Batch #13

[mwilliams62]

Well I am now on Batch #13 and I think I got a fairly good hatching. I think I collected about 50 of them.. They hatched on day 7 instead of day 8 which I am glad I collect on day 7 instead of waiting they were all very silver. Tank temp has been 83 -84.5 which I think helped them hatch earlier.

Baby Fry collected on 4-30-13:


Baby fry on 5-1-13 around 8pm:
Video of fry on 5-1-13


Sorry about the sound don't know how to mute it on my phone yet.

 

[mwilliams62]

Batch #13

This guy was trying to get a snack when I was setting up the fry trap collector.

 

[mwilliams62]

Well I really thought I was going to have a better chance here but no such luck.... up to day 3 I had about 50 day 4-5 dropped to about 11 and tonight I am at 3... I just don't understand..... HELP!!!!!@!@

 

[mwilliams62]

Batch 14 was laid yesterday. .

 

[Jaypilot]

mwilliams62, I am new at this as well and I still have a lot of work to do my self, so take this with a grain of salt.

From my unexperienced eye I would think that your problem may be lack of food. The reason being is that your clowns should be have enough supply in their yolk sacks to stay alive for about three days. So either you have a bunch of fish that are having a hard time finding food or learning how to eat. Per the book "Clownfishes" a larva should not swim more then 1.5 times their body length to find food.

I have a few empty glass vials of old brine shrimp eggs, I use those two take a sample of the water so that I can see how much rotifer are in the water. If you don't have one of those a shot glass works well or even a vial from one of your water test kits also works well.

 

[mwilliams62]

I have them in a small tank 2.5 gallons since the batches that have been hatching are very small for whatever reason so they don’t have to go very far to find food… I use a small clear glass and it was pretty full of rotifers for the first 3 days but I started putting less in and adding the TDO-A stuff on it was either day 3 or day 4.
When I would scoop the rotifers out their water was still slightly colored green so I did not add any more of their feed before putting into the fry tank could that be a possibility that the rotifers that I have been feeding to the fry do not have the nutrition that they are needing?
But I would add about 2ml of the rotifers food into the fry tank when I would put the rotifers in there.
No ammonia in there either and when I did the water change I used the tank water from where they were hatched in. Not sure about testing the PH since there is chemicals “Roti-grow plus and cloram-X in there and might affect the testing results.

That book that you have is that the one from Joyce Wilkerson? If so were did you get your copy from?

 

[Lou Young]

Hi- do you cover all sides of the fry tank so light can only come in from the top? I would personally use a 5 or 10g tank instead because with your 2.5g it looks like its about filled up a little over half way, maybe only 1.5-1.75g of water. That little bit of water can foul pretty easily. If you use a bigger tank you an add more water to be a better buffer, have more surface area for gas exchange, and you won't have to move the babies to a larger tank until after 4-5 months. Also, I have read that you shouldn't add the rotifer food directly to the fry tank, unless you are using it as green water. If that's the case then I mix up my green water in a jug and slow drip that in the fry tank so it won't be a shock to the fry.

 

[mwilliams62]

I use the garbage bag all round the tank. I will switch to a bigger tank and hope for better results for the next upcoming batch. Yes I do add it directly to the fry tank when the water has cleared up from the tenting color for them to see the rotifers to hunt them. 2ml on my syringe is very tiny amount. So when do you stop tenting the water green for them to hunt for their food?

 

[Lou Young]

Ok. I figured you may have taken off a cover for when you took the picture. I used black construction paper to cover the tank I have. I wanted to paint a tank like I see other people doing but I forgot all about it. I just posted that same question to ask when others stop using green water a little while ago. I am assuming we should stop after the fry go thru meta. Hopefully Jason G and other breeder will chime in.

 

[mwilliams62]

Yep had the top cover off for the picture... Let me know when you get your answer to your questions please....

 

[Lou Young]

The Gresham person said to only use green water while you are still feeding the fry rotifers. I will stop today on day 11 with my first nest since it looks like they went thru the meta. My 2nd nest hatched last night so I have to start all over again with them

 

[mwilliams62]

Okay thanks..

 

[ernieq]

What kind of lighting are you using? If the light source is close to the fry tank, you must diffuse it, too bright a light gets them all confused. I put 3 pieces of paper in front of a 15 watt flourescent bulb and remove 1 layer after 3 days, the second after 6 days and the last one after they make it through meta. Also tint the water while you feed rotifers only. You also need to constantly monitor your ammonia levels and treat with chloram-x or similar to keep it under control. All the dying larvae spike it up easily.

 

[mwilliams62]

Small table lamp no cover for the first 24 hours then after that I cover them up with 3 sheets of paper. I removed one sheet the other day (saturday) which would have been day 4 today is day 7.
I have been given them lights out at 10pm and lights on at 6am as of day 3 or might have been day 4.
My amnmonia badge is showing no ammonia and I have removed the debris on the bottom of the tank every other day and adding tank water from the parents tank (DT).
I also started the TDO-A on day 3 could that have been to early for these guys?

We are due for another cleaning when I get home from work this afternoon.
I will take a picture of my setup tonight and you can tell me what needs to be changed.
But the picture will be posted tomorrow.

 

[saltyjo]

mwilliams62, I am new at this as well and I still have a lot of work to do my self, so take this with a grain of salt.

From my unexperienced eye I would think that your problem may be lack of food. The reason being is that your clowns should be have enough supply in their yolk sacks to stay alive for about three days. So either you have a bunch of fish that are having a hard time finding food or learning how to eat. Per the book "Clownfishes" a larva should not swim more then 1.5 times their body length to find food.

I have a few empty glass vials of old brine shrimp eggs, I use those two take a sample of the water so that I can see how much rotifer are in the water. If you don't have one of those a shot glass works well or even a vial from one of your water test kits also works well.

~Mwilliams,
I was trying to think of anything that could help you. Just going off what Jay wrote up above got me thinking about your babies food. When you feed rotifers are you straining them with a coffee filter or a sieve, or are you just adding the rotifers with their water? I am guessing you are straining them but I read all of your posts and can't find this at all.
Jo

 

[mwilliams62]

I use a 53 micron seive, I have used those white coffee filters then I used the other coffee filter that was shown in the tutorial video on how to hatch brine shrimp it is black and gold color made by Mr. Coffee.

Well it is confirmed they are all dead. I really thought I had a better chance here but I guess lucky #13 was not lucky after all. Now I think I am going to go cry now.

Mary

 

[ernieq]

You should cover the lamp from day 1. Too bright gets them confused. My guess is that they are not feeding well. What specific gravity are your rotifers at and what is the SG of your fry tank. If it is more than .007, they will die of osmotic shock. I try keeping my fry and broodstock tank around 1.020 and the rotifers at 1.017. Are you dripping the water changes to your fry tank or just dumping the water straight. Also are you maintaining stable specific gravity by slow dripping some fresh water to replace evaporation? When you tint your fry tank water, does it stay green for more than 24 hours, or does it clear up?

 

[Jaypilot]

Sorry to here that bud... the book is from Joyce Wilkerson and I got it off of amazon. Its was expensive about a year ago but I have no clue what it is now. The book is also a little dated but the chapter on setting up a larval tank still seems the same today. The most dated chapter in the book refers to making your own green water which most do not do anymore. Still a lot of great info and I would recommend it.

As stated above I would try to use a bigger tank next time around. I still only fill a 10g with about 3g of water and even though its not .much more then what you are using it has a lot more surface area.

Keep your head up though I lost my last batch and still have about 35 from my first batch. At some point we will find the key to unlock this. Fortunaley we don't have to wait too long for the clowns to lay another nest.

 

[mwilliams62]

Batch #13

Ernieq,
You should cover the lamp from day 1. Too bright gets them confused. My guess is that they are not feeding well. I have read many post and they all say to leave it uncovered for the 1st 24 hours so they can see to hunt the food and so they can get as much as they need before covering them up and that is what I have been doing. The lamp normally sits on the side of the tank I had to move it the other day because I had to setup a QT for one of my cardinals he has a fungus on the mouth.
What specific gravity are your rotifers at and what is the SG of your fry tank. If it is more than .007, they will die of osmotic shock. I try keeping my fry and broodstock tank around 1.020 and the rotifers at 1.017. The broodstock water specific gravity is at 1.024 because the parents are in my DT. So I try to keep the rotifers at 1.020 "“ 1.022
Are you dripping the water changes to your fry tank or just dumping the water straight. On batch 12 I did drip new broodstock water but never did drip in the RO/DI water. Now on batch 13 I did not drip broodstock water I used a very small cup and poured the water in behind the heater that was attached to the side of the tank and I did not put in any RO/DI water levels of water never moved so I was not seeing any evaporation.
Also are you maintaining stable specific gravity by slow dripping some fresh water to replace evaporation?

When you tint your fry tank water, does it stay green for more than 24 hours, or does it clear up? It would clear up after 24 hrs that was on day 3. But on day 4-6 the water stayed a very light green and that is when I noticed they were dying off"¦ As I added the rotifers I would add a little bit of rotifers food in there 2ml on the syringe.


Jaypilot:
Sorry to here that bud... the book is from Joyce Wilkerson and I got it off of amazon. Its was expensive about a year ago but I have no clue what it is now. The book is also a little dated but the chapter on setting up a larval tank still seems the same today. The most dated chapter in the book refers to making your own green water which most do not do anymore. Still a lot of great info and I would recommend it.

As stated above I would try to use a bigger tank next time around. I still only fill a 10g with about 3g of water and even though its not .much more then what you are using it has a lot more surface area.

Keep your head up though I lost my last batch and still have about 35 from my first batch. At some point we will find the key to unlock this. Fortunaley we don't have to wait too long for the clowns to lay another nest.



I found the book on Amazon various prices though I will have to order one of the used ones I can't even believe it I saw one used one going for over $800 sorry I don't think a book would be worth that much even if it is out of print.
I will try the 10gallon tank because I can't find a 5 gallon tank only the 2.5 gallons tanks"¦ but the two - 10 gallon tanks I have are both being used for QT at the moment and I will be moving the parents into one of them once the QT time is up for my new juvenile phantom & snowflake clownfish which will be in about 2 weeks or so. Then they will go into the DT and out will come the pair that is breeding right now. It might through them off on the breeding time period but that will be okay because it will give my rotifers a chance to get re-established.

 

[mikelee35]

I really didn't find her book very help full at all, but I checked it out from my local library, they had to borrow it from another branch, that took about 2 weeks to get it in, but thats where I would look rather than paying for it

Mike