Breeding Epaulettes

[goldenswimmers]

Big hello fellow fish lovers....
I am currently in the process of researching the processes involved in housing,maintaining and eventually the breeding of those beautiful guys...yep the epaulettes!!..I am very keen to hear thoughts on firstly a good sized tank and system to possibly work with a trio(?) maybe even a quatro of these guys...to keep aggression levels down this would be a boy and his mini harem of 2 or 3 girls...as i have read this is the best way to look at working with a group...so what sizes are we discussing tank wise??...I was thinking something along the lines of a 12' x 6' footprint...and then maybe 3' high. do you think this would suffice?..naturally bigger is ALWAYS better but I have to be realistic with my spending and also future location of this tank..if advised by knowledged and experienced keepers then I will definitely look at changing this to make the fish happy as this is what is most important...so do you think this tank could realistically house say 3 epaulettes??..im looking at having a rock pool theme going on to recreate natural habitat so the guys would have a bunch of nice(secure!)caves and hidey holes to enjoy...also what filtration etc would guys recommend if I did use such a large amount of live rock???(Im thinking 2 or 3 main "island" type structures...possibly 3 if I had 3 sharks just thinking territorial wise this might be beneficial..everyone gets a "home"! )....so yeah thoughts on filtration would be appreciated...also another thing Im curious about is the lighting aspect...I'm wondering if a darker look might promote more activity in what seems to be a bit of "quiet" shark going off reports I have heard..some even saying they can be boring due to lack of activity...Im sure at night time they arent boring and so im thinking this darker feel/look might work well....thoughts?...as I have also heard this lower level of lighting would have impact on what survives within the live rock structure....but also taht there will be some living organisms that thrive in this lighting set up as well...I would love nothing more than to get some of these guys breeding and in a happy stable enviroment which lets me see little pups be created I really wanted to do something with port jackson sharks(down here in oz there's a couple of nice smaller sharks you could work with but the port jackson is the beginning of the "switch over" if you ask me and would require a much more sizeable home to be fair on the fish and to give yourself a realistic chance of breeding them...just my 5c opinion!)....So yeah would love to hear thoughts on this process and what I've mentioned and naturally any relevant experience is welcome and respected!

 

[Zoodiver]

Pool size sounds perfect. The idea of caves or places to hide under is going to be very important to keep them in a low stress situation. 1 male to 3 females is a good group ratio to start with.
For lighting, something simple works. It doesn't need to be super bright. You are right, they tend to favor low light areas and dark spots for breeding.

I have a female who lays empty eggs here, but am still searching for a sexually mature male to go with her. Right now the only boys she has are white spotted bamboo sharks. Haha.

 

[goldenswimmers]

ha ha..can they crossbreed??(just curious??I imagine infertile would be the flavour of the day hey but just out of curiosity??and no I dont condone it in anyway people if worried about future ambitions!! just asking for knowledge sake!!)..here in Australia its not so hard to get your hands on the epaulettes and hopefully you can get your hands on a nice boy mate...do you think a 12 x 6 might be a little small for a group of 4??...I was also looking into the great info being discussed on the tank size recommendations thread and I managed to get it pretty spot on it seems for an individual adult epaulette (naturally these are guidelines) but I'm thinking a larger footprint would be more beneficial now I have this extra info...can only make the fish happier...which I believe is always paramount when talking breeding terms(and just fish care in general!)...any thoughts on filtration side of things having a large amount of live rock would naturally be helping in terms of this...I really would love to create a large almost tidal rock pool set up so it replicates nature as closely as possible and naturally work on keeping that water nice and stable...any recommendations/tips???....

 

[goldenswimmers]

also does the square/rectangle shape of a standard built aquarium equal bad news for these guys??..i always thought having more of an eel like frame/ability that corners would be much less of an issue and so corners wouldnt really factor into it...would these corners be a nuisance for the fish??...hey if its got be oval,etc..then thats what its got to be

 

[Zoodiver]

Epaulettes do great in odd shapes and with corners.
I think 12 x 6 would be the smallest I'd go with a group of four adults, but I wouldn't be too worried at that size. The one I currently have is in an 8' round foot print (3,000 gallon column style tank) with a fake reef right in the middle. She spends most of her day laying (hiding) on or behind the fake coral.

As for hybrid sharks - there is talk, but nothing confirmed (that I am aware of at this point) with closely related bamboo sharks. I'm actually talking with a keeper right now who may have a brown banded bamboo (Chiloscyllium punctatum) male breeding with a grey bamboo (Chiloscyllium griseum) female. Right now we don't have actual confirmation that the brown banded is for sure the father due to multiple species being held together in the same pool.
Funny related story: When I first introduced a two small female nurse sharks into my 5,000 - the sexually mature (and apparently very lonely) adult male brown banded bamboo tried repeatedly to breed with both of them. Literally with in 15 mins of putting them in the display. They we all the same size at the time. Now both nurses are close to 5' a year later and he lost interest. Haha


For filtration - it depends on what you want. I'd do a big canister or even a pressurized sand filter of some type and a big pt skimmer to help keep up. Canisters are cheaper, but more work to keep cleaning the pleated insert. I've run both style on shark systems. Check out the build thread in my signature line. It has some pics and info about how the current set up is run. I can expand more on other types if you'd like.

 

[Cu455]

As for hybrid sharks - there is talk, but nothing confirmed (that I am aware of at this point) with closely related bamboo sharks. I'm actually talking with a keeper right now who may have a brown banded bamboo (Chiloscyllium punctatum) male breeding with a grey bamboo (Chiloscyllium griseum) female. Right now we don't have actual confirmation that the brown banded is for sure the father due to multiple species being held together in the same pool.

If there are no grey males in the pool doesn't that mean the offspring is a hybrid. If the brown banded isn't the father someone has to be. Unless it produced asexually.

 

[Zoodiver]

The trick is getting a positive ID on them. They thought the female laying was a brown banded until it was correctly ID'd as a grey. That made the next question...is there a grey male in the mix, and if so, how many of each are in the pool.

 

[Cu455]

You should have the owner give this guy a call. He can probably help out and does house calls.



To stay on topic good luck with the project. My only advice I can give you is to start to put the pond together and get some pictures up.

 

[goldenswimmers]

Cheers guys...and yep no doubt there will be pics to follow..everyone loves eye candy and seems the little brown banded bamboo boy(thats a lot of b's!!) didnt like his girls extra large hey ...ha ha...will look into that thread too mate thanks for the advice..high 5 good times..
ps Cu455 youd be just a slight bit worried if your mum was walking you towards that campervan ha ha
hows the slogan.."whos your daddy?"..ha ha