Spawning the Cloudy Damsel (Dascyllus
carneus)
by Gerald Jennings
Gerald is a
Director of the Calypso Group www.calypso.org.uk,
and webmaster of Ifocas www.ifocas.fsworld.co.uk His latest project is Aquarists Reunited, at www.aquaristsreunited.fslife.co.uk
Aquarticles
How does the old axiom go? 'first obtain a pair' - well, the first two cloudy damsels I
purchased turned out to be just this, whether by dealer's choice or beginner's luck I
shall probably never know.
For their initial period of quarantine they were placed in a 12 in. by 15 in. by 8 in.
all-glass 5 gallon battery jar filled with Meersaltz artificial formula seawater to a
density of 1.021. Filtration of their tank was accomplished by means of a Junior
Filterfast outside filter containing just a 2 inch layer of carbon and some nylon floss.
There was also an airstone running a slow stream of fine bubbles in the tank. The bottom
of the tank contained a minimal layer of silver sand, on top of which were two
plastic-type artificial ferns and a large red concrete rock. Temperature varied between
69F and 75F but at most readings seemed to be about 72F (22C). The fish when first
purchased arrived in a double polythene bag containing about two pints of water, and to
acclimatise them to the awaiting tank took quite a while, with gradual dilution of their
water, which was 1.025.
After the fish had settled down and as no signs of disease were present I decided to
move them to a larger tank that I had just acquired, but taking a long look at them
decided to leave this transference for a couple of days as their colouration had changed
completely since they first arrived. The male was a basic grey and black colour with a
large white spot immediately below the anterior part of his dorsal fin, which had turned
black. The female on the other hand was basically black and white striped. The only foods
they had been given were Tetramarin, freeze-dried brine shrimp and live young brine
shrimp. They had always seemed very shy, using the cement rock to hide behind at the first
sign of an approach to the tank, but on this particular occasion the male seemed much more
'forward' and lively than before, actually feeding as the food was being put into the tank
instead of waiting for me to step back and watch. (Here I am assuming that the male was
the more colourful of the two.) They spent most of that evening cleaning the side of the
cement rock in typical cichlid fashion and again reverted to hiding on sight of any
shadows.
At 12.20 a.m. the next morning I left them to it and retired for some sleep, leaving
the light on over their tank (as I do with all my marine tanks at night; the lights are
turned off during the day). In the morning, imagine my surprise to find an area about one
inch in diameter covered with opal-white eggs each about the size of an ion-exchange resin
globule. At this point, however, duty called and I left for work and so could not observe
them further. When I returned home that evening, of the eggs there was not a trace. Of the
parents - well, they had literally torn the fins off each other. I checked the conditions;
nothing had changed. The pH was still 8.4.
I have now moved the parents to their predestined tank and heavily medicated them with
in the hopes that they may recover.
Who knows, the next time I may be more successful.
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