Implementing Proper Breeding Conditions for the Blue Green Chromis Mari Cole Knox & Morgan Sodel

Why Blue Green Chromis? We chose the blue green chromis because we knew that we weren't going to start learning about fish until second semester, and we wanted to get a jump start. These fish are also really special because they can change color depending on the light intensity of the tank. We think that the Blue-green chromis are very pretty, and we know that they are the least aggressive damselfish, and that they reproduce in large numbers, so thats what we decided we wanted to do. content/uploads/sites/26/2014/07/BLUE_GR EEN_CHROM_4da9ba33d6246.jpg

Background Blue Green Chromis: -species of damselfish, but are not aggressive -found in large schools and are usually found in the Indo-Pacific -this species only live for about 5 years, so we assume they reproduce around 2 years old

Background cont. -according to Reef Time, breeding would be encouraged if the ratio was kept for 1 male to 4 females -when they reproduce, one male makes the nest and multiple other females lay their eggs -the nest is usually an open area in the sand, on a rock, and also frequently on the glass -according to Fishlore, in order to encourage breeding in the tank there needs to be a small shoal, so that was one of our goals of our experiment

Initial Research Questions 1.how is the gender of a Blue-Green Chromis determined? 2.How would the two current fish in the tank react if another fish of a separate gender was placed in the tank? 3.What types of conditions do the Blue-green Chromis need to mate in the ocean? 4.How can the conditions in the tank be altered in order to mimic the natural conditions? Also, how can the conditions in the tank be altered to encourage nesting activity? 5.If the conditions in the tank were changed in order to make an environment in which the fish would most likely mate in, would the fish actually mate? 6.If reproduction is successful and the fish lay eggs, how will they develop and what conditions must the tank be in for a successful development?

Background research Caroline Morris & Taylor Montgomery’s project: we really used their project as a foundation for ours, because two of the fish that were in thier project are in ours now. they studied only the behavior, and their project provided good background about our two fishes past behavior. We haven't found much research on the breeding of blue- green chromis currently going on, because it has become something that is quite easy for experts to implement in their tanks. Most of our sources state that reproduction is most likely to occur when there is a large shoal in a tank.

Initial Hypothesis When the conditions in the tank are managed ideally to encourage reproduction in the blue-green chromis species, the fish will mate and produce eggs.

Research Plan supplies: 50 gallon tank, 2 blue green chromis fish, live rock, sand, and necessary machinery to keep tank conditions stable (i.e. filters, power heads etc.), binder, ruler, thermometer, refractometer. feeding: -the fish are fed by the interns, but to help encourage mating they must be fed properly. -they eat Mysis shrimp

Research Plan cont. -take daily measurements of the temperature, PH, and salinity -observed the behavior of the fish every day, in order to determine the sex We constructed an ethogram, which is just a chart to record the behaviors, which eventually led us to determining the sex. (show video)

Ethogram we had 5 different sections of our ethogram: Hiding in Coral: when the fish are startled and are using the coral and live rock to hide themselves from what they think are potential predators. Hiding in coral can also be used for resting. Hiding in back of the Tank: Fish hide in the back corners of the tank and are acting skittish. Out and swimming: If the fish are not being skittish and are out and swimming in the general open parts of the tank. Chasing: if the female is chasing the male fish or if the male is chasing the female

Temperature of the tank The temperature was collected every day that we observed the tank, and the temperature was kept decently constant in order to create a comfortable and constant environment for the fish.

PH of the Tank The PH was collected every day that we observed the tank, and it was kept pretty constant except for a few days over our thanksgiving break there seems to be a few jumps, but we arent sure of the cause.

Salinity of the Tank We also measured the salinity of the tank everyday, and there is one large spike in the measurements on the first of December, and we arent quite sure why this occured. But on that same date there was a spike in the temperature, so we think those two measurements might have been correlated from the same event.

review of research questions: how is the gender of a blue-green chromis determined? - this is very difficult to figure out, in fact, we still aren’t 100% sure the gender of ours especially because there are only 2! But by observing their habits we made an educated guess that Fish 2 (the smaller of the fish) was the male. we thought this because he commonly chased the other fish and he was more bold and swimming out in the open water of the tank.

Ethogram

questions continued how would the two fish in the tank react if a new fish of a separate gender are placed in it? -we never got to get to this part because the new fish came too late and they must be kept in quarantine for a while so we never got to test this. there needs to be one male for every 4 females

questions continued what types of conditions do the blue-green chromis need to mate in the ocean? -school of blue-green chromis, flat and clean area to lay eggs on (they prefer flat spaces)

mating behaviors video

questions continued How can the conditions in the tank be altered in order to mimic the natural conditions? Also, how can the conditions in the tank be altered to encourage nesting activity? -moving around rock, for open area for nesting -more often cleaning

Implementing the conditions Before: After: October 29th, 2014 November 24th, 2014

Implementing the conditions part 2: Before: After: November 24th, 2014 January 13th, 2015

questions continued If the conditions in the tank were changed in order to make an environment in which the fish would most likely mate in, would the fish actually mate? -we hypothesize yes, but we did not have a big enough shoal (or school) of fish so there was not a significant amount of eggs for our male ucation/

questions continued If reproduction is successful and the fish lay eggs, how will they develop and what conditions must the tank be in for a successful development? -we never got to this point but, eggs would have hatched after 2-3 days -we learned a lot about what happens to the Blue- green chromis larvae once they hatch from this online book about breeding your marine fishes

reflection on hypothesis When the conditions in the tank are managed ideally to encourage reproduction in the blue-green chromis species, the fish will mate and produce eggs. reflection: we believe that we did provide the proper conditions for breeding, but we did not have a large enough school for the breeding and spawning to actually occur.

successes & failures successes: -we hypothesize that we successfully determined the sex based upon size & behavior -we successfully ordered more fish -we successfully created a good environment failures: -ordering new fish on time -moving things around might have moved us back because it made them more skittish around us and might have changed their behavior

Future we hope that the 4 new blue-green chromis will be added to Tank 4 later this month, and hope that next year our project is adopted by someone else, and hopefully breeding will occur. we think that this project could be successful with the larger school, and when the Blue-green chromis do produce, they produce in large quantities, so this would have great value for our tank systems, and they could potentially be sold for profit.

bibliography (10 sources, 4 books/periodicals) Allen. "Chromis viridis." Encyclopedia of Life. N.p., n.d. Web. 2 Oct "Blue Green Chromis." Aquatic Community. N.p., n.d. Web. 3 Oct "Green Chromis: Chromis viridis." Reef Corner. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Oct Brough, David. "Blue-Green Chromis." Animal World. N.p., n.d. Web. 2 Oct Hemdal, Jay F. Aquarium Fish Breeding. N.p.: n.p., Print. Barron's Educational. LaPan, Ann. "How to Breed Green Chromis." eHow. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 Oct Lieske, Ewald, and Robert Myers. Coral Reef Fishes. Princeton: Princeton University, Print. Micheal, Scott W. Marine Fishes. Shelburne: Microcosm, Print. Riesch, Eric, Ken Marks, and Tammy Marks, eds. Identification. Illus. Micheal O'Connell. Jacksonville: New World, Print. "Spawning of Green Reef Chromis." Ithaca Reef. N.p., n.d. Web. 2 Oct Our website: