Captive repro of Hemidactylium

taherman

taherman

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FYI I did manage to get 16 Hemidactylium metamorphs out of a clutch of 30 eggs laid this spring at the zoo. This is our third year getting eggs out of them, but the first year we got any hatchlings. I think I still have a gravid female, the winter temps got screwed up so hopefully she'll lay soon too.

No photos yet, but I'll try to get some soonish. They are doing well and growing fast.

The glutinosus from earlier this year is also doing very well.

-Tim
 
Re: captive repro of Hemidactylium

Tim, that's great news! Has anyone ever bred Hemidactylium in captivity before?
 
Re: captive repro of Hemidactylium

Pardon my ignorance please, but what zoo is that? Congratulations!
 
Re: captive repro of Hemidactylium

Kaysie said:
Has anyone ever bred Hemidactylium in captivity before?
Click to expand...

At least one breeder in Germany has bred them this year.
 
Re: captive repro of Hemidactylium

axolotl_jake said:
At least one breeder in Germany has bred them this year.
Click to expand...

I've got eggs too, but that's the easy part. They are near hatching. I hope it will turn out good.
 
Re: captive repro of Hemidactylium

coendeurloo said:
I've got eggs too, but that's the easy part. They are near hatching. I hope it will turn out good.
Click to expand...

Congratulations Coen! That's great news. Good luck with the babies.
 
Re: captive repro of Hemidactylium

Tim said zoo - what zoo?
 
Re: captive repro of Hemidactylium

Thank you for posting that link Jen and thank you Tim for sharing your accomplishments :).
 
Re: captive repro of Hemidactylium

Yes, sorry about that. It is the Toledo Zoo.

Good luck with the eggs Coen, they always failed pretty early for me, so if they make it to late term you should be good. Make sure they have very easy access to water when they are about to hatch. In the wild I've seen them hatch during rain events, so they may have to be flooded out. I transferred the eggs to a grow out tank and half submerged them when they were at full term.

-Tim
 
Re: captive repro of Hemidactylium

This is the way I keep them. I rearranged the mossy branches when I discovered the eggs so they hang over the shallow waterbowl.

The tank:
2436643161_93f12ec82b_b.jpg


The eggs:
2571866023_419c6f8838_o.jpg


H. scutatum on a branch:
2436607977_288eda2e6d_b.jpg
 
Re: captive repro of Hemidactylium

Beautiful photos, thanks for sharing.
 
Re: captive repro of Hemidactylium

Coen,
Do you manage to actually grow that moss or are you replacing it from time to time? Nice setup in any case.
Chip
 
Re: captive repro of Hemidactylium

freves said:
Coen,
Do you manage to actually grow that moss or are you replacing it from time to time? Nice setup in any case.
Chip
Click to expand...

I have gotten those pieces of wood from outside. I have noticed that it actually does grow, Though I'm not sure if it will maintain for years on end - I'll just have to see. I have some spare pieces of wood with moss on it outside if a replacement is needed.
 
Re: captive repro of Hemidactylium

Those vids are excellent, and I've already translated the breeding report a while ago, very nice!

Well, the eggs are near hatching. I've placed the piece of wood with the eggs in a different shoebox with about 3 cm of water, taken from my daphnia culture, so there should be some microfood available when they hatch.

2585056568_e24360131d.jpg


I've sprayed the eggs as Tim suggested, I'll keep on doing that every now and then to see what will happen. This is all very exciting, I hope it will turn out well.
 
And they're off...

2628995520_99307a224f.jpg


2628995946_f7d06be13a.jpg


2628178345_4c92f95993.jpg


All the eggs hatched last night, at the moment I have 17 larvae swimming around, and about 5 eggs were infertile. 1 larvae had some problems hatching and is now a little crooked, laying still on the bottom. I'm not sure if this one will make it. The larvae are relatively small, so I've setup a artemia hatchery. The larvae are very active and shoot to all sides whenever I come close to watch or photograph them.
 
Congratulations!

I did set up a side by side trial with larvae in an established tank with diverse microfauna, and another group getting just brine shrimp nauplii. The brine shrimp group grew much slower and eventually I moved them to other tank.

I'd suggest collecting some other microinvertebrates if possible to augment their diet.

Good luck!
-Tim
 
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