First attempt

[cbitsiaras]

Hello everyone,

As you saw on the last video, our clownfish couple decided to lay some eggs. The other night I was kind of restless and couldn't sleep and as usual I went to the tank with a torch and saw tenths and tenths of little clown fish larvae flying all over the place.

Here is a small video from the pitch dark tank with the little hatched babies



We decided to siphon them out and observe them for the next couple of days and here is what we were able to get out with our very sleepy eyes.




Unfortunately we only had baby brine shrimp which was too big for their little mouths and lacking nutrient value so in within 5 days we lost all of them.

That little experiment made us study more and more about breeding clownfish. Not because we want to make money out of it but merely to be able and be part of the natural processes taking place in our own tank. If clown fish wanted to make babies, as responsible parents that we are, then we have to give them chance in life, right?

Two days after our order, the package arrived from UK (couldn't find any supplier in Denmark). 500ml of live rotifers, 100ml of super high concentration of Nannochloropsis & Tetraselmis Phytoplankton and a rotifer sieve.





Equipment used by both rotifer tank and phytoplankton tank:

- Air pump with 2 channels (36 Euros)



- 80cm double fluorescent lamp (26 Euros)



Equipment for rotifer tank:

- IKEA bucket (3 Euros)
- 2m of soft airline (free)
- 1m of rigid airline (free)



Equipment for phytoplankton tank:

- 2 x 2L coca cola bottles (9 Euros "“ Yes, even coca cola is much more expensive in Denmark than any other part of the world)
- 2m of soft airline (free)
- 1m of rigid airline (free)

Setting up the rotifer tank:



- Freshly mixed 10L RODI water with salt at salinity similar to the salinity of the live rotifer pack (1.017)
- Place 2 airlines in (without airstone as I read many articles that airstone skims which is not good for rotifers)
- Place the bag of rotifers in for 10 minutes to reach same temperature as the rotifer tank
- Pour the content of the rotifer bag in the rotifer tank
- Feed a few drops from the super high concentration of Nannochloropsis & Tetraselmis Phytoplankton



Setting up the phytoplankton tank:

- Remove the labels of the bottles and wash repeatedly with warm water. Place a bit of vodka and shake. Alcohol in vodka will act as disinfectant. Rinse thoroughly several times with hot water and allow to dry
- Drill a hole at the centre of the bottle cup. Open a secondary smaller hole to relief and built up pressure from the air bubbles



- Freshly mixed water from the tap with salt at salinity of 1.017. Used tap water instead of RODI because phytoplankton needs food to grow and tap water supplies sufficient nitrates and phosphate.
- Added approximate 3ml of the super high concentration of Nannochloropsis & Tetraselmis Phytoplankton until a colour slightly darker than the flesh of a cucumber was achieved.
- Place the airline in (without airstone as I read many articles that airstone skims which is not good for rotifers)


And here is the end result:



Are we going to be successful? We really dont know but at least we try.

For the time being we are crossing fingers that our Clown fish couple will soon feel the need of laying more eggs.

Will keep you posted on our little project.


Thank you for reading the update and wishing you a wonderful weekend ahead from snowy Copenhagen.


Warm regards
Dino

 

[cbitsiaras]

Day 1 - 30.01.2014

Day 1 - 30.01.2014

So our couple of Pergola clown fish decided to lay some eggs on the same spot this morning. When we came back from work we could see the familiar bright orange colour.

Our phytoplanlton culture not so good. After 3 attempts to start a culture by the concentrate rotifer feed phytoplanlton we momentarily give up. We will keep on feeding the rotifers with the concentrate which is not that expensive and last for long (and saves us from the hustle). We will consider at a later stage starting our own phyto culture but for the time being we are well off with the concentrate one we bought.

Our rotifer culture is going well. We change 50% of the water every 4th day. Once the baby fry will be ready then we will be harvesting 10-20% a day. its simply INSANE how fast they reproduce.

Warm regards
Dino

 

[cbitsiaras]

Day 3 - 01.02.2014

Day 3 - 01.02.2014

The male clown is protecting the eggs and blowing fresh salt water on them to keep them well oxygenated. Seems that the batch is as big as last time.

Two pictures of how they look like:






Will keep on documenting the process as this is our real first attempt and is based on what we have read in various threads and sites.

Warm regards from snowy Copenhagen

Dino

 

[jf2381]

Awesome shots. Good luck with them.

 

[shifty51008]

great shots, can I ask what camera your using?

looks like you have everything else in place to be able to raise the fry though, what are you going to feed after the rotifers? BBS or go right to dry foods?

 

[cbitsiaras]

Day 4 - 02.02.2014

Day 4 - 02.02.2014

Since I am not sure how the need for rotifers will be, i split the culture in two different ones. This way if one crashes i will still have the other.

Doing a bit of research through the internet concerning what i should offer the fry after the meta period. Golden pearls and OTO B1 is what i read but hard to find in Europe. The EU equivalent seems to be from ZM Systems: http://www.zmsystems.co.uk/index.php?app=gbu0&ns=catshow&ref=Fryfood

I will be ordering the ZM-100

Site description: ZM-100: particle size 80-200 microns. The ZM-100 particle size is similar to rotifers and smaller than newly hatched brineshrimp. This diet serves as an excellent starter feed for marine and freshwater fish species and can be used alone or alongside livefoods.

Observations:
Most of the eggs have turned dark, very few still orange. Both clown fish takes better care protecting and "nursing" the eggs. Todays shots are not that clear due to full polyp extension of the turbinaria coral situated right below and the full extension of discosoma mushroom coral situated right above.


Female clown fish posing:



Hard working couple taking turns "nursing" their little ones



Male clown fish:



Here you can see that most of the eggs have turned dark apart from a few who are still in the process:

 

[woodnaquanut]

Great shots, Dino. I really like the second to last, male with eggs, mostly hidden from view!

 

[cbitsiaras]

Day 5 - 03.02.2014

Day 5 - 03.02.2014

Both male and female keep on nursing the eggs. Today I could notice two dots at the end of the egg (eyes) and start becoming half transparent.

Later on today I will do water change on the display tank and will move some to the fray tank and have it run with the thermostat and air bubbler to see that temperature is stable and there is no problem with the air bubbler. I do this so i will not stress the fry by temperature fluctuations and sudden movements.

Shots of the day:

Love the look of the male clown fish. He got the "It wasn't me!" look



The eggs start becoming transparent with the eyes visible



A nice capture of the female nursing the eggs

 

[cbitsiaras]

Day 6 - 04.02.2014

Day 6 - 04.02.2014

During the weekly water change at the display tank I got some water in the fry tank to check that air bubbler, thermometer and thermostat works well. I will make sure that the temperature and salinity is the same in both fry tank and display tank. We are only a couple of night away from hatching so I dont expect the rest parameters to change so drastically that the fry will get shocked.

Here is how the set up looks like. I want to put the air bubbler where the thermostat is so the fry doesnt get fried but that will require alot of water to cover the majority of the thermostat. Most probably i will end up having it right at the bottom of the tank and as i add water during the days post hatching and meta will move it on a vertical position



And here are the two shots of the day. Not a huge difference from Day 5. It seems though that their bellies are a bit more round than yesterday.

 

[cbitsiaras]

Day 7 - 05.02.2014

Day 7 - 05.02.2014

Cant really notice much of a difference from Day 6. Late at night and minutes before they enter Day 8 i start noticing a bit silverish colour on them. Its now 10 minutes after the lights went off and havent hatched yet. I will se my alarm in an hour and if they havent hatched then its not their supposed day.

Shots of the day:

 

[HunterBryan]

Great thread! I'm in the middle of my first clown batch but I'm going to let this one go because its pretty small! Good luck tho and hope everything works out either tonight or tmrw

 

[cbitsiaras]

Day 8 - 06.02.2014

Day 8 - 06.02.2014

Tonight could be the night and everything is ready for the arrival of the little ones. Got equipped with pizza, coca cola and a couple of nice movies.

The eggs dont appear silver enough but they are having a silverish look, especially during the late ours of the day. Its 00.23 and the lights just went off on all Radion lamps and now its time to be patient..

Here are the shots of the day:

 

[saltyjo]

Your photography is amazing. My clowns always lay where getting a picture of them is next to impossible. But your photos are such awesome close-ups where the developing detail is nicely documented. Can't wait to see pictures of the fry!

 

[FDAWG]

subscribed.

 

[cbitsiaras]

Day 9 - 07.02.2014

Day 9 - 07.02.2014

Last night (Day 8) i stayed up 3 hours after the lights went off and nothing happened so i decided to go to bed as most of the forums mention that normally eggs hatch from 30mins to 2hrs after lights go off.

So I might not had baby fry but i surely had red eyes at work :hmm4:

Today is the 9th day. They look much more "silverish" than yesterday so I really hope that tonight is the night. Previous batch hatched on day 10. Hope this one will decide to hatch on day 9 :strooper:

Moved approximately 3 litres of water from the main tank to the fry tank to get it ready. I covered all sides with a black paper which i simply printed at home. The air bubbler has been placed just below the thermostat to even out the temperature. I still dont add any rotifers in it as I am not sure if the eggs will hatch tonight and dont want to foul the water.

Picture of the fry tank with the thermostat placed horizontal and the air bubble below it:



Not exactly scientifically but arranging my black print outs and taping them together



Applying the "black artwork" around the tank. I leave a small window in front where i will apply a black paper but in such a way that i can easily lift it and view whats going on in the tank



P.S.: Thermostats and thermometers dont necessarily have the same reading. Reason for me putting water in the fry tank and letting it heat up is to ensure that the temperature in the thermostat is +/- 0.5C

So.. for the time being i opened up a bottle of wine accompanied with some almonds from my home country (Greece) and waiting for "a star to fall". Time is 00.30 and lights are out!

Shot of the day taken just 25 minutes ago. Not as silver as I would like them to be... lets keep fingers crossed:

 

[HunterBryan]

Did it go down or what? Lets see some babies

 

[cbitsiaras]

Day 10 - 08.02.2014

Day 10 - 08.02.2014

Unfortunately no hatching last night. Seems that the eggs will be hatched same day like last batch - so tonight it HAS to be the night

Here are some pictures of today.

 

[cbitsiaras]

Hatching night - 09.02.2014

Hatching night - 09.02.2014

The lights went off in the tank at 00:10. An hour later, at 01:10 we saw the first larvae in the tank. But we were not the only ones to see it. A couple of cardinal fish we have also noticed the larvae and started chasing them (unfortunately some were eaten )

The plan was to siphon the fry out using a cable similar to the airline. It didnt work out well because the opening is very small and the larvae very fast. We quickly changed to a bigger cable (hose) similar to the one we do the water change. That created a much stronger vacuum current and with all the pumps off (including the return pump) and an LED light in one part of the tank we collected around 20 and placed them in the fry tank.

Half of the eggs hadn't hatched so we were standing by with the pumps off and an LED light on. Seems that the light and the no current prolongs the hatcing period. We decided to switch off the LED and let the pumps create sufficient current for 15 minutes. That did the magic and we managed to get the last bit.

We placed the remaining of the baby clown fish in the fry tank. Since we used a much bigger hose we also ended up having alot of water. With the cable we wanted to use initially to siphon the fry (airline type of cable) we removed the excess water and after checking that there is no fry we returned it back to the tank. Now approximately 25% of the 45L fry tank is full. Although I have read that the first 24hrs after hatching they dont normally eat i didnt want to jeopardise it and sieved a good amount of rotifers which i placed in the fry tank along with a few drops of phytoplankton (just to lightly colour the water - not to make it as green as the rotifer culture). This way there will be food for the rotifers to eat so when the fry will start eating, it will be an enriched meal.

A total of 58 little babies are in the fry tank and actively swimming. Some seem to be larger and they are the ones swimming the fastest.

I placed a glass on top of the aquarium which i covered with 4 sheets of paper to diffuse the light as i read that the babies are not coping that well with the strong light. I am using a 13W fluorescent lamp of the strong type that illuminate more than the normal 13W.

The temperature in the fry tank is standard 27C (28.1F). Will monitor closely as drop will mean that the metamorphosis stage will be delayed and "ain't nobody got time for this" :spin1:

Here is a closeup (not macro) picture from the fry tank. the small dots are the rotifers so that you will get a feeling of how dense the population is





Noticed that although most are swimming all over, there are 4 that are swimming on the bottom only.

 

[cbitsiaras]

1st day post hatching - 09.02.2014

1st day post hatching - 09.02.2014

Its now approximate 19hours post hatching. Although roughly a day we could notice a slight size difference. Today the babies are more interested in the rotifers and they seem to be eating some. Still many rotifers in the fry tank which i fed with a few drops of phytoplankton.

Baby fry little bellies seem to be darker which is a good sign that they eat. More fry is swimming close to the bottom of the tank. They don't seem to have died though.



I open glass top of the fry tank frequently to allow fresh air enter the tank.

 

[Wifi]

Awsome photos you have taken. Congrats on the little ones. I have a pair that laid eggs for the first time last Sunday. It is challenging and rewarding rearing the little ones.