Clown Fry in Fug?

[JasonMHorn]

Last night I saw that my Clowns that I've had for a little over two years have finally laid eggs. Needless to say, I'm Stoked!!!!

I've been looking into breeding Clowns for sometime now. I now that this clutch will go more then likely be lost do to the fact that they were laid on a permanent rock in my DT. But I'll see what I can do.

I know that people usually set up a separate tank for their breeding Clowns. But I was wondering if anyone has ever tried to raise them in the Fug?

I have a 72 Bow DT with a 29 Sump that has about a 10 gallon section as a refugium with 3 pieces of LR and some Cheato. The water to the Fug is being supplied by a Rio 600 so it's only about 100 gallons an hour. The water is being pumped to the bottom of the Fug and then the water slowly cascades over the partition back to the return pump.

I figure that the Fug will allow a safe place for the fry. And that the water flow isn't strong enough to sweep the lil ones nor Rotifiers over the partition. Plus I figure if I leave the LR and Chaeto in there, it'll give them some hiding places.

Here is a picture of my sump with the Fug obviously on the left side.


Any help or info would be greatly appreciated!!

 

[GreshamH]

Nope, sorry. You'll need to keep pristine water quality, as well as keep the rotifers in there for the initial feeding. Not to mention things like amphipods predating on them.

 

[JasonMHorn]

Nope, sorry. You'll need to keep pristine water quality, as well as keep the rotifers in there for the initial feeding. Not to mention things like amphipods predating on them.

So my tank water wouldn't be considered pristine? I was thinking that the water condition was good since they laid eggs.

 

[JasonMHorn]

Oh and there are amphipods in there.

 

[JasonMHorn]

It was to my understanding that you want the water parameters the safe in the fry tank as the are in the breeding tank. I'm i wrong in reading that?

 

[_shorty_]

Gresham knows his stuff, but if you have quality levels, many do use brood stock water unless issues arise. I have much less experience, but just for argument sake, if you could pull it off, I'd think you'd have to pull flow WAY back (to the point that it probably wouldn't provide a lot of the filtration that you are accustomed to from it ), and if the fry aren't falling over your overflow, you'll need to keep your rotifer density up, since you will be loosing them to your overflow.

 

[JasonMHorn]

Gresham knows his stuff, but if you have quality levels, many do use brood stock water unless issues arise. I have much less experience, but just for argument sake, if you could pull it off, I'd think you'd have to pull flow WAY back (to the point that it probably wouldn't provide a lot of the filtration that you are accustomed to from it ), and if the fry aren't falling over your overflow, you'll need to keep your rotifer density up, since you will be loosing them to your overflow.

As far as flow, everything that I read said to use an air stone and pump for circulation. That's why I was thinking that my setup would be ok. Because like I said that the flow is practically nil. Maybe I'll have to run some test on the flow.

I hope that no one takes my comments as standoffish. I really do appreciate everyone's input. I'm just trying to consider all of the options.

 

[shifty51008]

Your water quality in the tank will go down hill very fast trying to raise clowns in the fuge, between all the new babies and as many rotifers you will have to feed to keep the population up it isnt worth it. A 10 gal tank, heater and airstone is very cheap and will save you lots of headaches down the road

 

[JasonMHorn]

Your water quality in the tank will go down hill very fast trying to raise clowns in the fuge, between all the new babies and as many rotifers you will have to feed to keep the population up it isnt worth it. A 10 gal tank, heater and airstone is very cheap and will save you lots of headaches down the road

Thanks. I never thought of it that way. What do you recommend for water in the fry tank? New water, water from the DT or a mix?

 

[shifty51008]

I use tank water until meta then switch to nsw after. But i have seen others use nsw from the start with good turnouts

 

[D-Nak]

A 10 gallon tank is definitely the way to go. Make sure you black out the walls so that the fry can see the rotifers, and put electrical tape over the light on the heater (the babies will be attracted to it and you don't want them to get burned by the heater).

In terms of tank water, if you've ever had ich in your DT, use NSW. I recently lost two large clutches and I'm guessing it was due to the fact that I had a tang with ich in my DT and it wiped out the babies, which weren't able to cope with the ich as the other fish in the DT are able to.

 

[JasonMHorn]

Again I really appreciate all of the info!!!

Luckily I've never had Ick in my DT.

So I'm sold on running a small tank. But I have few quick question because you guys seem like you have been down this road before.

1: Will it effect the spawning behavior or the Clowns if I take them from my DT and put them into a smaller tank for breeding? I waited a long time for this to happen and the last thing that I want is for it to be affected.

2: If not, when would be the ideal time to do so?

3: Obviously it depends on the parameters, but roughly how much water would I be changing and how often? I'm not sure what setup I'll use. I have a 20 long laying around. Or I might go get a 10 like yous suggested.

 

[_shorty_]

1: Will it effect the spawning behavior or the Clowns if I take them from my DT and put them into a smaller tank for breeding? I waited a long time for this to happen and the last thing that I want is for it to be affected.

2: If not, when would be the ideal time to do so?

Most likely, yes. I just did this last night (it was a chore to get them out of my reef), and I expect to wait several months before I expect to see mine regularly spawn again

3: Obviously it depends on the parameters, but roughly how much water would I be changing and how often? I'm not sure what setup I'll use. I have a 20 long laying around. Or I might go get a 10 like yous suggested.

20L would probably work. Just don't fill it up all the way, right away. One approach would be to start with maybe 5 gallons, then drip in saltwater to raise the level in the tank through meta up to 10 or 15 gallons. This would help with water quality while the larvae are at thier most delicate stages. Then water change as needed and keep the bottom clean of excess food and waste. Also remember to keep salinity stable.

comments above in red.

 

[JasonMHorn]

So I moved my breeding pair to their own little 10 gallon tank. Question: do you keep anything else in their own tank? I was thinking about putting a Cleaner Shrimp in there to eat the uneatten food that the Clowns leave untouched.

 

[Ambition]

You will have to set up another 10g tank to raise the fry. They likely won't spawn again for several months, which will put a hold on things. I believe what the others meant by setting up a 10g tank was that it was set up for the fry once collected from your display tank. To get the fry from the DT, I would have put in a tile or pot near where the clowns hang out and spawn and remove the tile or pot the day they are expected to hatch so that they just hatch into the larval tank.

 

[JasonMHorn]

The tank was originally for just the fry. But I moved them because I was at LFS and they had a beautiful pair of Black Clowns and I couldn't resist. So I bought them and put them in my DT.