False Percs - laid eggs 9/18 and not again...

[jbrinker]

OK, Last night I covered the whole end of the tank where they "hang out" 99% of the time. Unless someone goes over to specifically look a them (from the other end of the tank) they will think they are totally alone now. I used dark green paper, and adjusted the light cycle to be 13.5h - ending after we go to bed (so that there will be no room lights on after the cycle ends).

I have gone back to feeding a "normal" amount 2x a day rather than saturation feeding.

Anyone have reccomendations for feed? They like the pellets, and I think that is OK for the "staple", but I would like to suppliment a couple times a week with something better. I saw someone had a recipie somewhere on here for home made feed that was blenderized shrimp, scallops, etc etc. frozen in little squares.

I tried feeding frozen table shrimp once - they totally ignored it. Same with blood worms. They did like cyclopeze, and Ive never tried mysis.

Jeff

 

[MYDRAAL]

Try various frozen foods until you know what they like.

 

[MYDRAAL]

Most lfs's have them cubed in trays. I feed mine a combination of krill,mysis,plankton,mussel,omega brine shrimp,cyclops,rotifers, and squid.

 

[jbrinker]

Like this?:

http://www.hikariusa.com/products/bio-pure/bio-pure_mega-marine.html

Jeff

 

[NirvanaFan]

This is how I make my fish food...

I buy all sorts of seafood (squid, clam, shrimp, scallop, tuna, pretty much whatever I can get my hands on). Make sure it is all uncooked.

Next I chop everything up into very small pieces.

2 part shrimp
2 part clam
1 part squid
1 part scallop
1 part tuna


Make sure everything is small enough that the smallest fish has no problem fitting it in its mouth. I usually chop up some nori and throw that in there as well. I mix everything up in a tupperware container and then scoop/pour it into doubled up sandwich bags. Only fill them an 1/8 of the way full or so. Seal them, then lay them flat in the freezer so they are 1/4" or so thick.

To feed the fish, just break off a chunk of the food and let it thaw out in a small container of water from the tank. I usually swirl it around with my turkey baster and pour off all the water and very small particles of food. I do this a few times so that only the bigger pieces are left. The small pieces will just pollute the water. To feed the fish put some water in the container and suck food and water up with the turkey baster. Squirt some near the fish and they will all go for it.

I also feed this mixture to my BTA. He likes small pieces compared to the big ones that I tried feeding him before.

 

[MYDRAAL]

Yes, or make your own like stated above. I don't worry about the smaller pieces as my other corals and nems will pick them up but if you don't mind making your own you can always taylor it better to the species your feeding. It's recommended to strain the store bought stuff before adding it to your tank, to take out the (unwanted) water. Either way you go variety is key. GL :rollface:

 

[jbrinker]

I tried some of the Hikari brand food I mentioned above. Has plankton, algae, clam, shrimp, etc etc in it. They seem to love it, or hate it. Sometimes I feed it to them and they literally jump out of the water for it, other times they seem to not care much and spit half of it out. I have gone to feeding a few pellets in the am, and the frozen at night. I will probably get some other frozen food to suppliment, or make my own.

Any other commonly available foods that Clowns generally go wild for? (Besides the seafood chowder)

 

[jbrinker]

Still no eggs... I have been faithful in lighting schedule and have been feeding well. I noticed that they were only "spitting" the hikari food out in order to make it smaller, so I started pre-chopping it for them. They love it now. I still feed pellets 1x a day, and the hikari frozen 2x a day. I dont saturation feed, but do feed enough.

I read some interesting threads over on marinebreeder.org and was interested in any thoughts on this thread:

http://www.marinebreeder.org/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=2170&sid=37c322212ed978316e56907e55063690

A few well known tips (and a few that may not be as well known) that helped me achieve some success getting Ocellaris to spawn in 6 weeks for my fish at the lab...

88 F
Feed 4x a day
25% water change a day
Iodine added to the water twice a week
17 hours light a day
BBS added twice a week
Increase the REDOX with Potassium Permagante

Hope that helps anyone with reluctant spawners.

Especially the thoughts about making water changes, and feeding live "plankton" type foods to simulate a plankton bloom.

Thoughts?

 

[MYDRAAL]

I would think the constant feeding helped more than anything else. Don't move anything around and keep feeding them well and I'm sure it won't be long before the start laying eggs again. Keep in mind that it's possible that they got spooked enough not to lay eggs again but probably not likely. My maroons went a couple of months without laying eggs for some reason and then just picked up right where they left off. Just give them time.

 

[jbrinker]

To stick with your (and all the other) advice here, I have not changed anything in about a month now. Nothing. I am due for a water change, and was thinking that thread was interesting, with the "changing water makes them spawn" thing.

Another thing that I had done right before the last spawn (a few days) was a big water change. Since its time again, and I need to clean some hair algae, I think I will go ahead with that and see what happens. I will try to not disturb them much, and will probably leave their end of the tank alone.

I did add some snails a few weeks ago, but Im sure the clowns didnt even notice.

 

[rkelman]

Keep up with your water changes. They are part of the routine.

 

[MYDRAAL]

Yes, by all means keep doing your water changes as normal including cleaning the glass ect. around their nest sight if you have to. Just try to keep the (structure) around their area the same. IMO the best things to do are feeding well and keeping their surroundings the same. As long as you don't add livestock that will go after the clowns, I wouldn't worry about doing that either. Time and routine will get them back to it

 

[Atticus]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13544718#post13544718 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Atticus

Feeding live brine, not a bad idea. I however suggest live baby brine or rotifers. These feedings replicate a plankton bloom. Some believe this triggers the female to believe there is plenty of food available for her to produce young. I am not a firm believer in this theory, but the fish enjoy it. Plankton blooms can also be simulated using cyclop-eeze (which has more nutritional/tailored value).

Thought I would quote myself on this one.... LOL


As for water changes I keep them to a bare minimum and have not found any evidence to support spawning after a big water change. If nothing else all a big change is going to do is stress the pair. For them to lay eggs right after a water change the female would have needed to have been gravid(carrying mature eggs) in the first place and would have most likely spawned anyway.

 

[FishGuttz]

Congrats on your spawn!

It's interesting that your fish spawned after you left the tank to go to crud for a while and now you are doing the exact opposite and expecting a spawn. I've heard at ORA they don't allow tours because it spooks the fish. Maybe the algae on the side of the tank hid you from view!

anyway, I've been feeding cyclopeeze flakes, brine shrimp 2x a wk and frozen mysis. The female is getting huge. I am doing a modified "ColbyMethod". I am too cautious to use the permanganate and I keep the tank at 82°. I played a youtube movie of spawning OC's and let my fish watch. I swear the next day they were taking turns doing the shimmy over the tile. I've never seen them do that before. The only problem is --the male has a huge crush on the old lady... but she spends a lot of time biting chasing and shooing him away.

 

[jbrinker]

Yes, I thought that was interesting too. After posting on here (a few weeks after the 1st spawn) I realized about the algae and visibility.

I put up green paper on that whole end of the tank. I havent cleaned that end either. Nothing yet. I keep hoping.

Gonna pick up some mysid and fresh brine eggs tonight. Have to get used to hatching brine too, might as well feed them to the fish.

Jeff

 

[MYDRAAL]

That's just the point though. You weren't in there messing with anything, they got comfortable, and nature took its course

 

[rkelman]

You don't have to get used to hatching brine.. I don't use brine at all. I only use Otohime.

 

[jbrinker]

I don't use brine at all. I only use Otohime.

I have heard of that. Looks like good stuff. I wonder if thats why my tank-raised clowns (the breeding pair) like pellets so much! They really seem to prefer them to just about everything else.

I threw a cube of frozen rotifers (Hikari) in last night. They went bananas for them - maybe it was remembering their childhood or something I have some old cyclopeze, but they are freezer burned.

I didnt get a chance to pick up any other food, I really want to try frozen mysis or enriched frozen brine to see what they do.

@MYDRAAL: Yeah, that was very interesting. Probably the most I've ignored the tank since I got the fish and they spawn. Thats the reason I put the paper up and have "ignored" their end. Hoping to recreate the same conditions. The WAF of the paper is getting to be a problem though, and it won't last much longer. I guess if I have to take it down I will just continue on and try to not make too many other changes.