[ravenmore]

Thinking about trying it - I've heard it can be a pita to get two dottybacks to pair up. Anyone have any ideas?

-Mike

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[Ninong]

Well, I have Martin Moe's book, Breeding the Orchid Dottyback, and I have read it, although that was at least a year ago.

My advice would be that you start out with captive-bred fish from either ORA in Florida http://www.orafarm.com/species.html or C-Quest in Puerto Rico. Premium Aquatics is just one of the online vendors getting captive-bred fish from ORA.

My second piece of advice is to try to breed Pseudochromis fridmani (the Orchid Dottyback) instead of any of the more aggressive species. If you get two captive-bred juveniles (or more), you will end up with a male/female pair or a male/females group. You most certainly do not want to buy wild caught fish and accidentally put two males together.

Also, juveniles from the same brood seem to get along together much better than otherwise. So, if possible, have your supplier specify that all of the fish (two, three, four, whatever) come from the same brood. This request is very easily satisfied and is a common request. If you put two juvenile P. fridmani into the same tank they will undergo the same type of sexual determination process that clownfish do except that since they are protogynous hermaphrodites, the dominant gender will be male. If you put four juveniles together, you will end up with one male and three females.

If you want to cheat and let someone else do the pairing up process for you, you can order a mated pair of captive-bred P. fridmani for $99.95 here: http://www.thereefweb.com/cgi-local/...3673+991508027

If you want to breed dottybacks, the Orchid would be your best choice for lots of reasons. The others are much more difficult to manage through the sexual determination phase; kinda like pairing up Maroon clowns, if you know what I mean.

Ninong [img]/ubb/biggrin.gif[/img]

P.S. - Since Premium Aquatics deals with ORA, you might ask Jason if he can get you a mated pair of P. aldabraensis from them, if you insist on trying Neons.

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Irrational Exuberance!

[ravenmore]

excellent and thorough as usual. Thanks Ninong. I really like neons. I already have one - so this may be more difficult. If they're like clowns, sounds like I need to get my hands on a juvinile to attempt getting a mated pair.

I'll chew on it a bit....

Thanks again,
-Mike

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I didn't do it. Nobody saw me do it. You can't prove anything.

Website