BBG's Breeding!

[Dragon cqzzzzz<]

Today after removing five gallons of water from my 55 gallon brackish tank, I noticed that my bumblebee gobies were acting strange. It immediately occurred to me that they might be breeding.
One of them ("Double-Dot"), who I thought was a female, was dancing in and around the driftwood. The area on each side that his pectoral fins cover when laid down had turned yellow, as opposed to being the bottom half of one of his black bars. I observed a large female ("Left Spot") follow him into the driftwood for a minute. After that they both came out and Double-Dot chased her away, far away, nipping at her tail whenever he would catch up to her. He then returned to his den.
I also observed that the smallest (and thinnest) of the BBG's was zooming around the tank as though he had lost his mind. His black bars were all faded. For the sake of reference I'll call this one Runt. Not once, since I first got my bumblebee gobies, have I ever doubted that Runt is a male. He's always been the smallest.
Eventually Runt settled down and began luring females into one of the suction cups on the heater (it wasn't attached to the wall).
I placed a small cup in the tank for them to spawn in, but of course they refuse to do something that would make raising the fry convenient for me.
Although I couldn't see any eggs, I wouldn't be surprised if Double-Dot is guarding a batch underneath the driftwood. Every once in awhile he goes back under and disappears for a little while.
I've read a lot about breeding BBG's, and I was planning on trying it sooner or later, so this is great.
Does anyone have any advice?

[Dragon cqzzzzz<]

Just an update, the female that was following the male into the driftwood came out of the driftwood much thinner.
I'm pretty sure she's laid eggs, although I can't see them. Meanwhile the male continues guarding the den, and the other male has given up all hope of spawning...poor little guy.

[wolfsburgfanatic]

Thats really cool :thumbsup: Gotta love it when you don't even have to try!

[Dragon cqzzzzz<]

I know! I'm so excited since I didn't even have to try to breed them. Others say you have to do certain things, and that it often doesn't work the first time.

Do you think lifting the front end of the driftwood up to see if there are eggs would be harmful to them? I personally don't think it would be, at least, it couldn't be more harmful than moving them to the tank where I want to hatch and raise them. The ten gallon should suffice, at least until the 55 gallon is free of brackish gobies and I move the silver dollar and some guppies to it.

Again, does anybody have any ideas for fry food? Maybe infusoria, grown with the aid of the sponge filter?
I'll keep you guys updated. Tomorrow we're going to Salem. Hopefully the guy who runs the Tropical Fish Hatchery there will have some useful ideas.

[Dragon cqzzzzz<]

Just an update.
I didn't get to go to Salem today but I will tomorrow.
Today I cleaned out the ten gallon tank and filled it with water from the 55 gallon. Being very careful, I put a plastic container around the end of the driftwood that contains the eggs, and picked up the wood, careful to keep the eggs in the water in the container. Being a good father, the male stayed with his eggs and came with them to the ten gallon tank. I placed the driftwood in the tank, and started scooping out duckweed and guppies (the two most prolific things in my aquaria).
For awhile the male swam frantically around the tank, presumably searching for his eggs. Eventually he calmed down a little and searched underneath the driftwood. Soon afterward he did find his eggs, and he is now carefully guarding them.
I was lucky enough to get a few glimpses of the eggs. They are tiny, white, and tightly packed together in a large spot in the hollow part of the driftwood. I'm not sure exactly how many eggs there are, but it's a lot.
I'm going to move the sponge filter to the ten gallon tank. Hopefully it will have many edible infusorians for newborn BBG's to eat.

[Dragon cqzzzzz<]

It's been about a week and the eggs haven't hatched yet. From what I've read they should have hatched already. Is there anything I can do to speed things up? Would a heater help?

[Onion01]

if they haven't hatched by now, they probably won't. They'll probably be at it again at some later time

[Dragon cqzzzzz<]

Oh that sucks. I'm not gonna give up though until the male does, and he's still in there with the eggs. I might lift up the driftwood to see them later.
If they don't hatch, then maybe it would be better to just move the other BBG's (or at least the female who laid the eggs) to the ten gallon, instead of putting the male back in the main tank. I'd have to feed the male first though, since he's gone this whole time pretty much without eating.
I don't know if I said this in an earlier post, but the other day I lifted up the driftwood and saw that the eyes were visible.

[Dragon cqzzzzz<]

The fry hatched!
I removed the father back to the 55 gallon tank and fed him. At one point I counted 21 fry, but I think there's more. They're so tiny. I squeezed the sponge filter to let some rotifers and stuff loose so they could eat it.

[Dragon cqzzzzz<]

Sadly, all of the fry from the first spawn died. They began floating face-down and started dropping like flies.
I cleaned the ten gallon tank and set it up with the intention of trying again. Apparently my gobies had the same thing in mind. After moving one of the females to the ten gallon, which is only inhabited by three guppies besides her, my bumblebees are courting again. It's funny because either tonight or tomorrow I was planning on moving them to the ten gallon for the second try. Maybe it was the absence of that one female that triggered it. Maybe the others don't like her (I don't either. She refused to lay eggs.). Whatever it was, I have a second chance with them, and I'm going to try to make the most of it.