Big group of baby goldfields shinglebacks

[acanthurus]

As previously promised, a few better pics of this year goldfields babies so far. Still have 2 girls I'm hoping to drop.









2 weeks ago


today

[Richard.C]

Beautiful,look like solid youngsters to

A question for you if i may,someone mention stumpys wont mate with relatives,said cunninghams ect as well yet mine happily do,have you had any do that as well?

[Goldfields 1]

Hi there! They look great....are you interested in selling any of them or are they already accounted for?
Cheers

[Hammock]

Wow ! They look great. I envy you guys.

Mike

[acanthurus]

Beautiful,look like solid youngsters to

A question for you if i may,someone mention stumpys wont mate with relatives,said cunninghams ect as well yet mine happily do,have you had any do that as well?

During the breeding season the males don't seem to show any selection. I've seen them try to mate with their own offspring, and usually keep them separate at that time of year to prevent inbreeding.

Hi there! They look great....are you interested in selling any of them or are they already accounted for?
Cheers

Sorry Goldfields, they are all accounted for this year. I was going to ask you if you had any little ones free this year as well Should have a few available next year all going well though.

[Fred Gaal]

OOhhh Yeah he is doing it again, making us jealous agai, like he does every year at the same time.
We are just starting to get them ready to breed and you enjoy the offspring allready.
The good thing is we can enjoy them whole sommer as you have them sleepy and cold.

But I'm very happy for you and they look great, I realy look forward to see them get theyer colour after a few sheddings

[Jeff]

They look fantastic! What size litters did you get? If we could get just one pair of those things over here in the U.S., it would be a thrill. As things are, I don't think there is much hope that they will be available to us for a long time. We will be forced to live vicariously through you.

[donkeybuff]

Gorgeous! How many females did it take to produce all of those?

[acanthurus]

Thanks guys,

These came from 6 different females. In my experience goldfields seem to have smaller litter sizes than other shinglebacks, with 1.5 being average. Female size doesn't seem to the deciding factor in litter size either, with 3 of the smaller girls having twins this time. One was 400g after giving birth to twins who together weighed just under 200g. She has quickly bounded back up to over 500g though.

I'm still hoping for my largest female and also my most orange to drop. Given these have had babies for the last 3 seasons I'm wondering if they needed a year off.

[Richard.C]

If there weights fine they dont seem to need a year off,main thing is recovery time after dropping and before brumation,indoors here i feed mine into mid to late may so usually no issues bulking up after march babies,outdoors is a different matter though,especially with late litters and fast cool down times

[saisaac]

Interesting that you mentioned the males appear to mate with anyone including their offspring. Is this due to the closer quarters they live in in captivity? Aren't shingleback notoriously monogomous in the wild or is this an often pulblished falacy?

[Richard.C]

One of those people compare to much to wild study type things

In captivity they doo seem to favour a particular female,but they for me also happilly try others to,my oldest line is just babies my original pair had,a male and 3 females last season before the oldest girl passed awau suddenly,the male covered both his sisters,one a litter mate,the other from a litter the year after his,he also had interest in a 3rd younger female

Alot of these studies id take with a grain of salt compared to what they do in captivity,scientists often choose to ignore findings to that go against the grain of what theu are studying

Wild diet is anorher thing,people try to mimmick it thinking its best thing for them,it aint,wild diets are often a survival diet,they dont eat,they perish,captivity they have luxury of good times year round,well if cared for properly

[RoryBreaker]

I would post a page worth of hand clapping emoticons if I could on this iPad.

In their absence I will just say, " Wow, job well done!"

Cheers

[Richard.C]

Are u hanging on to any acanthurus,just want prior warning of theres an update pic thread in 8 months time so i can don my sunnies before opening the thread,lol

Still gob smacks me the color transformation as they grow in these guys

[acanthurus]

I'm holding on to 3 of them. The ?girl at the bottom of the first pic, the orange ?boy leaning on top of the other baby in the third pic and the one at the top left of the last pic are the ones I'm looking at, but this may change if there are any surprises after the first shed.

I'm often shocked with the change as well. This pic from last year sums it up well - just before and after first shed. Both babies in this pic ended up with similar colours.

[Tom]

One of those people compare to much to wild study type things

In captivity they doo seem to favour a particular female,but they for me also happilly try others to,my oldest line is just babies my original pair had,a male and 3 females last season before the oldest girl passed awau suddenly,the male covered both his sisters,one a litter mate,the other from a litter the year after his,he also had interest in a 3rd younger female

Alot of these studies id take with a grain of salt compared to what they do in captivity,scientists often choose to ignore findings to that go against the grain of what theu are studying

Wild diet is anorher thing,people try to mimmick it thinking its best thing for them,it aint,wild diets are often a survival diet,they dont eat,they perish,captivity they have luxury of good times year round,well if cared for properly

I have argued these same points with many people. I find it very frustrating that some people choose to ignore obvious facts demonstrated 1000s of times in captivity, and instead spout out things like, "...but in the wild they do THIS, or its THIS way...". I think studying animals in the wild is useful and can yield good info, but lets not ignore the obvious things that people like you and me see right in front of our eyes every day.

Thank you for spelling out the above Richard. I agree wholeheartedly.

[Spindown]

Fascinating information! Someday I'll have enough to invest in some shingles, so I'm trying to soak up as much info as I can about them

[Richard.C]

Yeah its amusing sometimes tom

Stumpies are one of the worst species for folk going off wild studies,along with egernia skinks

Apparently they wont mate related animals,even in captivity,which is bogus

[El Lobo]

Good points Richard but we should also acknowledge captive animals regularly display different characteristics to their wild relations.

[donkeybuff]

Acanthurus, that color difference is amazing! i can't wait to see what some of those holdbacks become.