Hatch Night

[Bacteria]

Tonight is hatch night!

I've lost the last three clown batches to:

Malfunctioning heater;
Kitchen towel falling in; and
Lost the last lot at meta - I believe it may have been due to fouled water and not enough rots at the start.

So fourth time - not giving up - hatch due tonight to will be turning lights off as soon as it goes dark and scooping fry out of the main tank.

I have an army of rot cultures on the go, what I don't seem to be able to do is keep up with phyto production, rots don't half eat some!

Fry tank full of rots,temp etc same as parents tank so I'll be updating this thread as a sort of diary of failure (or success)

Any advice appreciated.

Thanks

 

[Bogue Chitto]

Hang in there. Sounds like you are ready, I wish you the best...I would like to try that too but don't have any clowns wanting to spawn.

 

[Bacteria]

Thank you

I've just finished scooping the fry out - about 400 fiesty lil buggers. I'll see how many are left in the morning.

It took mine a while to decide they were finally ready and after trying every trick in the book it came down to them deciding when they were ready. Good luck with yours they'll tell you when they're ready!

 

[Bogue Chitto]

I wish you the best, let us know how it turns out...

 

[Bacteria]

Almost 24 hours later and I've lost 8 so far after transferring from main tank to the fry tank. All seem to be eating and swimming well but I have a horrible feeling I'm not going to keep up with rotifers for them.

Having read a lot of contradictions reagarding water changes I am going to do them with this lot and see what happens. I did my first one this morning to no ill effects so will do another one tonight before adding more rots. I've rigged up an air line that drips replacement water (from parent tank) at a rate of about one drop per second so hopefully they wont be shocked by the new water.

I guess the real teller will be after tonight when their egg sacks run out, see how many I lose over tonight.

 

[Bogue Chitto]

Well keep your fingers crossed, You are off to a good start. I hope you can get a lot of them to live. I used to raise freshwater angels a long time ago and I put some snails in the tank to eat waste. I don't know if a snail would help keep your water in better condition or not...

 

[Bacteria]

Thank you for your words of encouragement. You may have a point re: waste. I'm syphoning the bottom twice daily at the moment and a little reluctant to add anything else in terms of ading bacteria, pathogens etc. I'll see how the water quality fares. If I still fail I may try your idea out.

Thanks

 

[shifty51008]

I have never tried snails, not sure if they would help or make it worse as they also poop.

I will usually scrap the sides and bottom with an old credit card and let it sit for about and hour, in that time usually the gunk will pile up into just a couple spots so its easy to remove. I use rg complete in the tank to keep the tank a light shade of green and it has ammonia detox in it which helps keep levels down, and also clean the tank twice a day for tge first couple days till they get bigger then i will up the water changes.

Hope that helps and good luck

 

[Bacteria]

Thanks for your reply. That re-enforces that water changes are a must. Tonight I have done the same and wiped the bottom of the tank and syphoned the debris out. I have ordered the phyto as mine just isn't up to scratch.

Having only lost 15 in transfer to fry tank and the following night I came in today and have lost about another 75. I'm pretty sure I just don't have enough rots to go round. I'll keep the post updated

Thanks

 

[Bacteria]

So today is day four and I only have about 50 fry left. I'm still convinced I didn't have enough rots to start with.

Interestingly the survivors have really thickened out today and are very strong but I'm not holding my hopes up.

it#s a massive learning curve isn't it? I'm going to harvest cultures differently next time although the slightly worrying thing is the clowns usually spawn every other wednesday and today they don't show any signs at all of spawing. Maybe the female thinks she's given me enough chances...

 

[codyreed29]

I had the same problems.

first batch no rotifers all died 3 days.

Second batch I had 8 make it to meta and now only one survivor I think hes 22 days.

Have had to up phyto production to 2 gallon containers to keep the water in a 5 gallon bucket green. Its been tough to say the least. Finally have the food for them and my clownfish haven't spawned in like a month. I made some mistakes and learned a bunch.

Its been a month I think my clownfish gave up Its frustrating.

 

[Dkuhlmann]

Cody what are you feeding your clowns?

 

[Bacteria]

Yeah it is frustrating, That's what I need to sort out I think, the rots, I know they and the phyto just aren't up to scratch. Mine are late but I think they're ready to lay again tomorrow probably, she's looking like a marble again. Just going to depend on whether I finally get rots sorted for next batch.

Today is day five and I have 40 fry that have really thickened out and are enthusiastically taking some powdered food and rotifer. I guess I just have to wait until meta now to see if any make it.

 

[Bogue Chitto]

That's a good number to have left, maybe they will keep on going. It just takes trial and error to finally get the right combination. I know you can do it and will have clowns running out your ears before long.

 

[pilot.darren]

Try running 3 or so separate batches of rots at the same time. When I used to breed I need that to keep up also helps if you get a crash.

 

[codyreed29]

I'm feeding my clowns s type rotifers. Then baby brine shrimps, I hatch brine daily and half goes into the tank right at hatch, and then at 30 hours old I put them in blended salmon liquid and spirulina for 6 hours. After six hours I siphon them and put them in the tank.

My one fish is now eating only smashed new life spectrum and omega one flakes with garlic.

 

[Bacteria]

Thank you for your encouragement and advice.

I have 35 left at 6 days and they seem to have changed behaviour and appearance. They have become browner rather than little black darts.

I introduced nhbbs for the first time tonight and their behaviour changed completely, the tank ended up like a formula 1 race track - they went bonkers, yet they didn't actually look like they were feeding? Any suggestions on that behaviour welcome? - were the bbs irritating them?

Cody - thanks for the advice - I have 4 on the go - I attach a pic, the four oval containers at the front are all rots.I think my problem was that I was harvesting each culture every day - I have changed that so I do two thirds of one every day - that gives three days recovery before I harvest again - It seems to be working a little better although I fear it's too late for this lot.

The female is laying again as I type (two days late) so maybe I'll get the rots right for the next batch

Thanks again

The hatchery