L8 2 RISE January 3, 2015 Share January 3, 2015 For the last year and a half or so I've been absolutely fascinated with Ruby Red Dragonets and their cousins (tudorjonesi, morrisoni, and moyeri). Most of which have been showing up in spurts and are often extremely unhealthy and mis-labeled. For some reason (I have theories, but I'm not sure why), healthy females seem harder to come by than males. Add their scarcity to the fact that I'm usually either at school or traveling, I have very limited opportunities to successfully acquire one of them, put it through quarantine, and add it to my tank at home. I've tried 5 fish (and seen many others that I decided were too far gone). Initially I bought a "ruby red" that turned out to be a moyeri. It ended up being one of my favorites for various reasons, even more so than the true ruby reds. I then got a pair of ruby reds that were very skinny, so I decided to forego any kind of quarantine and take a gambel. That ended as could have been predicted- with the loss of both of them, the morrisoni, and other fish that I was very attached to. A few weeks later I found a healthy male that I was able to get through something of a quarantine (10 days with prophylactic treatments) with copepods/brine, and then put into my display. That was a year ago. Since then he has at least doubled in size and is FAT. I FINALLY found a healthy female- at the right time for me- on LA Divers Den. It was priced extremely high, but given the source, I decided it was for good reason and pulled the trigger right as it was posted. She arrived Tuesday and looked extremely healthy. I didn't want to stress her through a long quarantine, and I know the treatments she already went through at LADD, so I acclimated her, did a 7 hour prazi bath followed by a 10 min fresh water dip. I found no parasites after each one, so I added her straight to the display. Tonight, 72 hours after I added her to the tank, I observed the pair doing a mating dance for 15-20 min! I am having trouble containing my excitement, as I know there's still a chance that things could go south, but I had to share! I happened to have the gopro running on a time lapse (something I thought I'd try- I'll post that later if it came out well), so quickly changed it over to video when the dancing started. I'm not sure it will have come out too well given how dim it was. I'm about to go through the footage, but I'll be sure to have it ready for the next few nights in case. Sorry for the novel, but I had to share! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
L8 2 RISE January 3, 2015 Author Share January 3, 2015 Alright, Here is some video that I cut down and edited. The best I could get. http://vid284.photobucket.com/albums/ll28/L82RISE/Ruby%20Red%20Mating%20Dance%201-2-15_zpspxxlkj8v.mp4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RJT January 3, 2015 Share January 3, 2015 Amazing. Congrats and thanks for sharing their private moment. You must have a very healthy tank. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zygote2k January 3, 2015 Share January 3, 2015 that video doesn't have dragonets, but some sort of tang/angel/damsel. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Origami January 3, 2015 Share January 3, 2015 that video doesn't have dragonets, but some sort of tang/angel/damsel. Back, center and behind the corals. They're meeting just behind the coral and rising up to the surface, then dropping back down. The contrast is rather low because they're so far back and because it's pretty dark. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YHSublime January 3, 2015 Share January 3, 2015 Super cool, congrats! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mogurnda January 3, 2015 Share January 3, 2015 Great to hear and see a little bit of it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TrueTricia January 3, 2015 Share January 3, 2015 Awesome! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paul b January 3, 2015 Share January 3, 2015 I love it, I have been also looking for a female to mate them Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
treesprite January 3, 2015 Share January 3, 2015 They are very cool to watch. (FYI, BZA has moyeris on sale for only 29.98) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
L8 2 RISE January 4, 2015 Author Share January 4, 2015 (edited) They were at it again last night! I had to head out around lights out, so I left the gopro running in the tank this time and got about 20-30 min of footage of them doing the mating dance (short clip below). This time they kept rising up directly into the flow of the vortech, so maybe I should move that or they'll have to figure it out... I'm going to have to figure out a way to get better footage even when the lights are so dim, but this is better than last time at least! https://vimeo.com/115890389 I love it, I have been also looking for a female to mate them I've been following your thread, I hope you find one and I look forward to seeing yours mate too! They are very cool to watch. (FYI, BZA has moyeris on sale for only 29.98) Thanks! I assume you mean this link? If so, this is a textbook case of how this genus are always mis-labeled. That picture is of a Ruby Red Dragonet (which as of now is still of unknown classification/undescribed), Moyeri is described and looks like this: Or this: - note this looks almost exactly like the Ruby's (and why it fooled me with the first one I purchased), however the biggest distinguishing feature on Ruby's is the eyespot above their pectoral fins (seen in the BZA picture) along with a different pattern. Sorry to get side tracked, but thank you for the link! I think I'll wait until I can see one in person either WYSIWYG or preferably wait to support one of our LFS's Edited January 4, 2015 by L8 2 RISE Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paul b January 4, 2015 Share January 4, 2015 I just brought home a female, hope they mate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dave w January 5, 2015 Share January 5, 2015 Actually, I rather like your novel. And I wouldn't worry about moving the powerhead, there's a good chance that they are seeking it out. Most pelagic fish spawn at dusk as the current is leaving the reef so the eggs can get away from predators as fast as possible. Most fish that have spawned for me try to do it in the fastest current they can find. Hope that helps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Incredible Corals January 12, 2015 Share January 12, 2015 Awesome! Thx for sharing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
L8 2 RISE February 1, 2015 Author Share February 1, 2015 (edited) Paul, how did she do? Have they mated? Dave, thanks for the advice I hadn't really thought about that. Left it the way it was and they seem to be doing well. She released eggs for the first time on Jan 14. I just posted a better video of them mating over in my build thread here: http://wamas.org/forums/topic/57917-sam-and-his-moms-57g-rimless/?p=641422 (page 3, post 60) I think I'm going to just keep the updates about these guys there from now on. Edited February 1, 2015 by L8 2 RISE Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
khh27 February 1, 2015 Share February 1, 2015 How do you distinguish between m/f Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
L8 2 RISE February 1, 2015 Author Share February 1, 2015 Males are larger and have a very large, striped dorsal fin. Females have a very small, black dorsal fin. You can see how the male uses these these fins in his mating dance on my video in my build thread. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paul b February 1, 2015 Share February 1, 2015 Paul, how did she do? Have they mated? They didn't mate yet and are still dating. I think both of them are a little young but they are both healthy and into dating. I am sure they will mate soon as all my paired fish are spawning and I think they are getting jealous. He is hanging out with one of the mandarins who is spawning but I hope he is not a bad influence. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rtelles February 2, 2015 Share February 2, 2015 (edited) Has anyone successfully bred dragonets? I know that ORA was breeding mandarins for a while but the prices were too high so I believe they stopped. Is there anything going on with ruby reds, and is it even possible to successfully rear their spawn to adulthood? Edited February 2, 2015 by rtelles Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
L8 2 RISE February 2, 2015 Author Share February 2, 2015 Cool pic Paul! Crazy how small they are compared to others. Yes, Dragonets are one of the more commonly bred fish among hobbyists, and yes, ORA did breed them but unfortunately stopped due to a lack of demand (which is a huge shame and we, as hobbyists, should feel very guilty for not supporting a captive breeding effort because the fish were $10 more). Ruby Reds AFAIK have never been successfully bred. They are one of the misnomered group of "Scooter Blennies" in Synchyropus, which apparently are even harder to breed. I don't expect to be successful, but I would like to give it a shot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paul b February 2, 2015 Share February 2, 2015 (edited) My mandarins spawn every few weeks as all healthy fish do and just about all my paired fish do. They are spawning here. If you feed any fish correctly, they will spawn, if the tank conditions are correct for that fish Edited February 2, 2015 by paul b Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rtelles February 5, 2015 Share February 5, 2015 Those are the fattest mandarins I will ever see. I also love your brine shrimp autofeeder and hope you include that in your book, since I plan on making my own when I pick up a mandarin later this year. I've seen L8 2 Rise's tank and his dragonets are also really fat and awesome. Diets for everyone. I'm more curious about the rearing process. Once they spawn, is raising mandarin fry similar to raising clowns, for instance, or is there another process? Either way, really great looking dragonets and gobies. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TrueTricia February 5, 2015 Share February 5, 2015 Cool pic Paul! Crazy how small they are compared to others. Yes, Dragonets are one of the more commonly bred fish among hobbyists, and yes, ORA did breed them but unfortunately stopped due to a lack of demand (which is a huge shame and we, as hobbyists, should feel very guilty for not supporting a captive breeding effort because the fish were $10 more). Ruby Reds AFAIK have never been successfully bred. They are one of the misnomered group of "Scooter Blennies" in Synchyropus, which apparently are even harder to breed. I don't expect to be successful, but I would like to give it a shot. I wish ORA was still breeding them. I agree, captive breeding is so important in our hobby. Sam's little goblins are so beautiful! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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