Eggs in display tank; how to move?

[hvacman250]

This will be my Occys 2nd clutch. First time they cleared a spot, laid, 9 days later babies hatched. I stayed up for 2 hours in the middle of the night when they hatched trying to catch them. I read they will come to the light. So I turned the pump/powerheads off, shined a small, then medium, then large flashlight in the top of the tank. They NEVER came to the light!

So, this time I put a tile where they laid last time. Today the little terds have moved to the back side of the rock and are picking, so I know they are going to lay back there.

What is the best way to remove the fry the night they hatch? Are they supposed to come to light at the surface?

Fyi, last time eggs hatched I caught 8. Yes, 8 in almost 2 hours. Only one was alive the next morning, and it died next afternoon. I knew some were damaged as I saw them ride thru the MP40s, but I'm assuming I injured them transferring.

 

[reefstew]

If you have a sump then this will work. Get an empty 2 liter soda bottle & cut out a 3" x 3" window in the side of it. Put a white stocking over it so it will let water come out. Get a plastic funnel & 3/8 or 5/16 clear hose & attach one end to the funnel. Stand the soda bottle up in your sump & block it in so it wont fall over. Start a syphon with the hose & put the funnel over the eggs & the other end in the top of the soda bottle. Drink a cold beer, go to bed, & get up the next morning & see how fry you catch. Use water from the same tank since a change will not be good.

 

[jeff@zina.com]

Larval snagger, search for it. Or larval trap. As for getting eggs, pulling the surface they lay on is the way to go.

Jeff

 

[hvacman250]

If you have a sump then this will work. Get an empty 2 liter soda bottle & cut out a 3" x 3" window in the side of it. Put a white stocking over it so it will let water come out. Get a plastic funnel & 3/8 or 5/16 clear hose & attach one end to the funnel. Stand the soda bottle up in your sump & block it in so it wont fall over. Start a syphon with the hose & put the funnel over the eggs & the other end in the top of the soda bottle. Drink a cold beer, go to bed, & get up the next morning & see how fry you catch. Use water from the same tank since a change will not be good.

This sounds like an awesome idea. I am definately going to try it.

Larval snagger, search for it. Or larval trap. As for getting eggs, pulling the surface they lay on is the way to go.

Jeff

The clowns lay on a 10 lb rock. Atop the 10 lb rock is a 14" H. Mag.

 

[hvacman250]

An update for future people in my shoes:

The 2 liter bottle method posted above did not work for me. Great in theory, but IME the water was moving too fast. The fish got pulled into the funnel, made the journey down the tube, but seemed to get pinned against the stocking where the water exits the 2 liter bottle. I tried partially kinking the tube, looping it, etc to slow the water down, but in the end same result. 1/2 the eggs hatched day 9 for me (this night) Maybe the ride down the tube killed them ???

Next night the rest of the eggs hatched. That morning, before going on an overnight anniversary trip, I fabricated an acrylic larvae trap (Google larval trap and you will see a guy selling these on MOFIB) Everybody seems to love these traps. So I went out of town, left the neighbor in charge of turning on the LED light before lights out, and I came home today to nothing! Not even one in the trap. My thoughts on this method:
1. too much current in the tank. This is a 220 with an mp60 and 2 mp40s. I had the mp60 and mp40 turned off at lights out. Only the return pump and one mp40 on the opposite end from the eggs.
2. the bubbler wasnt turned up high enough? too high? I did not have time to fully test this contraption before leaving for a B&B.

Hopefully I get to try again in 2 weeks. I plan on turning ALL pumps off at lights out on day 9 this time.

Any suggestions from pros?

 

[reefstew]

Just restrict the flow going into the 2 liter bottle. It works since you had fry in it. Go with a smaller hose diameter & try to remove the fry sooner than later.

 

[jbax]

i think it would work as long as the water is not spraying against the netting. maybe put a small flash light at the bottom, and move the hole towards the top. the problem with the larvae trap on mofib, is it's clear acrylic and the larvae see the light through the acrylic. maybe make it out of black acrylic. and all flow has to be off in the display tank at lights out. the larvae can not handle swimming in tank with a mp40 and return pump on. the first batch i raised was with the flashlight and solid plastic bowl in a 150g

IME, if the eggs are hatching on day 9 and 10. then the larvae are hatching hungry and need rotifers asap. if you raise the temp of the tank to 82-84, they will hatch on day 7 or 8 and will still have their yolk sac. and have the light on in the nursery tank as soon as they are all in it. with a good population of rotifers

 

[hvacman250]

The continuing saga...

3rd batch of eggs: I had the temp at 82.5* so I watched the hatch at day 7 and 8. I actually scooped 2 fry day 7 up until 2 hrs after lights out. Day 8 was the main hatch. I caught ZERO. I watched helplessly as my Pajama Cardinal picked them off one by one as they made their way to the light below the larvae trap.

The lone fry I got from hatch #2 died at day 14 or 15. I'm guessing he perished during meta.

I have one lone fry from this hatch #3. We'll see how he fares.

Today is the day after hatch. I have a tile set up where they laid their first batch. I have tile #2 set up where they laid their 2nd batch (because of the first tile), and a tile in another close location. Hopefully (PLEASE PLEASE) they lay eggs on a tile next time.

Just for S&G, I have 4 other pair of clowns on a common system (4 x 20 long) Reg. Occys, Blacks, Semi Picassos, and SA Snow Onyx, as well as a pair of Bangaii cardinals. Please note the 5 pair of fish who SHOULD be getting it on ARENT, and the ones I dont care about are! Isnt that always the way it happens?