Clownfish Spawning!

[RockyProndoa]

Hello!

So Sunday night, while doing my typical viewing of the tank my wife and I noticed that our clownfish pair (standard orange female and all black male) were nowhere to be found. After some searching in the tank, we found them in the very back corner of the tank, near the bottom, hovering nearly upside down on a rock formation. After further inspection (and a brief moment of panic on my part as I thought they had become ill), there were probably 30-40bright orange eggs hanging from the underside of my rock. Yay!

Fast forward to today, the orange eggs have now turned a silver/brown color and are still being tended to. I realize that this seems to be a very small batch, and assumedly this is the pairs first batch as I have never noticed it before. That being said, I would like to try and rear some of the fry myself because 1. It would just be cool, 2. I think it would be a great project for the wife and kids to really become interested in the tank, 3. and, did I say it would just be cool?

So, I am here looking for advice....again. Assumedly I should let nature take its course with this batch, and hopefully the pair will spawn again in a few weeks, at which point I plan to set-up a 10 gal tank (half-full for 5 gal of water) with lid and led light (one of those tetra tanks they sell at petco), and I plan to order APBreed's CCS system along with their rotifer food and initial culture. I expect this little venture to cost about $100, and while not a lot, certainly not something I just want to throw away - and for the sake of the fish, I want to be successful!

So - can anyone offer advice on the above system? Any comments good/bad? Anything I should know? I have read a ton on the web - but that is partially the problem - there is so much conflicting information, sometimes outdated, that I came here to the real experts:wildone: looking for advice.

Thanks for the help!

 

[RockyProndoa]

I just realized I probably should have posted this in the "Fish Breeding" forum.... :idea:

Mods...feel free to move

 

[Pearfish]

The compact culture system is not a bad option but imo its a waste of money. I have no problems culturing my rots. Heres my very common method. Get 1 million reed mariculture L type rotifer, get a five gallon bucket. Fill it with 1.017 saltwater. Add rots after floating bag. Feed roti grow omega. (freeze in little bottles and unfreeze as needed it provides lomgest self life.) tint water lightly green just enough to not see bottom of bucket(white works best) ad a rigid airline and wait 3-4 days amd begin to harvest the rots. I take out 3 quarts a day. Replacing with fsw (mini water change)

 

[Pearfish]

Let me know if u have any questions. I am pretty new but can try my best to answer

 

[Lrood]

Raising rotifers is the important step during the first week, but be prepared to have nhbbs available by day 4-5 post hatch too. I think the key with success, other than foods, is good water quality in the larval tank. I typically raise clowns in a 2 gallon fishbowl kreisel with 50% water change every other day, which includes a bottom vacuum. I use water from my main tank, run though a 53 micron filter to replace. I raise my larvae through meta in the kreisel, then move to a growout tank. Below is a link to my breeding journal (also documents me wiping about 50 fry with some screwup during a water change).

Good luck, this is a really fun & rewarding endeavor.

http://www.mbisite.org/Forums/tm.aspx?m=80286

 

[RockyProndoa]

Thanks for the great info everyone...and Ken, your link is EXTREMELY helpful. :beer:

 

[RockyProndoa]

Raising rotifers is the important step during the first week, but be prepared to have nhbbs available by day 4-5 post hatch too. I think the key with success, other than foods, is good water quality in the larval tank. I typically raise clowns in a 2 gallon fishbowl kreisel with 50% water change every other day, which includes a bottom vacuum. I use water from my main tank, run though a 53 micron filter to replace. I raise my larvae through meta in the kreisel, then move to a growout tank. Below is a link to my breeding journal (also documents me wiping about 50 fry with some screwup during a water change).

Good luck, this is a really fun & rewarding endeavor.

http://www.mbisite.org/Forums/tm.aspx?m=80286

One other question...you mention use of a 'tumbler' in your link. Is this something you purchased? or DIY? Any details you can provide would be appreciated as well.

 

[Lrood]

I use a homemade tumbler to hatch eggs that I have removed from the tank substrate - gently scraped off a piece of live rock too large to remove from the tank. (My clowns never took to layoneggs on a convenient tile, and honestly, I never liked having a piece of tile in my reef display tank). Eggs can be very easily removed by attaching a plastic straw to a piece of airline tubing. A siphon is started, and then to eggs are scraped off smoothly from the rock and collected in a container. I do this the day before expected hatch. Then they are placed in the tumbler - essentially the same concept as a brine shrimp hatchery. I have a 2 liter soda bottle with a piece of rigid tubing through the cap, the bottom is cut off. This is secured in my frag tank, the airline is connected and enough flow to gently circulate the eggs (prevent them from settling to the bottom). The top of the tumbler is above tank water level, so when the larvae hatch teeny are all in the tumbler, and easily transferred to the kreisel.

Sorry for the long-winded answer. I'll see if I have a pic, as it is a really simple contraption. Other breeders use similar techniques for hatching Banggai eggs that are pulled from the male.

 

[Lrood]

Here is my low tech tumbler. A very expensive device