably millions.

Better microscopes make the experience much better. You might try a used equipment auction at a nearby university or something. They often upgrade their equipment, but there's nothing wrong with 20-30 year old microscopes so long as the optics are good. I got an old Bausch & Lomb compound stereo for a really decent deal at an auction. The one I'm using at the moment is surprisingly good for a mid-price scope. It's a Celestron with the LCD screen instead of eyepieces. It has a built-in camera and the photo and video is really easy, which is why all this is on the cheap scope and not the B&L.

Good luck and let me know if you have any questions.

Oh, one other thing. I you do decide to get a scope, Ron Shimek sells an article on microscope keeping for a few dollars that's fantastic.

[Ummfish]

Thought I'd update. I'm now starting after the sixlines more seriously. Now the eggs are being hatched and placed into a rearing tank.

Collections so far:

8/31: 111 eggs
9/1: 69
9/2: No collection
9/3: 153

[Ummfish]

Sorry it's been a while, but I thought I'd give an update:

The sixline female is giving me consistent batches of about 200 eggs these days. I'm now getting more of them to the prolarvae stage. I pulled 198 yesterday, dipped the eggs in a hydrogen peroxide solution, and placed them into recently dechlorinated broodstock water. I can only see 20-30, well maybe 40 undeveloped eggs on the bottom, and lots in late embryonic to early prolarval stages. Some more photos:







I'm still seeing a little nitrite in the larval system water, so I may hold some low-level feeding trials in the little deli container and see what I see while I wait for that cycle to complete.

[JohnHenry]

Wow, Andy, what a great thread! And congratulations on your success, and many thanks for sharing the pictures!

How did you get a pair of Sixlines?

[Ummfish]

Thanks, we'll see about success, though.

They were really easy to pair. I got a really, really big one and put it together with a really, really small one. No sweat.

Video from this morning:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pe6DWwsCdmc

And from this afternoon:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_H2KexlFTe8