Clownfish Eggs

[seabass]

Inorite? I guess I was kind of expecting it, as the male was busy cleaning the area yesterday.

[lkoechle]

I kind of feel sorry for the male; he works so hard attending to them. IDK, maybe he feels lucky, but I'm sure he could use a break.

 

I keep meaning to clean the tank, but then there always seems to be another clutch. I'll have to be quicker.

 

Well you should remind him that is his wife, not a clown car... Except in this situation that might actually be the case.

 

They'll get the hang of it, and you will too. At least they're giving you a lot of practice!

[seabass]

Rotifers: a couple of ml taken from the culture


You can't see them in the 5 gallon bucket. You just look at the tint to determine if they need more phyto. However, you can see them with the naked eye when they are backlit in a test tube (a magnifying glass helps too).


TBH, I'm not really sure what density is normal. I've read about 15 per ml (which would give me over 200,000 rotifers) so I guess the culture is coming along alright.

[pappadumplingz]

Damn I missed this thread. How's everything going.

[seabass]

How's everything going

It's going about as good as one could expect. This is the third batch. I feel that I'm better prepared for what to look for, and what to expect. Also, the rotifer culture should be good enough to feed the fry.

 

I still have to look into which food to feed them after metamorphosis. I'd like to avoid hatching baby brine shrimp if possible.

 

I'm resisting the urge to do a write up on this until after I have successfully raised some babies and they are eating prepared food. Until then, I guess I'm slowly learning what to do.

 

 

Tip #1: Start a phyto culture ASAP (you need this to culture rotifers, and you need rotifers to feed the clownfish fry)

[pappadumplingz]

Others good. Hoepfully this time around you can get a few more through to metamorphosis. Have the current babies hit metamorphosis yet? If they are eating prepared food they should eat it after metamorphosis. Good luck with it all, it seems like quite an undertaking.

[seabass]

Hopefully this time around you can get a few more through to metamorphosis. Have the current babies hit metamorphosis yet?

Actually, I've yet to transfer any fry to the hatch tank. Both hatch nights I've stayed up waiting for them emerge, but they ended up hatching after I went to sleep (I doubt the cultures were ready anyways).

 

However, this time the cultures seem to be ready. My biggest concern is an upcoming trip. Maybe the tank sitter will be able to deal with them for a few days.

[seabass]

I've seen a few examples where people light their rotifer cultures. I wonder if that helps the phytoplankton in the culture, as their cultures seem to be much more green. I also saw a test tube pic with a much higher density of rotifers than mine.

So I'm contemplating changing my rotifer culture setup to be more like my phyto cultures.

[asting]

Actually, I've yet to transfer any fry to the hatch tank. Both hatch nights I've stayed up waiting for them emerge, but they ended up hatching after I went to sleep (I doubt the cultures were ready anyways).

 

However, this time the cultures seem to be ready. My biggest concern is an upcoming trip. Maybe the tank sitter will be able to deal with them for a few days.

That's one good tank sitter if so. I'm lucky to convince someone to drop a few pellets in.

[seabass]

That's one good tank sitter if so. I'm lucky to convince someone to drop a few pellets in.

Yeah, I don't expect much from anybody. I never allow anybody to blindly feed a tank; if it's more than adding pre-portioned amounts of food, I don't bother. Even if something looks wrong, I won't have them touch anything else.

 

The trip would be after metamorphosis (and the clownfish would have to be on prepared food). I would put the cultures in the fridge so all they would do is dump some food in the tank when they let out the dog.

 

I still have to decide if it's worth a try, or listen to Ray and just wait. It looks like I'll have plenty of other opportunities if I decide to wait.

[asting]

Yeah, I don't expect much from anybody. I never allow anybody to blindly feed a tank; if it's more than adding pre-portioned amounts of food, I don't bother. Even if something looks wrong, I won't have them touch anything else.

 

The trip would be after metamorphosis (and the clownfish would have to be on prepared food). I would put the cultures in the fridge so all they would do is dump some food in the tank when they let out the dog.

 

I still have to decide if it's worth a try, or listen to Ray and just wait. It looks like I'll have plenty of other opportunities if I decide to wait.

 

What do you lose by trying it? A bit of culture and a bit of time? I say go for it.

[malachai]

They are certainly giving you lots of chances to figure it out A second food choice rather than artemia is copepods. You should be able to have a good supply of them from your display tank or fuge.

 

Keep trying you'll get the hang of it

[seabass]

What do you lose by trying it? A bit of culture and a bit of time? I say go for it.

Basically, I wouldn't feel very good if they starved to death. But I realize there will always be losses, and getting caught in a filter couldn't be a much better way to go. However, I'm leaning towards giving it a go.

[asting]

Basically, I wouldn't feel very good if they starved to death. But I realize there will always be losses, and getting caught in a filter couldn't be a much better way to go. However, I'm leaning towards giving it a go.

 

Exactly. Unless you think you'll stop the spawn, you will have losses if you leave them.

[seabass]

I guess this is day 4: all three fish in this shot

[asting]

Is that a blenny? Creepy guy looks hungry.

[xAyanex]

Lol. I love this thread.

+1

[xAyanex]

Oh my gosh, reading through this thread was like reading through a really good book: I was always looking forward to the next post, wanting to know what the heck was going to happen next. Now I've read up to where the author is and I have to wait. Grr!! The anticipation!

 

 

Thank you for sharing seabass.

[Pinner Reef]

For your culture I would defiantly light it if you have something around that would work for it. Doesn't need to be fancy (clamp-on lamp with a screwin 65k or 50/50 PC bulb). Even if the Phyto isn't "live" It'll probably still help. And yes, now that they're laying they'll do so on a fairly regular basis... usually.

[seabass]

Today I started building a simple stand for the tank (pics to come). I also ordered one of those ammonia badges and a stick on thermometer for the hatch tank.

 

Is that a blenny? Creepy guy looks hungry.

Yep, a bicolor blenny. He's as big of a pig as the female clownfish.

 

Oh my gosh, reading through this thread was like reading through a really good book: I was always looking forward to the next post, wanting to know what the heck was going to happen next. Now I've read up to where the author is and I have to wait. Grr!! The anticipation!

Thanks so much! I can't tell you how exciting that first hatch night was, and how bummed I was when I missed it. I'm hoping to save the fry this time. I'm getting psyched up about it.

 

For your culture I would defiantly light it if you have something around that would work for it. Doesn't need to be fancy (clamp-on lamp with a screwin 65k or 50/50 PC bulb). Even if the Phyto isn't "live" It'll probably still help. And yes, now that they're laying they'll do so on a fairly regular basis... usually.

Thanks, I just got a couple gallon containers for the rotifers (so I can light them). I'll post a pic of the new setup tomorrow.

[xAyanex]

I can't wait!

[rhdoug]

I raised a few batches of maroon clowns about 10-12 years ago. One of the biggest problems I ran into was running out of rotifers in the first week or so after the hatch. You will likely need a lot more than you can imagine, at least I did. I had several 2L bottles full of them and still ran out a couple of times. I also ran about 6 or 8 2L bottles of green water as well. Looked like Frankenstein's lab.

 

I caught the larvae in the tank after the hatch like you are planning to do. I used a cup and gently scooped them up after attracting them to the surface with a small flashlight. You do have to be gentle, I "broke" them once when trying to hurry so I could go to bed. Not sure how a siphon would work but I would think smaller tubing would be better because it would have a gentler flow, but that is a guess on my part.

 

I wish you luck, it is an exciting and rewarding experience once you get the hang of it. It will likely take you a few tries to get it right. Don't be discouraged, your clowns will likely continue to give you more chances.

[seabass]

"Ocellaris males become fiercely upset when a clutch is taken out for hatching. They swim briskly about the tank in a desperate search for their stolen treasure". Clownfishes, Joice D. Wilkerson

[rhdoug]

Clownfishes, Joice D. Wilkerson

 

Seabass points out a great resource if you don't already have it.

[seabass]

Sorry, I'm late on my promised update. I'll try to post something today.

 

Seabass points out a great resource [Clownfishes, Joice D. Wilkerson] if you don't already have it.

So I'm reading the book in my spare time and I'm discovering that I should change make some changes to my cultures:

• I'm still not feeding the rotifers enough. I should be feeding them closer to a liter of dark green water a day. This means, I need to double my phyto cultures.
• Also, I had no idea that a single rotifer can contaminate a greenwater culture (wiping it out). However, if caught early enough, you can filter the culture through a coffee filter to remove the rotifers. I'm going to filter the greenwater, and move my rotifer culture.
• Finally, I'm going to lower the specific gravity of my cultures to 1.015 to try to improve production. Note, the specific gravity of the hatch tank is usually kept at 1.021 (if the specific gravity of the hatch tank is more than 0.007 units higher than the culture, the rotifers will suffer from osmotic shock, and the larvae won't eat them).

She also states that ocellaris clownfish larvae can eat pulverized spirulina. I might try to play around with that some (especially if I'm having difficulty with my cultures). It sounds like the biggest problems are: tank pollution, and reduced survival rates (IDK if that's due to the water quality, or if not all of the larvae take to it, or if the nutritional value is lacking in some way).