Here is the direction I was pointed to the get my rotifers:

Reed Mariculture

Looks like they have about everything you need to know about raising them Here

But then here is where the questions come in - I'll deffinately hit Erik with this next time I talk to him...

Looks like there are a few options for getting started. Options

They have starter kits - Basic and Delux - looks like delux throws in some rotifer floss - it's the first time in my research that I've seen it recommended. I haven't read or seen anyone else using it.

But then they also offer individual bags of rotifers (1 million or 5 million count) and rotifer food.

For feeding the choices are between the Rotifer Diet High Density - 1 liter, the Nannochloropsis 3600 - 1 quart or the Rotigrow Plus - 1 liter.

I'm going to hold off and let the experts chime in on this one and see what's recommended.






The last batch was layed at a tough angle to photograph and I didn't want to risk moving anything for the shot. If they are more cooperative this time and lay the eggs where they are supposed to then I'll be sure to get some shots.

The morning after the hatch the pair was back at work cleaning the same spot on the rock. Can't say I blame them it was lucky for them on the last go around. I'm going to lean a tile up against the spot tomorrow though and see if I can't get them to go for that. Next month they won't have the rock so they are going to have to choose between the pot and the tile.

Noticed this morning that my Female is spend more time in the clay pot. Hopefully this is a sign that her next nest is going in there.

Well when I talked to Erik the other day he predicted Saturday for my next clutch of eggs. Considering the last clutch just hatched two nights ago I figured that would be a pretty good guess.

That is until I looked in the tank tonight and found that they layed another HUGE clutch today.

I've got some baby makers here people!!!

I'm just bummed because there is no way I'll have the rots in time for this one.

yo man ill send you rots overnight and nano lol call me tom like between 10am and 3pm well talk

Thanks Eric...

I'll have to call you Friday though... I'm in Monterey with my boys all day tomorrow. Booked a fishing trip.

This thread is awesome! Can't wait to see you raise some little babies.

So if I understand the basics you have a clay pot in a normal reef tank w/ the mated pair, they will ideally lay their clutch in the pot, then you transfer the pot to a separate tank before they hatch and raise them there without the parents surrounded by an all-they-can-eat buffet of rotifers?

Sorry I'm still very new to the hobby and this was the first thread I have read on breeding (your sig drew me in)

I'm following this one for sure!

What Up Freakin - To be honest I've done away with my reef (for now) The ideal spawning conditions for clowns can be stressful for a lot of corals. for example we keep our reefs at around 1.026 and try to maintain temps at or below 80 degrees. My tanks now sit closer to 84 degrees and 1.020. I also run my lighting close to 16 hours a day. I feed my pairs 4 times a day with a variety of foods - pellets / flake / veggies / cyclopeeze / and a home made mixture.

From what I understand the combination of the feeding, longer lighting, warmer water and lower salinity stimulate the breeding instinct in the clowns. I had a pair of clowns for almost 4 years that never had a clutch and within a week or two of making those adjustments they started laying a clutch like clock work.

So now my set up includes 4 20g highs housing pairs that will plumbed into a 40 gallon breeder - grow out and a 55 gallon sump.

Right now the pairs still have live rock in the tanks as I don't have it all plumbed yet - this was going to be a summer project that I'm bumping up the time table on. So the pair that is laying for me is laying the eggs on a rock next to an anemone and ignoring the pot all together. My other pairs are working hard to keep their pots clean - but they have some time as the males need more time to mature. I can hatch the eggs in the tank then draw the fry to the surface with a light to scoop out and transfer to a tank with rotifers. I don't think I'll be ready for this one but the next clutch I'm going to give it a go. Once my set up is complete the only thing in the tanks with the pairs will be the pots and possibly a tile. That will make transfer much easier.

But you pretty much have the idea. I'm going to do my best to document everything as I go so that anyone else interested in giving a whirl can learn from my mistakes and successes.

So last night we had another large hatch. I let my kids stay up to see it, again it appeared that we had someplace in the neigborhood of 150+. That's a rough estimate as it was hard to count the little ones swarming around in the tank.

I purchased some tiles at Lowes - I'm going to lean one up against the spot where they lay to see if they will lay on the tile. I'll also get my order for rots in tonight so we will be ready to give it a go with this next clutch.

If they continue on the same pace they should lay again tomorrow.

Oh yeah. Tagging this thread! Very interesting!

awesome thread just wish i had more to read! im new to the hobby gonna get a pair of ocell. clowns in a bit once my tank is done cycling. very cool to see your progression with this!

This morning I replaced the clay pot in the tank with a Tile from Lowes - just a standard plain white tile. I leaned it up against the spot where the clowns like to lay their eggs and within 15 minutes the female came along and nudged the tile over and exposed her spot. I moved it back and placed a rock next the bottom of the tile to help keep it secure - hopefully she gets the hint.

If she decides to lay elsewhere I'll have to collect the fry after the hatch with the flashlight and scoop method... I should know soon though as most likely they will lay today or tomorrow.

Have you heard anything about moonlights helping spawning? I've heard some people say yes it helps and some people say that its stupid.

Well, I don't have any moonlights and my fish spawn pretty regularly. I do have some light that spills over from my fuge that is mounted on the back of the tank.

BUT - My clowns always spawn durring the day - the fry hatch about about an hour after the tank lights go out. Come to think of it... on hatch night I do not turn on the fuge light at all since I want it completely dark. So in my limited experience I would say that there is no need.

Most breeder set ups that I've researched are lit by single or dual strip T5's without moonlights.

Got my order in at Reed Mariculture - Rots and Nano - Reading the fine print it looks like they only ship Tuesday - Thursday. I guess that means I wont see my Rots until Wednesday or Thursday next week.

As I expected the clowns laid the largest clutch yet today. The nest is at least 1 inch wide and almost 3 inches long all packed together very tightly. Oh and of course they managed to lay on the rock behind the tile. YOUBASTARDS!!! - Oh well everything can't go as planned. Looks like we will be collecting this next hatch with a flashlight and cup.

Time for some pics...

Here is the latest clutch:



The male taking care of them:



And finally one of my Snow / Osc Pairs hosting their pot I can't believe how much he has grown in the last 2 months:

Looks like you are going to have a circus soon.

I also have a question.Why do people always use clay pots when they breed what does this do?

It just makes transfering the eggs into a hatch tank easier.

The idea is to keep the eggs submerged when moving them from one tank to another. A clay pot works well because it give the clowns a clean smooth place to lay the eggs and when you are ready to move them you simply plug the hole in the bottom of the pot, tilt it up and remove the eggs with the water into the hatch tank.

Since my eggs are on a rock that is larger then my hatch tank I will have to let them hatch in the tank with the pair then use a flash light to attract the fry to the surface and use a cup to carefully scoop them out. It's a little harder then moving the whole pot at once but it can be done.

this is so exciting! can't wait to see the fry hatch

Aww always wondered what was up with the pot.

What a bunch of suckers. No wonder baby fish are usually fish food

Allright.. did a little shopping today in anticipation of the Rotifers...

Picked up a couple of new buckets, 2 air pumps with stones and check valves. Forgot to buy the air regulator valve - guess I'll look tomorrow. Worst case I can tie a knot in the line. Also grabbed some heaters.

Couldn't find white buckets at lowes... the cheap 5 gallon buckets used to be white there but now all they had was a dark grey. I thought that would make it harder to see the tint in the rotifers so I drove over to Home Depot across the street and grabbed a couple of the orange ones.

Now here is the question - I don't have a rotifers strainer - YET. So I'm going to try the coffee filter method.... do I stick with regular plain coffee filters which seem like they would be a pain in the ass to work with or do I use one of the harder gold filters that last forever?

Uhhggggggg... I messed up entering my credit card info in at Reed. Got it straightened out this monring. Hope it doesn't hold everything up too much.

I hate hold ups like that, I'm waiting for USPS to tell me why my package that was in Denver (where I live) was processed through the same post office THREE times, then sent to Atlanta. I know how you feel. Hope everything gets there on time.

Going to be cutting it close. Looks like my order is due to arrive on Friday and the eggs are due to hatch on Saturday night. Hope I'm off a night and my rots get a little more time to multiply.

So cool.

Hey Weet! Glad to have you along!

Not a lot to update today - everything appears to be right on track and still have pretty high hopes of growing out this clutch - or at least giving it a try.

Had a little fun shoping on the Good Doctor's site today, ordered the Maxi-Jet 4500 Submersible It's probably a little more flow then I would typically want coming through a sump but it's going to be supplying 5 tanks to start and hopefully I can add a couple more on to it eventually.

I have to say pricing was really good compared to Marine Depot. It was $28 cheper then Marine Depot. I picked up some plumbing supplies with my order and still spent less then I would of at MD.

Wooo hooo.... I have greeeeeeeeeeen water and rotifers culture started!

Details and Pics will be up later on tonight!

OK... so here it is, my oder from Reed Mariculture came in today. Wished I had it a couple of days ago but it's my own fault - credit card number was one digit off.

Anyhow the package arrived at my office today and thankfully in good condition.

I waited until I got home today to break it open. Figured i didn't want to messing with the temp in the box especially since the drive home was about an hour.

So here it is when I opened it up:



It was packed really well and had cold packs around the rots and the nano.



This stuff is like gold and knowing that I wasn't going to use it all before it would go bad I used 8oz water bottles and filled each one half way. 7 in the freezer and 1 in the fridge.



I started my water in the home depot bucket last night - so the water was aerated and already at the right temp. I took the bag of rots and floated it for about 15 minutes in the bucket to let the rots warm up slowly. Reeds recommended at least ten minutes... I figured a few more minutes couldn't hurt.



I then cut the bag and added the rots and some nano. I DON'T LIKE THE ORANGE BUCKET - so hard to tell how green the water is. I'll check the water in a few hours to see if it lightens up any and will adjust accordingly. I have my son working along along with me so he can check the water when he gets home from school.



So that's about it for now... If the eggs stay on track I will most likely have a hatch tomorrow night. I still hope I'm off a day as I'd like to give the rots a little more time to multiply before I actually harvest any for feeding.

Question: Are clownfish more likely to breed when they are in a smaller tank? My old clownfish used to breed all the time did not matter what size tank. My current clowns have never even showed any breeding behavior, and they are about two years old. I moved my clowns to a smaller tank and they just seem more paired up, acting as though they are going to breed. No change other than the tank, same water. Just curious.

Thanks.

From what I've read size doesn't matter (did I just say that?) It's really the conditions in the tank that matter most. Water quality, temps, light schedule and feedings. Most breeders will keep the tanks small to make collecting eggs or fry easier and for keeping multiple pairs in several tanks. I have talked to some people that swear by a small tank without any distractions.

Ultimately I believe the clowns need to have the right signals to trigger the breeding response along with a confidence that there will be food available for the fry. If that happens in a large tank or small tank really doesn't matter. I've seen plenty of people with large, very large tanks, that have pairs that spawn regularly.

Hey, been watching this thread for a while. Really cool to see the entire process and hope all turns out well. I stubled across this today on the web, thought I'd let you know about it
http://glassbox-design.com/2010/study-find...nile-clownfish/

it's pretty interesting.

That is interesting... thanks for the link!

OK... so now I'm nervous that I may have overfed my rots. I'm telling you I don't like the orange bucket! I went and placed white tiles at the bottom of the bucket so I can gauge the tint better.

Also last night when I went to check it - it seemed much darker and greener then I expected. Playing it safe I set up another bucket identical to the first one. Got the new water up to temp and transfered some rots over to it. I tinted that one less then the first. Second guessing myself - especially after reading that a quick way to crash rots is to overfeed.

The water was still dark this morning but when I scooped some out in a white styrophome cup the green was deffinately lighter. I'm curious to see what it looks like tonight. If it's much lighter I'll at least know my culture is fine and eating.

Looks like I'm alright. The rots are definately eating and the tint is lighting tonight. I also found new WHITE buckets today and transferred everything over. The buckets didn't come with lids but luckily the HD lids fit perfectly.

I've got my grow out tank ready. So if the eggs hatch tonight all I'll have to do is tranfer some tank water and the fry, add some rots, tint the water and hope for the best.

I did a water change on the tanks 2 nights ago so my water should be perfect.

Nothing left to do but wait and see if the eggs hatch tonight.

When you started this thread i began daily cussing my clowns out. They havent grown in forever so they have to be at their max size. I feed the heck out of them so they are fat as heck. I run my tanks at 79 though since they are in my coral system and im scared to crank the temp.

They just wont spawn...

take pics if the hatch, and keep us updated!

Keep in mind I've had the pair that is spawning now for well over 3 years. They did not start spawning until I made the adjustments in temp, lighting and salinity.

Well, I did have a hatch last night - but I don't have a whole lot of confidence in what I'm doing right now.

I tried to get a hold of Erik this morning but no luck on the number I have for him. I did manage to scoop and transfer a bunch of babies to the hatch tank last night. I was careful to bring over the tank water that they where hatched in with them about 5 1/2 gallons at all.

Now here is where I'm not sure - The rotifers - only the most important part right? I poured some rotifers through two different strainers - I used a gold filter and I tried a regular coffee filter. But the truth is I can't tell if I'm actually getting anything - hence the no confidence. So after pouring tank water through the filter, I tinted the water and covered the tank.

Now it's approximately 10 hours after the hatch was transferred and I can see about 12 active swimmers near the glass. They seem to be doing ok and their bellies are a bright silver color.



Looking back in with the pair I can see that there are a lot of eggs that did not hatch last night. I'll turn off the pumps tonight and see if the rest do not hatch out or try to hatch out tonight.

here is some tips:
1. keep rotifers at 1.015
2. take the lid off the rotifers
3. Remove the airstone and go with a rigid tubing for airation and slow it down just to move the water to turn over
4. get a 53 micron screen from florida aquafarms and ditch the coffee filters
5. remember rotifers will die if they experience a .07 difference in salinity

Thanks for that!

I got on MOFIB earlier today and got some help there as well. As it stands right now it looks like they are ok and the fry are still alive. I know the fry can typically go 24 hours though without eating and we are just comming up on that mark.

Day 2 Update - This morning the fry are swimming around pretty well. I'd get pictures but I just don't have the proper technology to get shots of something that is less then 1/4 of and inch long and as wide as the eye of a small needle.

I went yesterday and purchased a strainer. The plastic kind where you can use the handle to set it on a pot and some white coffee filters. The filters I had where brown (unbleached) but they made it impossible to see the rots. The strainer makes it easier to transfer the rots as now I can set that over a bucket, line it with a white filter and pour cupfulls of water through it. I can deffiantely see the rotifers in the bottom of the cup.

Just checked on my female.... her depositer is sticking out pretty far and the pair have cleaned their laying spot pretty well. Looks like another clutch is on the way.

ALIENZ!!!!





I know.. horrible pic... these guys are just too small still.

So lucky, my clowns only eat and sit in the nems all day.

I just wish I could hatch all the clutches. I can see how I'm going to run out of space quick. I haven't even got this spawn through meta yet and I'm already thinking expansion.

Oh.. and as expected, they just finished laying the new clutch. I swear I could set my watch to this pair.

Ok... so moving on with the rots. Here is the plan, probably overkill but the scare I had yesterday has me thinking I need a back up to the back up.

So currently I'm running two cultures in 5 gallon containers. I've read that you can keep rots refrigerated for up to two weeks provided you tint the water a little darker and do not seal the cap tight. So that's what I'm doing I picked up a couple of gallon water bottles at SaveMart and I'm going to start dating and storing a couple of cultures in the fridge.

Hopefully I don't ever need them - but I'd hate to have to miss a clutch that I want to hatch because of a rots crash.

Couple of pics:

First one is tall maybe 8 inch flower vase that I use for a quick visual of the density. It's maybe as big around as a mag light handle:



And this pic is about a 1 square inch portion of the same bottle... not very clear but gives you an idea of the current density of the rots:

Very cool thread I am glad I found it and will definitely be following along. I just read through it and got some really good info. I have been wanting to breed clowns for a little while but definitely want to wait till I have the space and funds for a better set up. I'd be interested to see some pics of your overall system if you don't mind. I'll also keep in mind to get white buckets first. Everything looks great though and I look forward to seeing your progress! Maybe down the road I can buy a few snows off you

My system is actually still being built. Currently my clowns are housed in seperate 20g talls. A few people I've talked to say that the 20g is overkill and they would of been fine in something smaller.

Once complete I will have 4 - 20g highs on my top shelf, a 40g breeder on my second shelf and a 55 gallon plex sump.

The fry are being raised in standard 10's with 3 sides painted black and the bottom of the tank painted white.

Also a quick tip about the fry / hatching tanks that I just learned. You'll want to place your air stone near the heater to keep the flow moving away from it and to also keep the fry away. I've read about breeders placing the stone in the center of the tank and the fry being attracted to the heater and cooking. Luckily my airstone landed there on it's own.

As for the bucket - I had to go to a small hardware store to find a plain white bucket. Go figure - couldn't buy one at lowes or hd. The lowes and hd ones are either grey or orange with the company logo's on them. Cheap though at about $2.50 a piece - but hard to judge the tint in the rots. I've done much better since buying the ones even though they are twice as much.

Morning Day 3 update - did feed some rots this morning before headed out to work. Had just turned the lights on. Could only spot 3 swimmers. Hopefully I'll see the rest of the crew when I get home tonight.

painting the glass doesnt work well. I use construction paper because it is easily removable as they progress and grow