Tank Journal Archive

[MagicJ]

I have always loved the brilliant colours of the Orchid Dottyback (Pseudochromis fridmani) which, together with their relatively placid nature, makes it one of my favorite marine fish.

I have recently finished reading the Martin Moe book - 'Breeding the Orchid Dottyback - An Aquarist's Journal' and had been thinking about trying my hand at breeding them.

Somewhat fortuitously, @Fragalicious advertised that she was able to get some captive bred fish - it didn't take me long to put in an order. A big thanks to Bek and @Kelvin smith for getting these to Hobart.

After a couple of days settling in, they were out tonight and had their first feed :)

Hopefully, they will settle in and start breeding later in the year.

 

[ezza]

Orchard? Or orchid?

An orchard is a farm of fruit trees grown for food supply. An orchid is a type of flower, and I think possibly the correct name for the purple fish... Unless there is another type of fish I don't know about... And good luck breeding!

 

[Fragalicious]

That's such awesome news that they've settled in so well, @MagicJ !! :D (Great photography, too!!)

I look forward to buying bubs off you in the future :D

 

[MagicJ]

Orchard? Or orchid?

An orchard is a farm of fruit trees grown for food supply. An orchid is a type of flower, and I think possibly the correct name for the purple fish... Unless there is another type of fish I don't know about... And good luck breeding!

Hmmmmmm, not sure how that happened :confused:- you are correct and I have made a suitable edit :)

That's such awesome news that they've settled in so well, @MagicJ !! :D (Great photography, too!!)

I look forward to buying bubs off you in the future :D

I put the small piece of rock in the tank to provide some beneficial bacteria/filtering capacity but they both took up residence in the small holes as soon as they were put into the tank - I didn't see them again for over a day. But, they do now seem to be settling in and didn't hide when I approached the tank last night to feed them. Getting photo's is not easy as they are still pretty skittish but give me a week and I should get some pretty good ones.

Many have tried to breed these fish and failed - We will have to wait to see what happens :)

 

[Sam Parker]

amazing fish - goodluck with the breeding!

 

[MagicJ]

The smaller fish has been getting a little beaten up over the past couple of weeks. There are no actual fights, but the larger fish patrols most of the tank and chases off the smaller one most of the time. Thus the smaller one spends most of the time in one of the water level pipes, or close by. It has been eating, but generally has to grab something quickly before being chased off.

So, not sure if this is the right thing to do, but yesterday I put the larger fish in a breeder basket with a PVC pipe to give the smaller fish a chance to feed properly and recover. The larger fish has been sulking and just sits in the PVC pipe.

I'm not sure if this the right thing to do, or should I just have left them to sort themselves out?

 

[slin1977]

How's the program going mate?

 

[MagicJ]

How's the program going mate?

They are still seperated at this stage - the smaller one took a bit of a battering and now has a fair amount of its tail which has not grown back. I am going away for a week shortly and plan to re-introduce them on my return to see what happens.

 

[ToxicMel]

Any updates?

 

[MagicJ]

Yep, but not good news unfortunately.

Gave the tank a good clean when I got back from holidays and put them back in together - the smaller one got smashed again

This time I have put the smaller one (which I am assuming is a female) into the breeder net. Both are now feeding again and and the female is starting to look a bit better.

I will try to re-introduce them again in a few weeks time but I am not overly confident that things will get better.

 

[ToxicMel]

Id love to get a mate for mine, but have yet to try and work out how to tell the sexes apart. Hopefully things do look up with your two :(

 

[MagicJ]

Orchids are protogynous hermaphrodites meaning they are born female and can change sex to males. The larger fish will typically change into a male and a pair is formed. So, in theory, any 2 juveniles should eventually form a pair. Mature males can sometimes be recognized by an elongation of the lower half of the caudal fin, although I have never seen this. If you see a pair, the larger fish will be the male.

Mine were originally from a group of captive bred fish - I specifically requested the largest and the smallest from the group to increase the odds of eventually getting a pair. Hopefully, they will start playing nicely soon :)

 

[slin1977]

Can you breed them in a colony?