Eric's Clownfish Breeding Thread (Retired)

[ericm1205]

I started my clown breeding adventure in Jan 2011. I was doing frags and corals before but i got tired of them dying. so i said why not clowns? So i did. I bought my first 2 pairs in Jan and never looked back. First 2 pairs were occy and a Rods Onyx Pair. As of Now my broodstock consists of

2 Rods Onyx pairs (both Laying)

GSM (Laying)

Darwin (laying)

Darwin F \ SNowflake M (Laying)

Snowflake F \ Darwin M ( switching out the male for a Super snow male this week)

Single 4" black saddle female (male coming soon)

Bicinctus

Tricinctus

Latezoneatus

 

Future pairs in the next month:

Chrysopterus ( replacement for dead pair that a heater misshap killed)

Picasso

Occy pair or 2

 

only pair not in the basement breeding system is the Tricinctus cause i have them in my starfire solana in all their glory.

 

 

Hardware:

i am trying to make my system as cost efficient as possible. I have 2 return pump, and LED lights.

but i am looking to make it better all the time. my electric bill is high enough.

system consists of 2 custom acrylic 40g tanks divided into 4 sections each. 2 drilled 20g tanks for larger pairs. a blue stripe pair is going in one and the other the saddle back pair.

my return pump is a reeflow Dart gold ( 4300gph

Lights are the true lumen 48" LED strips over each 48" tank and i am getting 2 x 24" strips for the 20g tanks.

since my basement is cool i have 2 x 400w theo heaters with 2 x 200w theo heaters to make my water 84 - 85. i cant keep the temps stable like i want. you would think that with 1200w of heaters, i could keep my water steady at 85.

RKE to keep the lights and heaters somewhat in check.

my monster skimmer is a etss 1000 beast! but i am getting a new octopus extreme external 3000 skimmer whenever they are off backorder from premium aquatics.

i also have a coralife 36wUV on the system as well.

this system is relatively new since i finished building it last month.

 

my fav piece of equip is my new milwaukee salinity refractometer! it is so worth the $100 or so i paid.

 

a few weeks ago i had a serious mishap. i had a marineland heater explode in my 75g sump and spewed voltage and crap in my tanks and ended up killing a few pairs. so i am waiting for my claim check to be mailed out to me for my dead pairs and nems i had.

 

ill post a few pics here and a few other posts so bear with me i have a few pages of pics!!

i took these tonight of the plumbing and some equip. dont have a full front shot, but ill add one tomorrow after lights on.

 

 

 

 

 

pairs... crappy pics and camera sorry.

 

 

 

 

ill get more tomorrow.

[28g nano noob]

I started my clown breeding adventure in Jan 2011. I was doing frags and corals before but i got tired of them dying. so i said why not clowns? So i did. I bought my first 2 pairs in Jan and never looked back. First 2 pairs were occy and a Rods Onyx Pair. As of Now my broodstock consists of

2 Rods Onyx pairs (both Laying)

GSM (Laying)

Darwin (laying)

Darwin F \ SNowflake M (Laying)

Snowflake F \ Darwin M ( switching out the male for a Super snow male this week)

Single 4" black saddle female (male coming soon)

Bicinctus

Tricinctus

Latezoneatus

 

Future pairs in the next month:

Chrysopterus ( replacement for dead pair that a heater misshap killed)

Picasso

Occy pair or 2

 

only pair not in the basement breeding system is the Tricinctus cause i have them in my starfire solana in all their glory.

 

 

Hardware:

i am trying to make my system as cost efficient as possible. I have 2 return pump, and LED lights.

but i am looking to make it better all the time. my electric bill is high enough.

system consists of 2 custom acrylic 40g tanks divided into 4 sections each. 2 drilled 20g tanks for larger pairs. a blue stripe pair is going in one and the other the saddle back pair.

my return pump is a reeflow Dart gold ( 4300gph

Lights are the true lumen 48" LED strips over each 48" tank and i am getting 2 x 24" strips for the 20g tanks.

since my basement is cool i have 2 x 400w theo heaters with 2 x 200w theo heaters to make my water 84 - 85. i cant keep the temps stable like i want. you would think that with 1200w of heaters, i could keep my water steady at 85.

RKE to keep the lights and heaters somewhat in check.

my monster skimmer is a etss 1000 beast! but i am getting a new octopus extreme external 3000 skimmer whenever they are off backorder from premium aquatics.

i also have a coralife 36wUV on the system as well.

this system is relatively new since i finished building it last month.

 

my fav piece of equip is my new milwaukee salinity refractometer! it is so worth the $100 or so i paid.

 

a few weeks ago i had a serious mishap. i had a marineland heater explode in my 75g sump and spewed voltage and crap in my tanks and ended up killing a few pairs. so i am waiting for my claim check to be mailed out to me for my dead pairs and nems i had.

 

ill post a few pics here and a few other posts so bear with me i have a few pages of pics!!

i took these tonight of the plumbing and some equip. dont have a full front shot, but ill add one tomorrow after lights on.

 

nice set up man that really blows so how does that work u email them proof they killed ur pairs ive been wondering that?

[NirvanaandTool]

Need pics of the Solana

 

Nice Eric! Glad to see everything is up and running!

[Pickle010]

Nice set up Eric! Following!

[ericm1205]

all i needed to do is send them some pics via email. the heater wont trip the gfci cause of no ground plug. so i bought a ground probe in case this never happens again. so a $15 ground probe is a must for every aquarium i think.

 

Ralph. Hey! ill start a tank thread on the club site once i get it scaped! i got it packed with fish already and its doing great.

 

random pic time.

 

gsm tending to some eggs.

 

my first pair of laying onyx clowns.

 

and their eggs.

 

pic of my Chrysopterus that died in the heater mishap. my fav pair by far. the female was easy 6" long.

 

this my my large snowflake female that is getting a new boyfriend from Eileen this thirsday.

she doesnt like her make darwin that she was paired with. and she was with the darwin for almost a year. Eileen hooked me up with one of her super snows.

 

my snowcasso /picasso pair that i am splitting up. the picasso is getting a picasso male this week. and the snowcasso i seperated to turn into a female. she will be getting a picasso onyx from ibluewater as soon as the blue stripes are ready to ship from there as well. i will add pics of that couple when i get him. its an interesting pairing i think and cant wait to see they lay in the future.

[rrcg50]

just curious does ther picasso onyx look like these

[ericm1205]

i dont have the picasso onyx yet. i hope in a few weeks i can get to pick which one i want when ibluewater gets more in. i will post a pic when i get one.

 

picking up a 7yr old pair of occy this weekend and i hope to split them up and maybe pair the female with a snow or some other nice looking fish.

[28g nano noob]

just curious does ther picasso onyx look like these

that fish in the front is the best clown ive seen lol pretty sweet

[tinctorus]

Pm sent on buying one of the many pairs when they are ready to sell

[ericm1205]

here is a few more pics coming.

here is a pic of my new male i got from Eileen. i dropped him in the tank with the big girl and he was a little shy and she picked on him a little, but after a few hours he hasn't left her side. which is good.

 

 

here is a few of my new occy pair i just got from a guy for only $20!! he was asking $15 but i couldnt bring myself to only give him 15. he said he has had them for 7 years now and they look healthy and good markings.

 

last pic. my 2nd rods onyx pair just dropped a big nest on me tonight, while the first rods pair's nest is hatching tonight. i have a feeling im gonna be getting busy.

 

 

enjoy!!

[oceancube]

here is a few more pics coming.

here is a pic of my new male i got from Eileen. i dropped him in the tank with the big girl and he was a little shy and she picked on him a little, but after a few hours he hasn't left her side. which is good.

 

 

here is a few of my new occy pair i just got from a guy for only $20!! he was asking $15 but i couldnt bring myself to only give him 15. he said he has had them for 7 years now and they look healthy and good markings.

 

last pic. my 2nd rods onyx pair just dropped a big nest on me tonight, while the first rods pair's nest is hatching tonight. i have a feeling im gonna be getting busy.

 

 

enjoy!!

that occy female looks to be wild, great score for $20.00!! looking nice eric.....

[ericm1205]

if its wild then its older than he thought they were. said he had them for around 7 years and 5 tank breakdowns and put up and a few house moves.

[oceancube]

if its wild then its older than he thought they were. said he had them for around 7 years and 5 tank breakdowns and put up and a few house moves.

she has that wild caught snout, i love that about wild caught clowns, but i hate all the disese they bring in...

[ericm1205]

i hear ya. both pairs of my rods onyx are like machines! the 1 pair is laying clutches every 11 days and the other is every 10 days!

ever since i raised the temp to 84 and dropped the salinity to 20ppm i have gotten more activity from my pairs and some started laying again and a new pair started. the funny thing is that my gsm has stopped laying which is wierd cause they were the machines before.

 

the batch that hatched friday is doing good. started them on otohime yesterday cause my rots bucket is acting funny. it crashed on me while i was on vacation. i forgot to tell my fish sitter to drop some roti food in the bucket. so i had to buy some more from reeds. but i had to buy some rotifeast from them anyway.

 

i got a pair of Picasso's now. a buddy gave me his male from his pair ( he is still trying to catch the female occy that was pared with it) my female picasso loved him the first minute he hit the water.

[ericm1205]

few updates..

 

getting a new skimmer. i am moving out the etss 1000 skimmer for a octopus SRO 5000xt skimmer. i dont have enough flow to keep the etss beast satisfied. so i am going with a recirc skimmer. got a great deal from a fellow reefer. cant beat a good deal!

 

as of the weekend all my lights will be leds. i will be lighting all 4 tanks holding 12 pairs with only 120w of power! i got 2 x 48" led strips and 2 x 24" from true lumen or from current.

trying to reduce my electric bill so the wife gets off my back. i got 1 return pump, 1 recirc on the new skimmer, the leds and the 4 x 400w heaters hehe

hopefully all this will put a dent in my bill.

 

talking to a fellow reefer on the phone, im gonna start buffering my fresh saltwater to a pH of 7.8 to 8.1. so i bought some buffer and a handheld pH meter to make sure i buffer it right.

 

 

i have the Rudi (oceancube) Curse. my 2 pairs of rods onyx, the darwin/snowflake, and the darwin pair are all removing or eating the eggs!!! the onyx never did this before, but the darwin/snowflake pair that i bought from Rudi has been eating the eggs. 3rd spawn they have eaten.

 

with much thinking im gonna shake up a few pairs next week i think. i bought 2 old occy females recently. they both are around 7 years of age and more than enough to begin laying soon. i am gonna take my 2 snowflake males from my darwin pair and from the other snowflake female and put them with the new occy females. then im gonna pair a black ice with the laying darwin female hoping to maybe get a black snowflake!!! fat chance LoL!!

then i might get funky and pair my large black saddle female with a black ice or a snowflake male.. or not. im not sure... any thoughts or ideas?

 

GSM finally restarted laying again. im gonna be swamped soon.

 

finally got my rots back up. my last batch crashed on me and then i bought a bag with a fellow breeder and split it and they never survived for me so i bought another bag and they are growing just fine now for me. months and months they thrived for me and i pushed them to the brink with not thinning them as often or having less nanno for them. wierd that they crashed.

[oceancube]

few updates..

 

getting a new skimmer. i am moving out the etss 1000 skimmer for a octopus SRO 5000xt skimmer. i dont have enough flow to keep the etss beast satisfied. so i am going with a recirc skimmer. got a great deal from a fellow reefer. cant beat a good deal!

 

as of the weekend all my lights will be leds. i will be lighting all 4 tanks holding 12 pairs with only 120w of power! i got 2 x 48" led strips and 2 x 24" from true lumen or from current.

trying to reduce my electric bill so the wife gets off my back. i got 1 return pump, 1 recirc on the new skimmer, the leds and the 4 x 400w heaters hehe

hopefully all this will put a dent in my bill.

 

talking to a fellow reefer on the phone, im gonna start buffering my fresh saltwater to a pH of 7.8 to 8.1. so i bought some buffer and a handheld pH meter to make sure i buffer it right.

 

 

i have the Rudi (oceancube) Curse. my 2 pairs of rods onyx, the darwin/snowflake, and the darwin pair are all removing or eating the eggs!!! the onyx never did this before, but the darwin/snowflake pair that i bought from Rudi has been eating the eggs. 3rd spawn they have eaten.

 

with much thinking im gonna shake up a few pairs next week i think. i bought 2 old occy females recently. they both are around 7 years of age and more than enough to begin laying soon. i am gonna take my 2 snowflake males from my darwin pair and from the other snowflake female and put them with the new occy females. then im gonna pair a black ice with the laying darwin female hoping to maybe get a black snowflake!!! fat chance LoL!!

then i might get funky and pair my large black saddle female with a black ice or a snowflake male.. or not. im not sure... any thoughts or ideas?

 

GSM finally restarted laying again. im gonna be swamped soon.

 

finally got my rots back up. my last batch crashed on me and then i bought a bag with a fellow breeder and split it and they never survived for me so i bought another bag and they are growing just fine now for me. months and months they thrived for me and i pushed them to the brink with not thinning them as often or having less nanno for them. wierd that they crashed.

lol rudi curse thats EPIC!!!

[ericm1205]

doing a little revamp of some pairs and equip.

i bought a behemoth skimmer for my system. i got the Super Reef Octopus 5000ext.

its a 10" dia skimmer rated for over 400g. my system is only 180g now so i room to grow. and i know the bubble blaster 5000 pump will skim that water clean.

this monster is coming in wednesday and i will post pics when its hooked up.

i got a etss 1000 skimmer now that isnt doing its job cause i cant put enough flow thru it to have it perform right. and i dont want to add a pump just for it. cause i want to keep the electricity to a minimum if i can.

 

i just installed my 4 current true lumen strips. i got 2 x 48" and 2x24" for a total of 120w for lighting. better than all the PC and T5's i had. i cut my lighting wattage by 2/3 and just trying to reduce my power footprint as much as i can so the wife doesnt blame me for high electric bill. hehe

i am adding 55 watts for the skimmer pump but that is still way less than the other electric from the lights.

 

 

im gonna switch out some males on a few of my pairs. i bought 2 pairs of reg occy clowns that are 7 years old each. so im gonna pair them with 2 super snows that i have paired with my snowflake and my darwin females. so i will have 2 occy snowflake pairs. the darwin female will get a new black ice male and the snowflake female will either get a black ice or another reg occy male and possibly sell the pair. been talking and listening to breeders and they say i will have the same % of snowflakes from a occy female and a male snowflake than from a snowflake pair. so i am gonna go that route.

[oceancube]

doing a little revamp of some pairs and equip.

i bought a behemoth skimmer for my system. i got the Super Reef Octopus 5000ext.

its a 10" dia skimmer rated for over 400g. my system is only 180g now so i room to grow. and i know the bubble blaster 5000 pump will skim that water clean.

this monster is coming in wednesday and i will post pics when its hooked up.

i got a etss 1000 skimmer now that isnt doing its job cause i cant put enough flow thru it to have it perform right. and i dont want to add a pump just for it. cause i want to keep the electricity to a minimum if i can.

 

i just installed my 4 current true lumen strips. i got 2 x 48" and 2x24" for a total of 120w for lighting. better than all the PC and T5's i had. i cut my lighting wattage by 2/3 and just trying to reduce my power footprint as much as i can so the wife doesnt blame me for high electric bill. hehe

i am adding 55 watts for the skimmer pump but that is still way less than the other electric from the lights.

 

 

im gonna switch out some males on a few of my pairs. i bought 2 pairs of reg occy clowns that are 7 years old each. so im gonna pair them with 2 super snows that i have paired with my snowflake and my darwin females. so i will have 2 occy snowflake pairs. the darwin female will get a new black ice male and the snowflake female will either get a black ice or another reg occy male and possibly sell the pair. been talking and listening to breeders and they say i will have the same % of snowflakes from a occy female and a male snowflake than from a snowflake pair. so i am gonna go that route.

im getting excellent % snows from my darwin snowflake combo, more than 50% snows , very nice!!!

[Eileen]

You're going to have to quit your day job when all of them start laying Eric! Things look great! Is the Extreme snow male still doing well with your female? You'll love the Octopus 5000. That's what I have, but mine's an internal. It does a great job consistently.

[ericm1205]

You're going to have to quit your day job when all of them start laying Eric! Things look great! Is the Extreme snow male still doing well with your female? You'll love the Octopus 5000. That's what I have, but mine's an internal. It does a great job consistently.

 

 

i am hoping that clowns can become a 2nd job. it already is. hehe now to get them to stop eating the eggs!!

 

the male you sent me is doing great. I gave him a nicer occy female to hang with. she is really gentle with him and he twitches all over the place for her. she nudges him gently and they are a great pair. he is starting to clean the pot, so he is practicing. you produce some really nice clowns!!

the snowflake female i have is just weird. it sleeps up top on the water and ignores any and all males in the tank. im gonna put her in a tank solo for a while and see if i can get her to reboot.

 

 

the octopus 5000xt is a MONSTER. omg where was this skimmer all my life?? less than 10 hours and the cup was brown with crud. this is the quietest skimmer and pump i ever seen. my buddy has the bubble blaster 2000 on his skimmer and my 5000 is alot quieter than his. mine is totally silent.

 

 

added a divided 20l to the system and gonna have some more room for the occy pair and the saddle pair i have in the same tank. then the 20t on the bottom shelf is gonna house the huge CHrysopterus pair i am getting. i will be maxed out at 11 pairs and i hope to sell a pair to 2 so i can swap around different clowns to try.

 

 

 

ROTS crashed again. called Reeds and talked to someone for 30 minutes on rots. i think my issue is that i am actually cleaning the buckets too much. they never clean their tanks. they just use the floss to wipe it down with. interesting.

[ericm1205]

pics of my new skimmer. this puppy is quieter than any skimmer i ever had.

 

 

i added A 20l tank to the system to house my saddle and a occy pair. and i took a some info from watching all those home improvement shows like holmes on holmes and stuff. while i was plumbing the last tank in i put in a T and the top of it i added a reducer to drop it to 1/2 from 2" so i can have some air behind the water. what a good idea it was cause its soo much quieter. there is no gurgling anymore and the water flows steadily now.

 

my parents own a greenhouse and a nursery and when i showed them the clown system he was impressed with the plumbing i did. he plumbed and ran line for all the 13 greenhouses. wish he was there when i started so i didnt have to redo the system 3 times. hehe

 

now if i can get him to allow me to build a system for frags and growing coral in the greenhouses i would have a great business. hehe

[rrcg50]

that looks like a beast

[bootes123]

Are you covering your expenses?

Do you sell pairs online or to your LFS?

[ericm1205]

Are you covering your expenses?

Do you sell pairs online or to your LFS?

 

 

most breeders will not cover expenses for a long time. when i get enough pairs laying and enough babies to grow, i plan on selling to lfs in the area. i talked for 4 or 5 and they would take some babies and sell them there. so we will see..

 

 

 

different topic. damn saddleback female tried to jump and ended up in my overflow overnight or longer. now she has popeye and is super stressed. so i removed her and put her in a 10g tank and treating with maracyn and see if she recovers. not looking good. i even have her new mate coming tomorrow with a new pair of blue stripes!! finally i get new blues.

[phillyclownfish]

Sorry to hear about the saddle. Good to see another breeder in the area.