Help _ A few fry questions

[sassAwrasse]

Hey guys.

This is our first group of fry.
We are following along Joyce Wilkerson's book and "Pickle's guide to breeding"
on the nano-reef.com site.

I want to know the answers to a few questions.

1) What DPH do you start vacuuming out the bottom of the fry tank?
(Pickle's guide says the end of the first week)
And what are you using to "vacuum" out the bottom of your fry tank?
(I am using a piece of rigid tubing attached to a piece of airline tubing)

2) What DPH do you start adding otohime a/tdo a?
(pickle's guide says 2dph)

3) How many cups of rotifers of you adding each day and how often?

(I just took a glass vial of the fry water to measure the rotifers and didn't see any, and my fry water is still tinted green. Either they died or were eaten, I'm assumming.)

4) What kind of lighting are you using on your fry tank? wattage etc?


Thanks guys!

 

[saltyjo]

Hey guys.

This is our first group of fry.
We are following along Joyce Wilkerson's book and "Pickle's guide to breeding"
on the nano-reef.com site.

I want to know the answers to a few questions.

1) What DPH do you start vacuuming out the bottom of the fry tank?
(Pickle's guide says the end of the first week)
And what are you using to "vacuum" out the bottom of your fry tank?
(I am using a piece of rigid tubing attached to a piece of airline tubing)
I start vacuuming when I lose any fry and usually after I start feeding TDO A. I use rigid tubing attached to a syringe to draw out any gunk on the bottom.2) What DPH do you start adding otohime a/tdo a?
(pickle's guide says 2dph)
I start using TDO A day 5.

3) How many cups of rotifers of you adding each day and how often?
I strain at least a cup of rotifers then add the strained rots to the fry tank twice a day. As soon as I collect my fry I add plenty of rotifers to the tank and then just start to re-add the next day.
(I just took a glass vial of the fry water to measure the rotifers and didn't see any, and my fry water is still tinted green. Either they died or were eaten, I'm assumming.)

4) What kind of lighting are you using on your fry tank? wattage etc?
I use the lighting that came with the 10 gallon hoods. For the first 4-5 days I filter the light with layers of paper toweling do dim it. I remove one layer a day until they get full light. I think they are small 50W bulbs? But my new tank came with a LED hood. I still place papertowels between the tank and lights to dim them.
Thanks guys!

Hope this helps! Good Luck with them it looks like you have a ton!

 

[reefstew]

Who is Pickle? His advice is off by what you stated. I would go with Saltyjo's comments. The only thing I would add is skip the measuring cup with rotifers since you will need to have a lot of them at all times.

 

[sassAwrasse]

Who is Pickle? His advice is off by what you stated. I would go with Saltyjo's comments. The only thing I would add is skip the measuring cup with rotifers since you will need to have a lot of them at all times.

I think Pickle is also known as California clowns. http://www.nano-reef.com/topic/269202-pickles-guide-to-breeding-clowns/

Anyway, that stuff works for him, not necessarily for everyone.

Some of the information I read online is pretty similar and there are other things (such as when to start feeding TDO A, for example) that are different from person to person....which is why I wanted to get a few responses.

Thanks for the answers so far guys!

Would love to hear more.

 

[sassAwrasse]

I notice that alot of fry are collecting together on the bottom of the tank, but then when I go to siphon them out thinking they are dead, most of them move around. Are they dying if on the bottom and not swimming?

 

[saltyjo]

careful when siphoning the bottom, they do sleep However make sure you check your lighting and make sure it is dim. If it is too bright they will go to the bottom. Wilkerson writes "Too much light motivates the larvae to swim deeper but they quickly run into the bottom, If the light remains too bright the larvae will exhaust themselves and expire within hours" (Wilkerson. p186).
Like I said I use several layers of paper towels between the light and tank. In the tank for the first few days it is very dim. I think it is just barely bright enough I can see the larvae in the water. Then I raise the light over the course of the first week by removing only one layer at a time. I also leave their lights on for 24 hours until the 3rd day.
I really do use Joyce Wilkersons book like a recipe book.
~Jo

 

[ernieq]

Yes, they do look dead sometimes, but they are asleep. The dead ones are usually discolored (a light grey). I use a turkey baster. I then pour the contents into a transparent container to see if they are really dead.

 

[sassAwrasse]

We have been doing the paper towel thing. Although we did 24 hours of light the first day. 16 hours of light the second day.

Today I was able to see a better difference between dead and sleeping.

Just spent the last 1.5hrs siphoning out the fry tank, then rescuing loads of living fry back into the tank. Looked at the clock and wondered where the time went. Felt like 40 minutes.

 

[reefstew]

We have been doing the paper towel thing. Although we did 24 hours of light the first day. 16 hours of light the second day.

Today I was able to see a better difference between dead and sleeping.

Just spent the last 1.5hrs siphoning out the fry tank, then rescuing loads of living fry back into the tank. Looked at the clock and wondered where the time went. Felt like 40 minutes.

Think what it's like when your getting 22 - 25 spawns a month. It's nuts over here doing water changes. I use a clear container & then I put a piece of white plastic under it so I can see the fry. When I think I got all the live ones out I wait a minute & tap on the container to see if any move before I dump it.