And we have Ocellaris Babies!!

[alaska clowns]

Growing! My temp was only around 75, so I've gradually bumped it up in the last day and now it's 80; I'm wondering if that had something to do with delayed growth.

<a href="http://s1228.photobucket.com/albums/ee454/AlaskaClowns/?action=view&current=DSC06602.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1228.photobucket.com/albums/ee454/AlaskaClowns/DSC06602.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

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[billsreef]

Temp is definitely a factor in growth

Those babies are looking good :thumbsup:

 

[alaska clowns]

Thank you!

 

[deanearp]

Those babies are super cool!!

 

[ReeferEric]

Nice job, I would fail completely.

 

[kctango]

My tomato clowns are on their second batch of eggs. My problem is that they wont use the tile I have set in for them but insist on using the underside of the largest rock (20-25lbs)in the DT. I know they will never make it to the stage which you are at, but its great to see that after 2 years that they have finally started to rear eggs. I am enjoying watching your progress keep up the work!

 

[Herpen Online]

Very nice !! I had them alive for 4 weeks than they died for no reason......

Sent from my Samsung Galaxy tab 10.1

 

[alaska clowns]

Thank you all for your kind words!

ReeferEric, I failed with many hatches before I got one that finally made it this far

kctango, I've heard of people placing many tiles set up in various places/angles at the place where the clowns lay. My own pair of ocellaris have been cleaning a rock for a while, so I'm going to throw in a tile there.... I'm sure my initial experience will probably be the same as yours! The pair whose babies I'm raising lays their eggs on the side of the aquarium, and when a tile is covering that spot, they lay on the tile - they've been cooperative

Herpen, sorry to hear about losing all those clowns after 4 weeks of hard work I hope you get it figured out, and have future success! I would be awfully sad to lose them at this stage!

 

[alaska clowns]

<a href="http://s1228.photobucket.com/albums/ee454/AlaskaClowns/?action=view&current=DSC06696.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1228.photobucket.com/albums/ee454/AlaskaClowns/DSC06696.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

 

[alaska clowns]

Today marks 35 DPH! :celeb1:
What did I ever do with all my time before I had to maintain a tank of babies?!?!?!:spin1:
My most recent difficulties have been:

1. Maintaining the water quality - I change out at around 80%, sometimes a little more, of the water each night. I siphon out the water while cleaning the bottom of the tank, including all the nooks and crannies. Yet, it seems by the end of the day, I have at least .25 ammonia. Today I'll try vacuuming twice instead of once. I'm also wondering if perhaps my sponge filter isn't performing effectively (I seeded it in my sump and in a copepod culture, with an air pump connected to it - so seeding isn't the problem). Perhaps I'm feeding too much - I'm trying to be careful with that today also. I check my NSW each time before I use it, and haven't detected any ammonia there, either.

2. Sibling aggression. Hopefully all the bickering will make them tougher and not thin out the ranks! Their squabbles sometimes remind me of cartoon of people dueling.

3. Spending too much time sitting in front of their tank

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<a href="http://s1228.photobucket.com/albums/ee454/AlaskaClowns/?action=view&current=DSC06661.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1228.photobucket.com/albums/ee454/AlaskaClowns/DSC06661.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

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[vwwanksta69]

Looking good.

 

[billsreef]

I find structure tends to promote territorial issues. Only structure in my rearing tanks is a sponge filter and heater. BTW I also use a larger sponge filter, so the size of your sponge filter might be the issue with the slight ammonia. It's also possible that the .25ppm reading is simply test kit error...something I've found common to hobbyist test kits when I've had opportunity to compare their results to results from proper SW lab analysis.

 

[alaska clowns]

I removed the structure I think they might be behaving better, and the tank is easier to clean (since I'm having to do daily WC's of around 80%). Definitely best with a bare tank...

I think they dare each other to see how close they can get to my siphon tube when I'm cleaning the tank.

We nearly have three stripes!! Except for one that has no middle stripe (he's the one of the most spunky, and definitely my favorite); a few others have "saddles" instead of stripes. Very interesting to see how they all turn out!

<a href="http://s1228.photobucket.com/albums/ee454/AlaskaClowns/?action=view&current=DSC06767.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1228.photobucket.com/albums/ee454/AlaskaClowns/DSC06767.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

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[billsreef]

Looking very good :beer:

Sometimes that middle stripe can take awhile to fully develop.

 

[jsims08]

Congratulations!!!!

 

[SimplyReefer]

very cool.. congrats!!

 

[LS90gal]

Congrats those little guys look great.

 

[alaska clowns]

Thanks for the kind words

I'm wondering..... I frequently rinse out my sponge filter in the baby tank water, but tonight when I lifted it out, it smelled bad- bad just like... a wet dog, actually. I hadn't noticed it smelling before. Do sponge filters have an end to their useful life?

 

[billsreef]

I've used sponge filters for years....the same ones over and over and over again. What's happening to yours is that as the fish grow and eat more, they make more waste...so that filter loads up with gunk quicker Just give it a really good wash and rinse in SW.

 

[alaska clowns]

Thank you, Bill! I'll keep doing the wash and rinse thing with the sponge filter