so i wanna start raising clownfish and i just wanted to know some simple but effective setups. my questions are whats an easy setup for raising rotifers and how many tanks i need? what kind of filter, pumps, heater, etc do i need. pretty much i know the basic but have no experience. i dont have alot of money but i do have a pretty good amount of time and reef-keeping experience. the pair will be semi snowflake clowns. i am not in any rush i just wanna start slowly making a setup so that my first batch will be hopefully mostly successfull. so start posting guys. its something i've always wanted to do.

no such thing as snowflake percs. Learn all the lineages and the difference between percula and occelaris first. then read joyce wilkersons book along with hoffs book.

http://www.breedclownfish.com/

"Snowflake" is just a term given to a coloration pattern.

I do agree about the two books you mentioned and I would read this as well.

http://www.reefsanctuary.com/forums/livest...-clownfish.html

your right i meant occellaris. but i am more asking about the setup. i will get the books and i am reading alot online. i have time i am just wanting to start my equipment purchasing with ideas from people here. i'm not against books or online articles i just wanted some views from people here.

Check out the link I posted. In Doni's sig there is a link to her setup and it has a lot of info. It can be as simple or as elaborate as you want.

139 pages of forum fun. and the reading begins. like i said i have alot of time before i need this setup running. but since i am not loaded i wanna buy the stuff over a period of time and make sure i have all my ends covered.

Good luck, just ordered 4 picassos myself and plan on getting more. That thread is a great read, goes from her not knowing anything to running her own business.

i wonder if i'll end up reading it all tonight. my wife might kill me but.....

a good skimmer for all the feeding you need

here may be a stupid question but here it goes. can pairs form from one hatched group or is it bad for them to be inbred. cause maybe i will try for 2 pairs after awhile if i shouldnt have them inbred.

nevermind found my answer. i would like to see your guys breeding setups. so post some pics.

A lot of them are siblings. I would like to try and bring some others in from outside but it's more common than you think. I am working on making some room for a broodstock tank. Should be pushing forward in a few weeks.

what size is good for a growout tank?

You need to visit marinebreeder.org and look at their setups. most use BRT's or 20gal tanks for growout



Most breeders do not go past f2 offspring with breeding.

Google Sketch-up search for Clownfish....

Found this

thats pretty sweet maybe someday i'll make a real setup, for now i am going cheap.

i breed and raise onyx percs and i have the parents in a strict tank made for breading with them and a couple of hermits then i have two 2.5 buckets of roti's and 1 20 gallon growout tank with sponge filter and 2 fry/ young growouts and once i sell the batch in the 20 i am going to move the ones from the 10 grow out... any other questions you can pm me

right now i have two empty 10g and a 20 long thats also empty. i will probably buy a 29g. i would like to see some pics of your plumbing and the sponge filter. i was thinking of making the 20 long the growout tank but put liverock and sand in it and have it connected to a small refugium/sump for skimmer. is it okay to have rock and sand in the growout tank? i would think some extra bacteria to help with waste removal would be good.once the time is closer i will probably ask you some specific questions.

i dont have any live rock or sand cause the sponge filter is full of beneficial bacteria from the parent tank and i dont have a sump on any of the tanks and just do weekly water changes that are very very necessary considering i have 60 babies in a ten gallon tank and the only filtration on my parent tank is a biowheel 10 pounds live rock 20 pounds live sand and everything is working out great

okay here is another question. can any kind of patterns form from the babies. like the pair will be a semi snowflake. but can the babies have more white or black on them. also are picasso true percs or are they also occellaris just with different patterns.

whats a good sponge filter to buy and how does it work exactly. i have never used one. or seen one. yes i know its sad.

i use the LEE's one that can do up to a 30 gallon... they have one for a 10 but the more the better when you have 60 babies in a ten gallon... what you do to get it to work is you put it in the parent tank about a week before you need it in the baby tank then all the beneficial bacteria will grow on it and then you put it in the Post metamorphisis baby tank and it will send it through a cycle but the babies can withstand it as long as you have been doing your daily water changes and have low amonnia/nitrate and then you can reduce your water changes to about 2 a week

i also have a cpr hang on fuge i can use with the grow out tank to add some cheato or al least some more water volume. its the medium one and its quite large. i would love to incorporate it since its just sitting there.
and do i use the sponge filter with a powerhead or do i hook airline to it. just making sure i dont buy the wrong stuff.

airline to it and the hang on fuge should be fine for a grow out i just do weekly water changes and mines fine