mandarin pair spawned
 

Several nights ago as well as this evening, I was fortunate enough to see my pair of mandarins spawn in the tank. They pressed against each other and swam to the surface. Then bam, a lot of water splashed at the surface, and the eggs were released as the pair separated. Pretty neat. Don't have my camera here right now but I'll get it on video next time.

Sounds like you have some pretty happy fish there Sam-Congrats :exclaim: :mrgreen:

My yellow watchman gobbies have a small clutch of eggs from time to time also. I take it as a high compliment from the fish- that I must be providing a happy,stable,and clean enviroment for them :biggrin:

would it be possible to raise the eggs?
probably not i'm guessin, with the pumps and water movement i'm guessing...

I have thought about it a few times over the last couple of years. Like you mentioned with all the pumps and every other fish in the tank to sweep them away or to gobble them up, it would be an almost impossible task :confused:

Not to mention that they usually lay them underneath a 15lb piece of Fiji rock, which would mean tearing up half of my reef to get that once piece of rock out :frown:

And last but not least, I would need a seperate tank up and running- ready to go for the gobbies and the eggs, live microscopic food, and plenty of time :sad:

Maybe one day I will try breeding gobbies or clowns-when I win the 649 so I can make millions as I spend all day caring for my fish :mrgreen:

there is a long thread over at RC in the breeding forum about some guy who had limited success, until one of them jumped i think.

I haven't actually done any research on raising mandarin fry. I haven't seen captive bred mandarins for sale before so I would imagine that it isn't easy. When I get a basement one day, I will give fish breeding a try.