Clown fish breeding log ( I hope )

tedr, thanx for the info. I am going to rethink my rotifer tanks thats for sure. I had a total crash, they are done.

Day 1 again.

Good news and bad news. Good news first, All but one survived the transfer. So now I have about 200 hungery mouths. Bad news, The rotifers are done, I am going to try to restart them from the small amount of sludge on the bottom. I hope there are some cycts in there.

I guess this group will have to eat dry food, I know my chances are not good but I have no other option. I am going to pulverize it and run it through a brine shrimp sieve. Do multiple feedings per day and clean the bottom alot.

Any other ideas?

I only took a quick pic for this log, I have the lights out and the top covered so they will not use up energy trying to feed on nothing. In this pic there are about 140 larvae....Pugi
4xzcgax.jpg
 
With the Ocellaris, during rotifer shortages I've had luck starting right off the bat with newly hatched brine shrimp (San Francisco strain, not GSL strain). Not all can/will take it, but I've had 25-50% survival this way. Not great, but better than total losses.

I also use live microalgae in conjunction with preserved in the rotifers. I keep the rots at 3/4 strength salinity rather than full. Ammonia effects are often diminished at lower salinities, and I've seen much better growth in the rots.
 
Try and see if you can find frozen rotifers at a LFS. Hikari packages them. Also the San Francisco strain artemia are worth getting hatched out right away. Along with the finally strained pulverized dry food, you might have some luck with survival.
 
You might want to try Seahorse Source in Ft Pierce, FL. They have decapsulated artemia cysts that they title "Small Strain (A. sinica)" suspended in liquid. They claim they are the smallest available. This is all I'm using, but not usually until the 14th day. They normally ship 2 day, but they will call you when you place order online, and you could possibly set up overnight delivery, if you're so inclined. Either way, I would suggest decapsulated, because, as the Karen Bradley article points out, if not decupsulated, they could choke on the brine shrimp's capsule. Don't get disappointed either way. It may take some trial and error. It did on my end.
 
A P.S. on the rotifer post. The containers I'm referring to are square, not rounded like a soda bottle. You can stand 4 - 5 side by side, and one round reflector with the spring clip should supply the light needed.
 
Thanx for the help all, it is greatly appreciated!!!!!

Here is what I have done so far, The rofiter tanks had a few living ones in them so I sieved 4 gallons from each, leaving one gallon. Took what little rotifers I had and gut loaded and coated with selco. Added to larvae tank. Density is about 3 per ML. The larvae tank only has two gallons in it. I also added IA in larvae tank in hopes the might reproduce a little. I pulverized some flake and added a little as well. I am going to start BBS ASAP. Unfortunatly mine is GSL. I decapsulate myself. It appears the stomachs are turning silver so thats a good sign. I also started a 1 gallon emergency batch of rotifers last night. It has a density of about 1 or 2 per ML right now. I hope it grows like crazy tonight. There is still hope and I am doing all I can...Pugi
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10637576#post10637576 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by tedr
Looks like you've got your log going. Keep it up and GOOD LUCK !!!!!
Click to expand...

Thanx tedr, I finally got that dang article to open and then realized that it is one of the first I printed off when I decited to try this. I also have Joyce Wilkerson's clownfishes book. I cannot recomend it enough, very good. Pugi
 
A question, my nitrites are starting to climb, ammonia is at 0. I did a 25% water change with tank water. The tank water's nitrites are at 0. after the change the nitrites in the larvae tank are still 3.0.

nitrate...60
nitrite....3.0
PH.........8.0

Is this safe? Or do I do bigger water changes and try to drop the nirites down some more? Thanx...Pugi
 
Nitrites are not really a problem in SW. However, with feeding dead type foods you likely are getting a good bit of debris and might want to siphon the bottom twice a day.
 
DAY 2, I have been feeding what little rotifers I have and am lucky to have 3 per ML in the larvae tank, I also have been feeding pulverized flake about every 4 hours. 1/2 hour after feeding the pulverized flake I clean off the bottom of the tank. I see some of the tail kinking and bolting going on when I feed the flake so that is encouraging. I lost 7 last night.

I am still up in the air about the BBS. Do I not feed and hope they dont starve, or do I feed the BBS and hope they dont choke and die? I can see their tummy and it does have food in it but it is not overly large like I'm told they should be....Pugi

4oq3829.jpg
 
Sorry about not having an update, I was sicker than heck yesterday. I think it was food poisening.


Now for the fish, On the evening of day 2 I lost them all. My guess would be just not enough food, with the rotifer crash I did not have many options. I went with the pulverized flake and it looked as some were striking at it, but I guess they were not eating it. If I run into this situation again I think I would try the NHBBS.

Not all is lost though, I learned alot on this try and plan on using my new knowledge on the next batch, which luckly enough should be in about 10 or 11 days. Pugi
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10637377#post10637377 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by tedr
You might want to try Seahorse Source in Ft Pierce, FL. They have decapsulated artemia cysts that they title "Small Strain (A. sinica)" suspended in liquid. They claim they are the smallest available. This is all I'm using, but not usually until the 14th day. They normally ship 2 day, but they will call you when you place order online, and you could possibly set up overnight delivery, if you're so inclined. Either way, I would suggest decapsulated, because, as the Karen Bradley article points out, if not decupsulated, they could choke on the brine shrimp's capsule. Don't get disappointed either way. It may take some trial and error. It did on my end.
Click to expand...

I have ordered these and they are tiny... I almost did not think they hatched they are so small and hard to see. They are not the size of a rotifer though but maybe small enough for some clowns.....

Dave
 
Here we go again, My clowns spawned this evening. 14 days since last spawn. Clutch looks to be bigger than last. I will get a count in the morning. I am not messing around with the rotifers this time, everyday I do a 50% harvest and this is all going into extra tanks to build on. By the time the eggs hatch I should have about 35 gallons in 5 seperate containers to work with. Now if that dont get it done, well I dont know...Pugi
 
I was hoping to come on here and post that all was well and the second hatch was fine, but I lost them on the second night. All of this was done with plenty of rotifers. They had full silver stomachs.

It must be something else I am doing, Going to have to refine my setup a little. I have a feeling its light related. 1/3 of larvae on bottom, 1/3 in water column and 1/3 against side where the top of the water meets the side. Shouldn't most be in the water column?

I guess I will get another try in about 10 days. Pugi
 
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