Attempting to breed clownfish - log

[FB]

I guess it's pic time

I guess it's pic time

Here they are

1.

2.

3.

 

[LiveRock27]

Congrats on getting the fish this far along. I will be tagging along to see how everything turns out. Good luck.

 

[Jay F]

I assume you meant .8 ppm? 8.0 ppm is astronomically high, even at 7.8 ph. 3 ppm is as high as it should ever get. My larvae tank never gets above .5 ppm, with 100 or more larvae. A 60% water change could be worse than leaving it, if your ph is at 7.8

 

[FB]

My Ammonia test kit is probably 2 years old and probably toast. It definately was 8ppm. NOT 0.8ppm. My ammonia alert badge was at the second of four indicators.

Anyway all 7 are alive (I found a new one). 2 are pre meta. 3 are early meta and 2 are late meta. I think, since i've never been through a metamorphasis before. I did another 60% water change this morning and everything looks good.

Two questions.

How do you know when they are done metamorphasis?

When can I add the sponge filter to the tank?

Thanks

FB

 

[Jay F]

When they go from teardrop shaped to oval is generally far enough along. When I transfer mine at 12 days they are orange and black, oval shaped with an obvious headband, some have a body band as well.

I don't think I keep my tank as green as you do. Just enough to keep the rotifers going. After about day 5 or so, you're no longer feeding the tank.

Unless you're converting your larvae tank to a grow-out tank, you don't need to add the sponge filter. Do you have a grow out tank ready? If you are converting your larvae tank, about day 10 or so. You should be soaking the sponge in the sump of your parent tank right now.

 

[FB]

My sponge has been in the parent tank for about 3 weeks now. I do not have a growout tank ready but I could probably pick one up tonight.

I also have a power filter. Is that to much or will that work as well.

Thanks

FB

 

[Jay F]

The power filter would be too much right now(likely, don't know how big it is).

Have I mentioned Joyce Wilkerson's book? I think I have. She explains all of this very well. I have an extra copy if you need one. It's brand new, still in the box it was shipped in. My wife bought it not knowing I had already ordered a copy.

 

[FB]

I have it and have read it extensively. I love the book but found it lacked in information on the metamorphasis stage. I'm a visual person and there are not really any pictures of actual metamorphasis.

Thanks for all your help.

 

[FB]

With the water requirements of raising clowns, rotifers, and bbs i'm burning through my DI pretty quick. It's time for a RO filter replacement. My question is can you use tap water for rotifers, bbs and clown grow-out tanks (Not larvae tank).

It would be so much easier (and cheaper) than making RO/DI water all the time. My tap water is 148 TDS.

Thanks

FB

 

[Jay F]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11770810#post11770810 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by FB
I have it and have read it extensively. I love the book but found it lacked in information on the metamorphasis stage. I'm a visual person and there are not really any pictures of actual metamorphasis.

Thanks for all your help.

Joyce is my guru when it comes to this subject. If she can't describe it good enough, I sure can't

Good luck!

 

[billsreef]

FB,

Some of the ammonia binders out there will intefere with some ammonia test kits causing false readings. If you added any before getting that 8ppm reading, I'd expect test kit inteference.

As for using tap water for your cultures, that depends a great deal on your tap water quality. In many cases we're using RO/DI to strip out excess nutrients to prevent algae problems in our reefs, not an issue with growing growing algae cultures However, if you have contamination issues such as pesticides or other issues you would want to stick to purified water.

 

[Lifes A Beach]

Congratulations!!! I'm getting ready for a hatch tonight. The eggs are on a tile in my main reef tank and I'll be moving it to the nursery tonight. My pair are laying eggs every 10-11 days and I've had only been able to get the larvae to live up to day 5. This time, I have my phyto and rotifers ready. I've ordered a microscope and hopefully that will be here today so I'll be sure about the rotifers.

I'll be following your thread too as it seems you've gotten through the tough times. Good luck and continued success!!

 

[FB]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11778308#post11778308 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by prideprops
Congratulations!!! I'm getting ready for a hatch tonight. The eggs are on a tile in my main reef tank and I'll be moving it to the nursery tonight. My pair are laying eggs every 10-11 days and I've had only been able to get the larvae to live up to day 5. This time, I have my phyto and rotifers ready. I've ordered a microscope and hopefully that will be here today so I'll be sure about the rotifers.

I'll be following your thread too as it seems you've gotten through the tough times. Good luck and continued success!!

Thanks and Good Luck

 

[Lifes A Beach]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11743092#post11743092 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by FB
I cannot tell how my rotifers are doing but I don't think to well. I noticed that the phyto has not been consumed in a couple of days and I'm getting a little worried.
FB

How are your rotifers doing? What did you do at this point?

 

[FB]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11781788#post11781788 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by prideprops
How are your rotifers doing? What did you do at this point?

The one seems to be doing ok but the other I'm not to sure. I have been to worried about the larvae that I've kind of been neglecting my rotifers. I may come back and bite me in the arse. We shall see.

 

[FB]

Day 10. All seven are doing well. I added the sponge filter last night. I took out 2 of 3 gallons and added 5 back. The ammonia dropped some and then over night with the sponge filter it dropped even further.

I'm not really sure how well metamorphasis is progressing as I haven't been through one yet. If I had to guess I would say 2 are done and the rest are pretty close. They don't really move much any more just kind of hang out in a corner. I don't know if that is normal but I do remember Joyce saying something about going up to the tank and thinking everything is dead beacuse they are just lounging. They are still so small.

I'm pretty sure my one rotifer culture had pretty much crashed. I took out 97% of the water and refilled it. The other appears to be doing ok. I think I will have enough for the next batch that will be hatching this weekend.

FB

 

[sandman5sanders]

good luck this weekend with the new batch hope to hear great results.

 

[FB]

Day 11 pics

 

[Lifes A Beach]

Wow...you can see how stuffed their little bellies are...you must be feeding them really well! Keep up the good work. Mine hatched Wednesday night and so far so good but I'm not sure I have enough rotifers. Still waiting for my microscope to arrive, hopefully today. Keeping my fingers crossed. Keep us posted on your progress...nice work!

 

[FB]

I always feel so nervous about leaving them in the parent tank even though I'm almost positive they are not going to hatch until tomorrow night, but you never know. I went out and got a 5.5 gallon tank tonight I think that it will be easier to manage the rotifers in the 5.5 compared to the 10. I will probably have to keep a better eye out for water quality though. I also bought a bubble disk which gives a much wider dispersion of bubbles than the bar/stick that I had previously.

I took a lot of rotifers out of my rotifer tank and put them in the larvae tank and added some phyto. Hopefully conditions will be good for them to really get going in the larvae tank before the hatch. I took a look at them under the microscope and their were some egg bearing females which is a really good sign.

Here is a pic of the eggs in the larvae tank ready to hatch. I am much more confident in the bubbles this time and I have them on a dedicated air pump so no more mishaps. I hope!

Anyway here is the pic.