watergator
New member
I just noticed that my clownfish (large femal & small male) have a bunch of eggs next to the host anemone. Will they hatch or just die off? I have heard they are very difficult to raise...
Clownfish eggs
- Thread starter watergator
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watergator
New member
I have had the big one for two years and introduced the smaller one about 6 months ago.
Also, I read an article that says just leave them in the tank and let the parents care for them. I might leave a few in and see what happens. The rest I will put in a larvae tank and feed rotifers...
Also, I read an article that says just leave them in the tank and let the parents care for them. I might leave a few in and see what happens. The rest I will put in a larvae tank and feed rotifers...
heap
New member
well...you'll want to leave the eggs with the parents to take care of up until the point they hatch...after they hatch, they will not survive in the parents tank.
i've gotten into the habit of stealing eggs about 2 hours before hatch (after awhile, you'll spot the tell tale signs and get used to the timing...their eyes go from black to a real shiny silver the day before/day of hatching) and placing them in a larval rearing tank to hatch. being as yours have laid on the rock your nem is on, that probably isn't an option.
you'll want to be ready to snag the little buggers as soon as they hatch...depending on the species, they could all hatch within 1/2 hour of your lights going out, or they could take all night to fully hatch out. you can use a flashlight shining on the surface of the water to attract them, and scoop them out with a ladle or something similar, but...that's kinda a pain. (playing hide and seek with 500 fry can get a little tedious)
it isn't that difficult to make a larval snagger, and it makes life a little easier - here's a couple of threads on them
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=810442
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=793564
not happy news, but...unless you've been culturing phyto and rotifers already, the odds of having enough chow to sustain this batch are pretty slim...you might be better off letting this batch feed the tank, and be prepared for the next clutch (depending on the pair, they will lay again 4 to 8 days after the current clutch hatches, unless something disturbs them or they just aren't in the mood, of course...)
i've gotten into the habit of stealing eggs about 2 hours before hatch (after awhile, you'll spot the tell tale signs and get used to the timing...their eyes go from black to a real shiny silver the day before/day of hatching) and placing them in a larval rearing tank to hatch. being as yours have laid on the rock your nem is on, that probably isn't an option.
you'll want to be ready to snag the little buggers as soon as they hatch...depending on the species, they could all hatch within 1/2 hour of your lights going out, or they could take all night to fully hatch out. you can use a flashlight shining on the surface of the water to attract them, and scoop them out with a ladle or something similar, but...that's kinda a pain. (playing hide and seek with 500 fry can get a little tedious)
it isn't that difficult to make a larval snagger, and it makes life a little easier - here's a couple of threads on them
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=810442
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=793564
not happy news, but...unless you've been culturing phyto and rotifers already, the odds of having enough chow to sustain this batch are pretty slim...you might be better off letting this batch feed the tank, and be prepared for the next clutch (depending on the pair, they will lay again 4 to 8 days after the current clutch hatches, unless something disturbs them or they just aren't in the mood, of course...)
watergator
New member
Thanks for the links. That will make it much easier. I have ordered rots which should come tomorrow. I will start culturing them immediately.
How much of the rots do I put into the larvae tank when feeding them? Won't they continue to grow in the larvae tank too?
How much of the rots do I put into the larvae tank when feeding them? Won't they continue to grow in the larvae tank too?
heap
New member
you'll want a density somewhere around 15 rots/mL
you can add phyto to the larva tank to keep the rotifers present in the larva tank fed, and reproducing. you'll want to test your phyto to see if it's full of nitrates from the fertilizer still, tho...the instances where i have fed phyto to a larval tank (I typically only do this when the hatch is delayed a night beyond what it normally should have been - such fry will have went thru more of their egg sack..making sure every rot they eat has nutrients is a plus) i just strained the phyto thru a couple of coffee filters, then scraped the green goo that the filters collected into a cup of water from the larval tank. stir/agitate the crap out of that to 'disolve' the phyto back into the water. that way, you aren't carrying any of the nitrates from the phyto culture into your larval tank.
those that are more experienced with it may have better tricks to doing the above, tho...i only do it if i have to. seems to make the tank too volatile, and i end up doing 3 to 4 water changes per day. of course, i'm only doing it with clutches that are already a little behind anyway, so that could factor into it.
i know the feeling man...there's eggs there, and you want to raise them...but unless you are ordering a rather large (6-8 liters) quantity of rots, you would probably do better to let this clutch pass and concentrate on getting your phyto/rot cultures up to snuff for the next batch....especially if this is your pairs first spawn. seems like more often than not, a females first clutch will be a little wonky (fry that can't detach from their egg casing completely, low hatch rate, etc). that said...if they've started spawning, they'll most likely keep at it unless you disturb them, or their tank parms go wonky.
if you haven't already...seek out "Clownfishes" by Joyce Wilkerson - it's got a treasure trove of info in it for what you're wanting to do.
you can add phyto to the larva tank to keep the rotifers present in the larva tank fed, and reproducing. you'll want to test your phyto to see if it's full of nitrates from the fertilizer still, tho...the instances where i have fed phyto to a larval tank (I typically only do this when the hatch is delayed a night beyond what it normally should have been - such fry will have went thru more of their egg sack..making sure every rot they eat has nutrients is a plus) i just strained the phyto thru a couple of coffee filters, then scraped the green goo that the filters collected into a cup of water from the larval tank. stir/agitate the crap out of that to 'disolve' the phyto back into the water. that way, you aren't carrying any of the nitrates from the phyto culture into your larval tank.
those that are more experienced with it may have better tricks to doing the above, tho...i only do it if i have to. seems to make the tank too volatile, and i end up doing 3 to 4 water changes per day. of course, i'm only doing it with clutches that are already a little behind anyway, so that could factor into it.
i know the feeling man...there's eggs there, and you want to raise them...but unless you are ordering a rather large (6-8 liters) quantity of rots, you would probably do better to let this clutch pass and concentrate on getting your phyto/rot cultures up to snuff for the next batch....especially if this is your pairs first spawn. seems like more often than not, a females first clutch will be a little wonky (fry that can't detach from their egg casing completely, low hatch rate, etc). that said...if they've started spawning, they'll most likely keep at it unless you disturb them, or their tank parms go wonky.
if you haven't already...seek out "Clownfishes" by Joyce Wilkerson - it's got a treasure trove of info in it for what you're wanting to do.
watergator
New member
Thank you. I am going to go through the motions this time, but I won't expect good results. Maybe it will better prepare me for the next batch. I have one quart of rotifers coming. I'll keep them growing though...
heap
New member
cool...best of luck, man
you'll get better reproduction on the rotifer cultures you're starting (i'd start with splitting the very dense 1 quart into 4 two liter bottles if you have at least 3 days before the eggs will hatch...that'll give ya dense cultures to feed from once hatch day comes) if ya reduce the salinity to about 1.14 or so.
when you go to feed them to the larva tank, if there's a salinity difference of more than .07, it'll fry their brains, tho. going w/ a low salinity on the rot cultures will cause them to reproduce quicker, but you'd likely need to transition the rots to 1.17 or 1.18 for a few hours prior to feeding them to the larva tank....or slowly reduce the larva tank to 1.18/1.19 during the first day. slowly. very slowly.
the lower salinity rots aren't typically worth the hassle, but if you're wanting to jump start things, it might not hurt.
as with anything, there's a caveat...with faster reproduction comes more volatile cultures. you'll need to keep an eye on them more than you would a culture that's running at 1.18 or so.
you'll get better reproduction on the rotifer cultures you're starting (i'd start with splitting the very dense 1 quart into 4 two liter bottles if you have at least 3 days before the eggs will hatch...that'll give ya dense cultures to feed from once hatch day comes) if ya reduce the salinity to about 1.14 or so.
when you go to feed them to the larva tank, if there's a salinity difference of more than .07, it'll fry their brains, tho. going w/ a low salinity on the rot cultures will cause them to reproduce quicker, but you'd likely need to transition the rots to 1.17 or 1.18 for a few hours prior to feeding them to the larva tank....or slowly reduce the larva tank to 1.18/1.19 during the first day. slowly. very slowly.
the lower salinity rots aren't typically worth the hassle, but if you're wanting to jump start things, it might not hurt.
as with anything, there's a caveat...with faster reproduction comes more volatile cultures. you'll need to keep an eye on them more than you would a culture that's running at 1.18 or so.
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