I sell to some local fish stores in Bakersfield / Fresno and Santa Maria. I also sell to an international re-reseller in Los Angeles.




Thanks.. The 3 amigos are doing just fine - I moved them in with my last hatch of snowflakes in growout and are through the hardest part.

well thats great i was hoping they made it

Just saw this from a tweet on twitter. I don't have the attention span to read it, but I figured you'd enjoy it.

Very cool article...thanks for posting it.

3 ameigos need a group shot

I couldn't even pick them out - they are swimming in a tub full of snowflakes right now. So it's going to be a while before we get a first shot.

Hey pickle,
I was just wondering if you have ever used or had any experience feeding rotifers spirulina powder. I saw it mentioned on mofib and i was just curious.

I've never tried it but I've seen or at least read of others doing in. I don't know what the benefits would be. Maybe Hyper or someone else will chime in.

I assume the benefits would be not having to culture live phyto?

This is a great thread I just wish I took notes as I was was pecking away at it. It's taking awhile to get through the whole thing since I only reed a page or two whenever I get the chance. I'm trying to get my clowns to put down a nest but so far nothing. What are you guys keeping your brood stock temps and salinity at? And how long is your light cycle? Also do you guys think about a 40 breeder divided into three sections for three pair with some live rock and a fluval 404. Should I not bother with the fluval and do something else and if so what? I'd like to build something like pickel's brood stock system but I have to wait until I move for that. I'd like to set up the 40g in the mean time. I'd appreciate any suggestions, Thanks

Hey Gar - you need to read the Cliffs Notes version of this thread - all your answers are here:

My Guide to Breeding Clowns

Oh yeah.. .and welcome along.

you dont need to culture live phyto for rots.

I never have... I have too much on plate already without having to worry about a phyto culture.

What are you feed the young clowns.Anything to help promote growth?Color ect?

Cool, thanks. That makes thing a lot easier. I'm picking up a pair of breeding occy's soon and I'm thinking I'll swap the male out for a black ice male I have just like you did. Do you think I should let the occy's get back on track before I split them up or should I do it right off bat?

Ultimately the best thing you can do for color is start with quality brood stock and use good feeds. Typically feeds high in caroteens (sp?) are great for color. Reed-Mariculture also sells feed with color enhancing formulas.

Once off the otohime - I stick to good foods but nothing you couldn't find in your LFS and a blend of my own frozen foods made from whatever is fresh at the deli counter at my grocery store.




I would - I think it's beneficial to get the female back on track first - just be ready to try a couple of different things to get her to accept the new male. My female did not accept the male on the first try. I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that he just wasn't mature enough the first time and she was an already producing female. Once he matured I had much less difficulty pairing the two. I just had to be sure to pair him with a larger female that did accept him while I waited for him to get a little older.

It also may be easier if you move the female to the males tank versus adding the male in the female's tank where she might be more territorial.

Interestingly enough, I expected a bunch of "facepalm" moments reading that article, but it wasn't as bad as I had expected. I have a couple of Moe's books and would recommend them to anyone even thinking
of breeding.

Looks like my female Platinum has bladder issues. I cannot let her feed off the top of the water or her bladder will fill with air and she'll be stuck on her side for a couple of days. I"m really bummed about it. From what I'm reading it is a degenerative trait that she could pass on to fry and I'm thinking I need to pull her now.

That's a real bummer. I've never heard of that happening to a fish feeding off the top. I always thought it was more of a shipping issue.

From what I've read bladder issues are more of digestive issue that can be caused by parasites or genetics. For a lot of fish you can prevent it from happening if you soak the food prior to feeding. My concern is that if I don't soak the food the problem surfaces and I'd be concerned about breeding a fish that could pass the problem to it's offspring.

One source stated that it's more common in fish that are bred for extreme coloration such as plats and WW's. I don't know how much truth there is to that but I'm thinking I don't want to take the risk.

I have a mature female Fancy White clown and I'm tempted to pair her with the healthy male platinum that I have. I think it would result in a cool cross.

Wow that means I possibly have a pair of your clowns Pickles! My LFS oders from a international seller in LA...who knows though, I am sure that there are thousands of clowns for sale at any given time...

Right on... you just never know. There's a chance... although slim - I'm a small dent in the supply chain for my main vendor.

Hey, just wanted to ask what type of clown that is in your signature. It looks a bit like a cross between a snowcasso and a onyx clown. I'm looking at what type of clown to get and I like clowns that have quite a bit of black but not all black, but I also like the picassos/snowcassos. The clown type in your sig would be perfect...more black then most regular picassos but more white than most onyx clowns. Or is it just a really spectacularly pretty snowflake/snowcasso?

The Clown in my sig is a Black Ice Snowflake.

I should also mention that it takes time for the color to come in on these guys. I had this one over a year before he got this dark. When I first got him he was bright orange and white and I had no clue he'd color up like he did.

Mike-

I'm having a hell of a time getting them to eat the Oto. Any suggestions?

How many days post hatch are they?

Typically I don't see my fry hitting the Oto A really well until 4 - 5 dph. I start with a very light sprinkle once on day two - couple of time on day 3 and then increase it on day's 4 and 5. Usually by that time I see a large number of them actively hitting the Oto on top and beneath the water.

I would suggest keeping your rots count up for at least a few days after you see them hitting the Oto well. And keep overlapping the feeds until you get them onto regular foods. This gives them time to adjust between the feeds and ensures they keep getting the nutrition they need to sustain.

They are 8 DPH. I've been sprinkling some A and B1 as the 2 remaining survivors are past meta. I've been adding rots still and tinting a bit just to make sure they're getting the nutrition they need.

whats oto and dph again i forgot

At this stage they are probably large enough to start feeding just the B1 - if you look at the size of B1 at Reeds I believe the grains start at the same size as A. I'd just sprinkle a tiny amount near them keep in mind you may not see them hitting the Oto at the top of the water and they may be hitting it as it sinks.




Oto is short for Otohime - which you can purchase from Reed Mariculture

dph is Days Post Hatch.

And Viola! My older of the 2 was picking at the Oto, the other one not so much. I did a little mix of A and B1.

If any of you So CA peeps are interested in a pair of my Snows my Central Valley Reef club is going to have a booth this year at Max and I'm donating a pair for them to sell.

I knew I'd get my fish to one of these shows one way or another! lol

thats cool are they a prize or something?

I don't know if they would make them a raffle item or if they will be listed for sale. I just supplied them to the club to help them raise some cash.

That is really nice of you. Nothing like free publicity as well of course.

Awesome I will be there would love to see a pair of your fish in person!

I'm just waiting for you to get some of your fish going so we can do a swap!

I know I'm slacking! I'm really excited about it though

I got my breeding pair of occy's yesterday. The female is huge compared to my ten year old female in my display. I'm hoping I can get them back on track.

Right on - set the proper conditions and feed like crazy - they'll get back on track in no time.

Been a while since I posted an update so here is a quick video.

http://youtu.be/I2u3XtHDX7E

looking good, very nice setup.. i just finished my setup as well, very excited been a long time setting it up,plumbing, drilling holes lining up stuff etc... but i water tested it yesterday and its good to go...now my army of clowns are going in it to get going all over again, im completly out of babies and have a list waiting.... good luck pickle and keep the updates coming!!

I haven't posted much as I've slowed down my hatching while I'm building out my growout. I've got most of my framing done and I'm drywalling the exterior of it now. Soon as I get that done I can get to work on the electrical and insulation.

I figure it's a good time to move some pairs since I know they will need time to re-adust to the new tank and I'm busy with the build out anyhow. I never intended to raise any fry in that set up but I have a couple of extra compartments and the grow out system I have now is making me crazy!!!

awsome, hopefully you get some breeding going fast, ive got some different breeders now and i can't wait till they breed.. the all black snowflake project is coming along nicely and hopefully here soon we can get a few, i know ora has some but havent seen any forsale lately... how are the black ice coming along?

The blackice are rolling out like clock work - I can't keep up with them. I pull my pot 3 days early and typically my pair spawns again on the same day as the hatch. So basically I'm getting a spawn every 7 days. It's insane. I'm hatching them out in groups of 3 - Basically 3 weeks on and 3 weeks off. That's why I need this grow out. I can't even collect my percs or even my B&W's. I always pull the pot on day 4 if I'm going to hatch or not just to keep the pair in the cycle.

Wow that's insane. Better hurry up with that grow out system!!

You're telling me... I didn't think it was possible. But I guess after pulling the pot so early for so long just sped the process up for the female.

thats crazy, i never had luck pulling pots always had to wait till day 8 or 9.. i very well understand what you mean by you cant keep up with them as i went through the same thing with all my black ice.lots of people wanting them, but no room to keep all the fry. my female darwin passed so i had to start all over again. this time im using my own broodstock with some amazing jumbo darwins.. just playing the wait game and see how it goes from there..got some interesting broodstock coming soon as well see how well they do for me as well... any recent pics of your black ice producing parents???

looking good pickle!!!!

I'm looking forward to this weekend - I've got my framing done - and I'm starting on my sheet rocking for my new grow out room. It's slow going but I don't have any plans this weekend, I hope I can get most of the sheet rock done. It's kind of coll cause it's starting to look like something!

I'm looking forward to this weekend - I've got my framing done - and I'm starting on my sheet rocking for my new grow out room. It's slow going but I don't have any plans this weekend, I hope I can get most of the sheet rock done. It's kind of cool because it's starting to look like something!