He had me questioning what I thought I knew about Picassos so I had to do some digging. I'm on Doni's mailing list but I have time. Like to get better results out of my current breeding pair then get my snowflake producing. By that time I'll be ready to bring in a Picasso.

What kills me is I know he could get one and probably turn a little bit of coin selling me one.

Yea, that's weird. I mean I understand that he believes that. From a business point he could make more by selling Picasso's.

Inoright?


Oh... btw I know the article I linked above is concerning the lightning maroon - but it's the same principle.

You can still reproduce the traits. I just don't know why someone would get so upset about it.

Came home tonight and went into the normal routine - feeding - harvesting - water changes and then finally got a chance to sit down and watch the fry. Then I saw it. At least I thought I saw it. Holy sh!t I did see it... ladies and gentlemen we have Metamorphosis!!! Finally! The more I watched the more little white head bands I started seeing.

OK... don't laugh at the crappy picture - I need a macro for this. But anyhow here is my proof!

aweeeesomee!!

I am so excited for you... been following along!!!

Thanks Guys... Yeah... I figured a few people are sitting on the sidelines watching... awful lot of views and not that many comments. But it's all good!!!

Haha sweet. About time

I want a trademark Pickle clown once you start breeding them a lot haha

WOW THAT AWESOME. A LOT OF WORK... THANKS FOR SHARING!!!

Right on! You got it!




It's starting to become second nature... I just know it HAS to be done.

OH...

And I picked up another one someplace - just counted like 10 times... I have 16!

Sweeet. Name the runt Jacob lmao.

As other have stated this is a amazing thread. I have learned more by following along on this thread than most books I have read.

So how long does meta take and is it something that you can actually witness happening ?


Cheryl

Done! I've alreaddy picked him out. He's the one that keeps getting sucked into the sponge filter tube and can't find his way out until I rescue him.

Haha sweet. I will be the challenged one that ends up going from the ugly duckling to the beautiful swan! Or I die from repeated filter incidents...oh well haha.

Thanks Cheryl... It should take a few days before the fish are through. However, I do have a couple that are already swimming like regular clowns - I'm wondering if they had started already and I'm just now seeing it as I'm realizing they have head stripes.

Finally!!! congrats!

All that hard works paying off man congrats.

As for that picasso deal, after i saw the Lighting maroon post i remember seeing it on reefbuilders.com a month ago and i went back to find it and stumbled upon an onyx and picasso collected from new guinia as well.
With the maroon they think it might be something environmentally that caused the lightening pattern but are trying to spawn it with a female maroon from the same area. The picasso and onyx that thy found are as monther nature intended them to be and not guppified. so they came to the conclusion the picasso barring is genetic. It was really interesting

http://reefbuilders.com/2010/05/24/aberran...ics/#more-18756

Correction *** collected from te soloman islands**

Right on.. thanks for the link.

I'll be curious to see if they can reproduce the markings. My guess is that while it is environmental or nutritional that the traits will can be duplicated. And of course until they reproduce them until they are more common the price for one will be astronomical.

I kno the prices are higher bc its a desirable fish i just figured u could show ur pal that its happening naturally so not just humas bioengineering fish lol. The found some cool looking grammas in cuba too.

Sweet... I'll check it out tonight.

Congrats.................

More pics! Especially one of Jacob haha (if he hasn't killed himself yet)

Have to wait till tomorrow or possibly this weekend.

Having an open house at the college tonight. Been here since 7:30 this morning and opn house doesn't wrap up until 8PM - loooooooong day.

I did get a call from the Mrs earlier who was sitting in front of the tank (she is so into this now) counting head stripes for me.







Thanks!!!

WAAAHOOOOOO..

I think when i start buying clowns I wanna buy one from all our breeders on the forum.. one from each to keep things diverse..

Ha... maybe once I get some snoflakes going. Don't think anoyone would be interested in having regular ocellaris shipped out over night. Even if I gave them away the cost of shipping would be too much compared to what you could get them for locally.

Yeah i was kinda meaning that. I just really think it would be good to support or local forum mates rather than some conglomorate breeder...

Haha I have been quietly following since the day after I joined the site. I look forward to reading your progress everyday! Rooting for you from WV. Congratulations on META

Right on.. Welcome aboard! One of my best friends is from West Virgina... Wheeling!


Definitely many more head stripes showing. Except Jacob... he's a little slow and was quietly waiting in his sponge filter tube until I got home tonight. I don't have high hopes for that one.

So it looks like I've got a half decent system for rotifers going. I'll have to post the details later. I still want to get a little more confident with what I'm doing especially since we all know that 2 weeks does not = success.

I just noticed it's after midnight... day 18 is here! Tomorrow I need to start prepping my other 10g for my next hatch. Also going to do a large water change on the tank with the eggs. Since I pull that water with the larvae I want it as clean as possible to start.

Today I probably noticed the most changes in the fry - I guess it's a combination of meta starting and working a loooong day. I wasn't home right away watching the pot waiting for it to boil. Hopefully even more head stripes will be showing tomorrow after work.

The otohime arrived today - wow - the texture is like powder and it seems to float longer then what I was feeding so it gives the fry more time to pick at it.

Good to hear! So what do you expect these fish to look like?

Hahahaha silly little Jacob...

I predict all survivors to be beautiful normal clowns cept jacob.. he will probably put his stripes on backwards.. Kinda figure if he is slow he is dyslexic also ..

HAHA Grats Pcikle Things sound like they are going great for ya.

These are regular O's - the female is the same fish that is in my sig (minus the photoshop) Like any proud father I'm just hoping for good shapes and no deformed fins or gills.




I know if that fish keeps it up I'm going to have to have it fitted for a mini helmet or something. Never know though... he could just be a late bloomer.

Well if I counted correctly thonight should be a hatch night. I'm going to go ahead and try to raise this clutch as well. Got another tank and heater ready to go. Hopefully with the addition of otohime to the menu we'll see a better survival rate. Got to do better then the 10% I'm batting right now.

I think 10% survival for a first attempt is a heck of an accomplishment. I am sure you will polish the procedure before long. Your determination as with all the breeder threads I have followed is commendable.

Thanks... I think it's a compulsive dissorder.

i have a pair of sno from doni, a year and a half old. the femal is hugh compared to the male but still no babies. just be prepared to get them small AND I MEAN SMALL

I think we are due for a picture of Jacob in the sponge filter tube!

Good looking fish though... I thought she insisted on waiting until they where an inch minimum before she would ship. I got my snows from Christosclowns and they where tiny... and grown almost an inch since I've had them. I paired them up with older females though. My understanding is that male doesn't need to be as mature as the female. My females are 2 years + and 3 inches. The males should be about ready.







At the rate he's going that shouldn't be too hard to do!

Haha Jacob is an idiot...

yes that is correct about the male, i think doni was breeding one after 6 months. the femals have to be alot more mature. the are good looking fish but they just come small. 1" is roughly a single digit on your finger. my female is bow pushinf 3.5" and my male 2 so we will see. i pass their tank every day and wish i see eggs

We need some more pics buddy

Will get some up soon... getting ready for a hatch that should hit tonight. Got my tank set up just killed the lights and the pumps so should hit in about an hour or so. It's about 9:30 here in CA so I'll give them a little time and start checking on them around 11.

I got somewhat smarter and already transferred some of the tank water over to the larvae tank. Last time I kept adding the larvae to a tupperware container until it overflowed and then brought over more water. This should make it a little easier - plus it let me set up my heater and air before the larvae are introduced.

First to good news - the fry are on day 20 - all eating well and look great.

Now the bad news - I fear something went horribly wrong with this last hatch. I was up until 3 AM scooping the larvae out of the main tank but this morning I don't see anything alive in their tank. I've been tracing my steps backwards and I suspect water quality. I did not do two water changes on the broodstock tank this week. I did just the one smaller one the day before the hatch.

Time to go back to square one with the next hatch and make sure I don't try to take any short cuts.

like i told you, it always feels like 2 back 1 foward. the nice thing is its only 10 days away

You got that right... it's frustration at it's best. I'm not convinced it was water quality as my tests all came back great. The only other thing I can think of is the tank itself. I stole the tank from my son where it was used as a fresh water tank for years. I may not have cleaned it well enough before using it for the fry. I went out and purchased some vinegar and since I have 8 days till my next hatch I'm going to let it soak and make sure it is spotless.

I almost thought I'd get a second chance tonight as I noticed all of the eggs had not hatched. I've redd of eggs hatching on two different nights before - somehow I think it's another indication of a problem - diet possibly? But when I went to kill the lights I noticed the pair had cleaned the nest already. I'm sure they are already in prep mode for the next batch of eggs.

WOW! Been a while since checking on this... Congrats on the batch - sorry to hear about the latest one.

Cant wiat to see some new pics of the fry.

I will definitely put up some pics today.

I'm really excited today... something super cool happened today but I won't know for sure if it will happen until next weekend. If it does though it will be awesome!!! I'm not going to give out any more details as I don't want to jinx it.

You'll just have to check back in next week!!!

Sorry about the last hatch. I picked up a pair of B&W's today for breeding.