Amphiprion percula "Onxy" (Onyx Percula Clown) Breeding Log!

[mwp]

Batch VIII, 1-4-07, shot around 9:25 PM, 673 eggs remain - so with the progress of the eggs I had myself second guessing my pair...the eggs pretty much looked ready to hatch. The tank hit 85F today as well, so temperature wise I definitely could see things getting sped up to as quick as 6 days from spawn to hatch...

I shot the pictures of the nest just before lights out and set up the larval collector. As of Midnight, there had been NO Clownfish hatch, however my collector got a few hundred Lystmata sp. larvae. Can't say which species they are as I have both Skunk Cleaners and Peppermints in the tank...will have to see who shed overnight (FWIW I think I got skunks, not peps). Probably won't bother with raising them and will just feed them to the fish in the morning...unless they're peps - then I'm facing a true dilema.

Anyway, here's the shots from tonight's egg count, 6 days post spawn, 1 day or so until hatch (unless they really screw with me and start hatching off really late tonight).

FWIW,

Matt

 

[mwp]

It's 1:15 AM, gave Batch VIII one more shot with the flashlight...no hatching going on as best as I can tell...Tomorrow Night should be the night! After that, I'll have a 7 photograph series of Percula Egg Development...should be helpful in recognizing various stages of development, especially if I miss a spawning while out of town in the future (can just reference these photos to get a rough idea of how old the spawn is). I'll repost the whole thing when it's all done as one series of photos.

I'm also surprised to see roughly 330 eggs have disappeared since spawning...that's 33% of the spawned eggs. I wonder what tomorrow's headcount will be? I think I counted one batch at the beginning and end, maybe Batch VI, and I think that one went from 900 to 450 or so? Interesting...

FWIW,

Matt

 

[EMBRYOGUY]

interesting observations matt !

i also prepared for a hatch last night, but im pretty confident ill happen tonight instead. looks like our pair are on the exact same schedule

though, since you mentioned it. ive been trying to pay more attention to the egg numbers since beginning of spawn. so far no obvious changes in numbers.

 

[mwp]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8903114#post8903114 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by embryoguy
since you mentioned it. ive been trying to pay more attention to the egg numbers since beginning of spawn. so far no obvious changes in numbers.

If I wasn't doing counts on photographs, I probably wouldn't notice any drop either, as the eggs that remain take up roughly the same area as the next did before - they're just a bit "sparser"...

Matt

 

[EMBRYOGUY]

than im prob. losing egg numbers also.

ill do a count with my next batch.

 

[Kmiec123]

My hatch for tonight has lost some of the density, so probably along the same lines as your's Matt. Easier to tell because I didn't have any issues with snails, etc. this time. Thanks for the cool pics...Carl

 

[mwp]

So all 3 of us have hatches coming off tonight then?

Matt

 

[Kmiec123]

The world moves in cycles I guess. Mines gonna be a busy one and I'm gonna try to get a hatch before 7pm. Experimented a little last hatch, so we'll see. Best of luck to us all.

 

[mwp]

A quick update on the shrimp larvae I got last night - no sheddings were found in the percula tank, so I couldn't figure out what species (didn't want to waste my time with Skunk Cleaners)...fed the baby shrimp to the seahores tank, but I think the Black OC's and Allardi got the VAST majority of this live food treat

Good luck to everyone's percula hatches tonight!

Matt

 

[mwp]

January '07 THREAD OF THE MONTH!

January '07 THREAD OF THE MONTH!

1-5-07, 1:14 PM central time, it's official - ReefKeeping's January '07 THREAD OF THE MONTH!!!

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2007-01/index.php

:celeb1: :celeb2: :celeb3: :beer:

MP

 

[ediaz]

Congrats!

go get drunk...

 

[mwp]

hey when does the thread become "sticky" ?

MP

 

[mwp]

Batch VIII quick update - I shot pics around 6:00 pm AND 9:00 pm then set to the task of modifying my larval snagger. I'm going with a different approach, basically what W. Mai shows in his Coral Magazine article on breeding clowns....my U tube has been extended with 3/4" PVC terminating in a larger funnel that's domed over the nest and frogspawn coral above! I'm hoping this will work based on the fact that when they hatch, it seems all the larvae virtually shoot straight up!

I'll post pics of my modified larval snagger, along with the final pre-hatch egg count, as soon as possible this evening, if I'm not already busy with babies...

Stay tuned...

Matt

 

[mwp]

Just before 10 PM I gave it a quick check...2 larvae already in the snagger...

Matt

 

[mwp]

10:10 PM - the hatch is well underway, and many are ending up in the snagger, but a few are avoiding it. LittleMan has situated himself on the nest, a devote father, to aid the eggs in hatching.

Batch VIII, 1-5-07, photographed at 9:05 PM, 7 days post spawning, 45 minutes before hatching, and we have 519 eggs remaining!

And also, a few pictures of the modified snagger I wrote about a couple posts back...placed on the tank only minutes after lights out.

I'm sure there'll be more to say soon...I'm gonna have to get the empty larval tank drained and strained, filled up with parental water and then the babies can go in!!! It's definitely light on the copepods compared to what Batch VI got, and there are both L and SS Strain rots in there this time...over the last 3 days I've probably put a gallon or more of phytoplankton in!

Matt

 

[mwp]

1-05-07, 10:45 PM, and we're kickin' off BATCH VIII! - I think the improved snagger *may* have helped things out a bit. Around 10:30 I checked the nest and ALL eggs were hatched. The snagger was FULL of larvae. While that all had been going on I had drained and seived the empty 10 gallon larval tank. I shut down the snagger and siphoned out 3 gallons of broodstock water + 25-50 stragglers that managed to bypass the snagger and DIDN'T get eaten or lost in the tank.

The tough part was a gentle pouring of 3 gallons of water, with larvae, into an empty 10 gallon tank. I expect minor casualties amount those that got the siphon and pour treatment. The main portion of the batch WAS caught in the snagger and was very GENTLY released into the 10 gallon tank once filled.

I'm trying to guestimate the number of larvae I have...I sincerely believe it's only 200 or so. What happened to the other 300 or so larvae, god only knows. I'm sure I'll have a much better idea of the headcount tomorrow, but for now, I'm going to say it's around 200 that made it.

My last remaining duties tonight will be to chose a 2L phyto culture for harvest and place 1L in with the larvae...I'm leaning towards Nannochloropsis but only 1 of my 4 look harvestable...on the flipside all the Tetraselmis look great, as do my 2 Nannochloropsis cultures...T-Iso is taking it's darn sweet time.

That's the news...things are definitely improving.

ONE KEY observation that may be helpful for other aspiring clownfish breeders. Sure, when the eyes go fully "silvery" in the evening, the NEXT night will be the hatch.

HOWEVER, what I HAVEN'T read about before (at least don't RECALL it) is that, at least in my particular pair of percs, nest tending duties are exclusively the males during the "off season" and while a brood is incubating. HOWEVER, the FEMALE shows dramatically increased interest in the spawning site at two key times - the day of spawning and the day of hatching. On the day of spawning, she's in there cleaning the nest site feverishly. On the day of hatching, she takes up a secondary role in helping the male tend the eggs, mouthing them gently and in general showing interest in the nest...during the past 6 days prior to hatch, she really just kinda hung out and patrolled the territory, paying little if no attention to the eggs themselves.

So there's something to keep in mind. If your female is in there with the male cleaning an empty nesting site, spawning is likely iminent. If the female takes a sudden specific interest in the eggs when she hasn't been interested since the spawning, hatching is iminent. Just my observation - I don't know how this goes with other people's clowns, both percs and other species.

FWIW,

Matt

 

[mwp]

BTW, one other note that I don't really have enough data to prove, but it seems like my percs have followed this from their first spawn to #8, at least on the ones I've been paying close attention. It seems that if you start with 1000 eggs, 500 will make it to hatching, and 250 will actually get collected. So basically, it seems that with my nests, I can expect a larval yield that's 25% of the number of eggs laid (i.e. on my first spawn, I think they laid 50 or 60, and by hatching night there were 30, and I managed to collect 16).

I'd have to follow many more spawns to see if this is actually the case, but so far that seems like what I'm getting when I pay close attention to my larval harvesting and don't botch it or leave them to go uncollected

Matt

 

[Kathy55g]

Have you given up on the light attraction technique? Perhaps you would harvest more that way. Just a thought. Congrats on the harvest, and good luck with the raising part!

If I have another nest that lives, I'll post about the improvements to my snagger... They hatch in a couple of days, so no holding of breath, please.

Also, congrats on the TOTM score!

 

[mwp]

Kathy, thanks for the congrats! It's back to business as usual

I think the light I have is too weak...the LED flashlight I have seems to attract them much better, but it may be too bright to be running DURING the hatch. I just have wanted to try this "funnel" method depicted in the Mai article...well actually I wanted to try a removeable substrate but that didn't go over too well Seeing how the larvae always "pop off" the nest and shoot straight to the surface, the funnel seems like a great way to concentrate them instantly and avoid having them "find the light" and get into the vicinity to get sucked up. I am definitely "guestimating" on the collection numbers...I really think once the larval tank light is on I'll get a better idea. I honestly suspect predation is the main issue in this reef tank setup.

Matt

 

[mwp]

OK, as promised, I sat down and put it together. A daily review of the batch, going from 0 hours to 168 hours, showing development of the eggs over the 7 days from spawn to hatch.

Percula Egg Nest Development over 7 days from spawning to hatch in 24 hour increments, starting at 0, ending at 168. Initial clutch size approximately 1000. Final egg count before hatching approximately 500

FWIW,

Matt