Beginner Breeder

[skippy12094]

Hi all,
I just have a couple of questions if anyone could help. I am interested in starting to breed true percs but I don't really know where to start. I am going to buy a mated pair of clowns and place them in half of a 20 long (the other half will be my refugium with a divider) and hopefuly they will spawn on a pice of glass or whatever I should put in there (any ideas?) I have been reading about making Phyto plankton and feeding that to the rotofers and feeding the rotofers to the fry but it all seems to simple... What is a good list of things I need? What type and how many tanks do I need what type of air pumps where do I get a round tank for the fry. I would really like a beginner's list of all the esentials if I could. If anyone could help that would be great. One more thing. My local fish store told me if I was successful in breeding that they would buy my fish. Is this a decent way to make some cash and have fun or do you need real large scale industrial stuff to make $$$ because I have about 10 different places that sell fish around where I live.
Thanks
Mark

 

[landlord]

Mark,

I'm not thinking that you'll be getting rich anytime soon

..but with that aside here is a list of the things I started out with

Breeding Pair of Clownfish
5.5 gallon tank (more depending on how many batches you want to raise)
acrylic tank cover
1/4 inch airline
airstones
gang valve
heater
floating thermometer
ammonia badge (I hate this thing, and would rather use test kits, IMHO)
ammoia remover
sponge filter
2 5 gallon buckets (for rotifers)
rotifer diet (for feeding rotifers, I did not want to grow phyto)
Otohime foods for the fry
plankton sieve

when they get bigger you'll need a growout tank as well.

I will not get into the extras that I bought and never used!

Good Luck!

landlord

 

[skippy12094]

Hey thanks for getting back to me so soon. Yea I don't think I'll be getting rich anytime soon but it would be nice to supplement my income. Soon I will be loseing my job due to cuts like everyone else so I think I'll breed fish and finish school. Do you think it's worth buying the book by Joyce Wilkerson? and I wonder if that will walk me step by step though the breeding process? How long does it take from the time the fish spawn to the time you can sell the offspring? it seems like it is a pretty fast process. It actually seems like it is so fast that it becomes overwhelming? I have been reading about growing brine shrimp and how ofetn you have to feed the offspring (every 3 hours) I will need someone here when I'm at work right? I have so many questions so please don't get aggravated. Maybe I should only worrry about one step at a time. First I have to get my refugium built and get my mated pair of clowns. Should I make a nice place for them or does it not matter much (ie. corals, rock, annemonies etc... or just a decent sized space in an empty tank). In the mean time I will start getting the list you listed above. again thanks.

Mark

 

[landlord]

Mark,

I believe that the book can only help you. I didn't get the book though. I put my faith in reading the last years worth of breeding threads here in this forum. Most notably were rkelman, dazed, and FB's threads. My rationale was that these guys probably had the book, made some mistake, and found a system that worked. I used the best from each of them. I believe that the book will walk you throughthe process but I cannot attest to whether the materials are dated in any way or if there are some newer "thoughts" on how to breed.

From fry to sale - Good question. The LFS's around me are looking for fish from 1 to 1.25 inches in length depending on the species, I do not know how long it will take them to get that size since I am kind of new to the game. I would expect a 9 month old fish to be sellable with the added benefit of having better coloration and size by that point.

I cannot speak to growing out brine shrimp nor to feeding the fry every three hours. I did neither. I go to work at 6 AM till 2 PM and my fry did just fine.

First thing I would do is get your clownfish and make them happy. Not sure if a refugium is the best place to make them happy but who knows. WHen they are happy, of age, eating well, etc that's when the magic starts. Personally I would go out buying a bunch of stuff until you have some clown who have laid at lest 2 batches of eggs. That way you'll know it isn;t fluke batch before you start growing your rotifer, etc...

The best advice I can give you is:

READ, READ, READ, and then when you're done READ somemore.

I have learned on a combination of those who did it before me and my own mistakes / observations. I am sure you will do something close to the same as the rest of us.

Good Luck

landlord

 

[skippy12094]

Land Loard,
again thanks for getting back to me. I will listen to that advice and do just that, slow down and get the clowns, get them happy and move on to the next step. I will get the book, read the threads and keep in touch as to how my little project is going. I was just on Dr smith and foster and I have a whole shopping cart of things from your list, I will wait like you said, until the clowns have a couple of batches or so. Thanks a lot Landloard I will keep this thread posted as to how it's going. Thanks.

Mark

 

[Chipie]

Yes do wait until your clowns actually are laying eggs. A mated pair can still take a long time to decide laying eggs if they ever do. So, i would do like landlord said and learn as much as possible while you wait for your clownfishes to finally lay eggs.
I have 2 pairs of Black and white ocellaris that are about 2 years old and still haven't laid eggs yet. A couple is showing signs of wanting to do so very soon Good luck with yours.

 

[adamsky27]

Landlord, I must say that it is very refreshing to see somebody take the time and actually answer a question rather than saying "use the search function" or "read more threads" or "go buy a book." We need more people like you on these forums!

 

[landlord]

Some forums are better than others for sure!

Thanks for the kind words!

landlord

 

[dazed]

landlord gave you some good advice already; you don't want to put the cart in front of the horse or so the saying goes; my pair of true perc's took 4 years before they laid eggs and just a fyi; you may want to look into raising a different variety as the true perc's are one of the slowest to develop their stripes, etc.....