THE SPAWNING AND REARING OF THE BLUE NEON GOBY Elacatinus oceanops IN A LOW DENSITY SYSTEM ON A SMALL BUDGET

The purpose of this project was not only to bring marine aquaculture to the Key West Aquarium, but also to do so in an economical way. The Key West Aquarium was built in 1934 and has considerable space constraints; therefore, the project needed to be affordable as well as occupy the smallest footprint possible. Many marine hobbyists face similar space and monetary constraints when spawning and rearing fish at home. Blue neon gobies were chosen due to their small adult size, ease of larval rearing, and interest for use as cleaner species in aquarium displays.

A single broodstock pair was purchased from KP Aquatics and housed in a 29 gal tall tank with overflow into 10 gal glass sump, with a 1000 gal/ph return pump. Conditioning diet consisted of enriched live adult Artemia, Artemia nauplii, and Piscine Energetics (PE) frozen Calanus and Mysis. Spawning began at 23.3°C and continued every 7-10 days until 28.3°C. Gobies stopped spawning at 28.3°C. Broodstock produced 7 clutches of eggs during 3 months of spawning. Two clutches were given to Florida Keys Community College to rear.

At the  Key West Aquarium, hatching was stimulated on day 8 in a greenwatered larval rearing tank using a stream of air bubbles over the eggs. Larvae were reared in a 10 gal tank per egg clutch with blacked-out sides and bottom, an aerator, and a filter sponge. Larvae were maintained at 30 ppt. Due to space constraints, the larval rearing tank was relocated to a climate-controlled section of the facility, which led to a temperature decrease to 20.5°C and considerable die off. After heaters were inserted, 6 individuals survived through metamorphosis. Metamorphosis began on 38 dph and ended on 45 dph. The larval diet consisted of rotifers until 13 dph, then newly hatched Artemia nauplii.

Florida Keys Community College kept a constant temperature of 27°C and raised 12 individuals through metamorphosis. Rotifer live feed was fed live Nannochloropsis algae and enriched using N-Rich Plus by Reed Mariculture. By 30 dph, larvae transitioned to commercial dry feed.

We were able to spawn and rear neon gobies using a low start-up budget and utilizing products commercially available to hobbyists (Table 1). As of July 2017, the Key West Aquarium has added better climate control to the broodstock area. There is also considerable room to examine better quality larval feeds and add more broodstock in the future.