First attempt: Black Perc Clowns

[spk]

Hi there folks,

Well here we go. This is going to be my very first attempt to take these in to live little fishes.

Will get more details on the parents and hopefully photographs of them for a alter post. In the mean time here are some interesting, well they are too me, pictures of the eggs.

The first is a picture of the full egg mass.


The second is a close up sowing the little eyes and all.


Ok, the setup:

I currently have the 14 tanks on a central sump, all tanks can be isolated.
All tanks are 24"x12"x18" and bottom drilled with a 32mm drain. Different size risers depending on what they are for, brood stock, growout, etc.

This particular group of eggs is in an isolated tank with a 10" riser. Eggs are on a large piece of rock, and I have a slow stream of bubbles creating water movement to keep the eggs moving. There is a heater in this tank, which will be covered tomorrow so that the light is not visible for the little fishes when they decide to hatch.

Comments apprecaited and I will keep you all posted.

Thanks for reading and I hope that you will find this post interesting.

Steve

 

[Kathy55g]

Contratulations Steve!
Very exciting!
K

 

[spk]

Kathy,

Early days at the moment and that there is very little that I have done yet

Steve

 

[jacob30]

Steve I have raised a few of these guys and have a couple of pointers that took me a while to learn.

1. Air flow once they hatch needs to be either right at the surface or just below the surface but very slow. I prefer just positioning the aerator right at the surface.

2. Lighting: I black out all sides place a piece of egg crate over the top with a very thin towel and ambient lighting only the first three days. Then I take off the towel slowly over a day followed by a small light positioned indirectly at first.

3. Use algae in the larvae tank from day 1 to about day 10. If using IA just a few drops a day to tint water. If using live algae (preferred) again tint water green each day.

4. Rotifers: From night of hatch add rotifers(enriched with algae for a few hours prior). I keep the density to were I can see rotifers about every 1-2 larvae body lengths. Note: With the greenwater technique the rotifers will begin to multiply. Sometimes I get lucky and do not have to add any rotifers after the first few days until about day 7-8. I add decap BBS around day 10.

5. Cleaning: For me I watch my ammonia badge and try to hold off cleaning for the first week so their conditions are stable without adding too much of anything to shock them from the start (at least wait three days).

6. Temp: Ok this is where I diverge from most. I prefer 83-85
deg F. My best hatch I had a faulty heater which I had set for 80 but it never cooperated so I let it run it's course at 85 and had almost a 95% success rate! I have duplicated these results a few times as well. If your nervous 82-83 will be a good compromise.

Again some of these pointers were hard learned and may be anecdotal. I have seen massive deaths by too high a temp (90 deg by faulty heater), too much flow by aeration, too much light and I bleached them once. Success for me is very much a "feel" for your routines. You will know fairly quickly if failure will come or if things are looking good. Almost every time I have failed I knew what the root cause was, but you can never be sure (unless you bleach them or cook them).


The eggs look good! It looks like they have 3 days to go from when the picture was taken. Mine hatch the eighth night 45 minutes after lights out.

Good luck! I hope your first try is a success.

Jacob

 

[spk]

Jacob,

Thanks for the information, great news. I really appreciate all the help I can get in this endeavour.

When you talk about "aerator right at the surface.", what are you using?

I have increased my algae production to about 15 bottles, so I aim to use live all the time if possible.

Thanks
Steve

 

[jacob30]

Specifically I use an airstone that is in the shape of a small 4 in. stick. It has a couple of suction cups which help keep it in position right at the surface. The key objective is achieve oxygenation with minimal circulation (a little is good).

Also, you said you are using some bubbles to keep the eggs moving and oxygenated. This is good but may be too much after they hatch. If you can stay up for the hatch and switch airflow routines once they hatch I would.

Jacob

 

[mark97r6]

Good luck Steve,

keep us posted.

Mark

 

[Kathy55g]

Hatch yet?

 

[spk]

Kathy,

Nit yet I expect that they wiull hatch tonight. I hope that they do and poor Vikki is in the muck with them again.

Funny I remember that I was not home whe the Banggais started breeding too.

Steve

 

[spk]

Hey there.

For all of you watching this post, thougt I would do a quxk update.

Unfortunately none of this hatch made it. The sad news is that they pretty much all turned white byt Monday Afternoon.

Perhaps the news will be better next time and I will keep you all posted.

Mistakes Learned:

1) Fetch the eggs next time
2) Buy the breeding pair

Perhaps the next batch will be better.

Steve

 

[Kathy55g]

Sorry to hear that....

 

[jacob30]

Yes transporting eggs is tricky. I have done this one time with a mere 6 survivors. That is my sole experience with transporting eggs. Good luck next time.

Jacob

 

[spk]

Kathy,

You have had the most experience with the egg transport thingy.
I have a battery powered air pump on order, what dod you do to trasnfer the eggs from the tank to the container that you transported them?

Were the underwater all the time?

Thanks

Steve

 

[Kathy55g]

I just picked them up and put them in the bucket of parent water, half full. The eggs can be in air briefly, a couple of seconds, no problem.

My eggs were on a tile, so in preparation, I glued the airstone (really a long airbar) to the middle of another tile with silicone aquarium sealant or calk.
I had previously made a couple of bumpers (with the silicone) in the bottom of the bucket to keep the airstone tile from slipping away from the side of the bucket. The egg laden tile was then set with the bottom edge against the airstone between it and the side of the bucket, and the egg tile tilted against the side of the bucket. Then, if I was careful, the eggs made it home uneventfully.

 

[David M]

I have moved eggs from a friend's house with no problem. No special rig, the bouncing of the car keeps the water moving and eggs in moton. One time I got there so late on hatch night that half hatched in the bucket on the way home

2) Buy the breeding pair

Yup, at almost any price if you feel they are good breeders/ tenders. I sometimes think about what my prime pair is "worth". Would I take $1000 for them... NO WAY. $5000 ?? Doubt it. Even at wholesale $10,000 is only 2500 juvies and they have given me twice that already, so what are they worth :smokin:

 

[Kathy55g]

On the other hand, any pair of clownfish can turn out to be good breeders, and once you buy them, and move them, you may have some down time anyway. Yes I know, David, that Nicole's breeding pair started up again in 14 days, but I think that is the exception.

I paid a total of 50 bucks for mine, of course I had to wait 3 years, but they were fine breeders! On the other hand, I would not take $1000 for them either, even though they have stopped for now.

Your breeding pair is worth whatever a buyer is willing to pay, just like real estate.

For Steve, it is not unreasonable to hatch some eggs and see what the babies look like, before shelling out the big bucks. I would not have purchased the breeding pair that I got eggs from to practice on. Too many Lordosis and gill/jaw deformities, although some of that may be due to operator error (mine).

K

 

[David M]

It's not like anyone would pay $10,000 for a pair of normal clownfish, my point was they are easily worth that to me

There is a pair at a lfs in a display that produces large nests on a regular basis. I supply the store with fish, you'd think they would jump at the chance to get me that pair. But no, the owner thinks it will be too much work to get them out (large reef tank). We haven't talked about money. When I am ready I'm going to offer $500. I'll bet it gets a whole lot easier to catch them that day Obviously I wouldn't pay that for some unproven pair or a pair that someone says is good, but when you see it for yourself month after month for me it's a no brainer.

I have a friend with spawning B&W's. She says there is no amount of money that could make her part with them. I wonder... :smokin: