Landlords Log - Breeding Gold Striped Maroon Clowns

[Dowsey]

Nice one Kurt
I am in the Uk and new to Marines i am fascinated by the thread:inlove:
I have clicked back on the thread dozens of times and no up dates yet:hmm4:
So stop being a tease and let us know how your getting on:spin1:
Its better than watching the X factor on television
Dave

 

[Sisterlimonpot]

Nice one Kurt
I am in the Uk and new to Marines i am fascinated by the thread:inlove:
I have clicked back on the thread dozens of times and no up dates yet:hmm4:
So stop being a tease and let us know how your getting on:spin1:
Its better than watching the X factor on television
Dave

<img src="/images/welcome.gif" width="500" height="62"><br><b><i><big><big>To Reef Central</b></i></big></big>
I am fascinated by the great lengths that people go to successfully rear fishes. I try so hard to just be a spectator and not get bit by the bug. It doesn't help that I subscribe to this forum.


Kurt,
I really like your breeding station in the basement, very nice set up. and keep the pics coming.

 

[landlord]

Well here's the latest scoop. I typically do not go down to the fishroom in the mornings before I come to work at 5:00 AM so last Friday when I was posting about how excited I was to be able to collect that evening I didn't even realize that the hatch happened Thursday night. Bummer...

I have a bit of a learning curve to overcome with this species. I was used to having my Tomatos hatch 45 minutes after the lights went out, these guys are much different. On Thursday I had turned off the valve to the GSM tank at 8:30 PM, when the lights went off, and monitored the tank for an hour or so, no action. So, I turned everything back on around 9:30 and went upstairs to watch TV. It must have happened that night becuase when I got home on Friday at 2:45 PM the eggs were hatched.

So let's look at some numbers and dates

Eggs were laid: 12/04/09
Eggs hatched: 12/10/09

6 days!

Never would have thought it would be this quick. So If there are any GSM breeders out there Can you post up some stats on what you've experienced from laying to hatch (looking for some confirmation that this was not a fluke).

Also - How long after lights out until the hatching begun. I really do not want to go messing with their flower pot but if the eggs aren't going to hatch until several hours after lights out a may think twice about moving the pot over to a larval tank for hatching instead of me trying to siphon them out.

Thanks in advance

On the bright side this delay will give me more time to develop the rotifer cultures that I have going. I am starting to get the density that I like in the 5.5 gallon larval tank. I basically have a pretty simple measurement for happy rotifer densities. If it looks like a snowglobe, then your there! It is definitely starting to look like a snowglobe. If the fry can literally sit still and be surrounded with rotifers then I believe it makes for a better survival rate.

Well I'm off to browse past GSM threads to confirm some of my suspicions about lay to hatch timeframes.

On a sidenote I'll be looking for the same information regarding my Perculas. They had there first egg laying on Thursday 12/10/09 as well. Sooo.... more to do.

Happy Monday Everybody

Kurt

 

[rodsboys]

I am looking at doing something like this.Mainly because I want to keep more species of clowns.The breeding will be a side fun thing.How big are your breeding tanks?
I was considering using 20's(24x12 footprint).
I appreciate you sharing and enjoy the pics.

 

[landlord]

I am looking at doing something like this.Mainly because I want to keep more species of clowns.The breeding will be a side fun thing.How big are your breeding tanks?
I was considering using 20's(24x12 footprint).
I appreciate you sharing and enjoy the pics.

I used 8 x 10 gallon fishtanks. However the rack itself is deep enough to hold 15's. 20's just seemed like to much for me.

Thanks for the kind words and you'll find breeding to be a very enjoyable distraction

Kurt

 

[nauticac4]

Kurt,

6 days isnt fluke. Mine lay every 14 days on the dot but the incubation period goes from 6 - 8 days. Mine typically hatch right after lights out but I have had a few batches that took 3-4 hours after lights out to hatch.

What are you feeding your Rotifers? I have yet to order rotifers cause I dont wanna have to keep phyto cultures going to feed them. If I can figure out the rotifer thing I am going to start raising both pairs of clowns I have breeding right now.. I also have a bangaii pair I got this weekend hoping to get them going soon. But they eat BBS which is easier in my opinion.

 

[ThunderTang]

Good Luck with your Fry

 

[rodsboys]

Do you find the 10 gallon tanks to be big enough? Are you using 6" pots? What species do you have in the breeding system? Sorry about all the questions.

 

[landlord]

Kurt,

6 days isnt fluke. Mine lay every 14 days on the dot but the incubation period goes from 6 - 8 days. Mine typically hatch right after lights out but I have had a few batches that took 3-4 hours after lights out to hatch.

What are you feeding your Rotifers? I have yet to order rotifers cause I dont wanna have to keep phyto cultures going to feed them. If I can figure out the rotifer thing I am going to start raising both pairs of clowns I have breeding right now.. I also have a bangaii pair I got this weekend hoping to get them going soon. But they eat BBS which is easier in my opinion.

That's good to hear, yet hard to plan on :lol: I'll have to start keeping a more watchful eye around day 6. I am hoping that I'll get more eggs soon. It's been 5 days since the hatch so I'm looking forward to not missing this next round, thanks.

As for roitfers, I hear ya about the phyto. It was something I did not have any desire to grow either. I use a phyto concentrate supplied by reed-mariculture called Rotifer Diet. The 16oz bottle costs artound 30-40 bucks IIRC, and lasts me around 2 to 3 months. Well worth it. I am able to get enough rotifers produced to feed about 2 dozen hatches, which upon success is enough fry to keep me busy for months. Again in my area I cannot get rid of fish fast enough so I buy a bottle grow out a bunch of baby fish and then take a break. However, now with three different pairs laying eggs I may need to keep things going a bit longer. Rotifers are a breeze, Reed-Mariculture sends you a document about growing them that is pretty much dummy proof.

Good Luck and thanks for the questions

Kurt

 

[landlord]

Good Luck with your Fry

Thanks, I am looking forward to seeing them myself

Kurt

 

[landlord]

Do you find the 10 gallon tanks to be big enough? Are you using 6" pots? What species do you have in the breeding system? Sorry about all the questions.

The 10 gallon tanks suit me just fine. The size is grweat since I can pack in 100 tomato clowns (for example) and the confined space seeems to cut down on any aggression. I have not yet lost a fish to fighting or bullying. The pots, I think are 6 inch, maybe smaller. They were the smallest ones I could find at Wal-Mart. :lol: I am sure that the Maroons would prefer a bigger pot but you can see from the pictures that they seem content.

No worries about the questions that is the point of the thread. A place for me to rant on about my journey and to help others along the way.

Take Care

Kurt

 

[nauticac4]

Another side note:
My maroons lay during the day now. The last two times they laid were right when I got home at about 6:00 in the afternoon. They used to lay alot closer to lights out time around 10:00 at night. Does not seem to affect hatch times. Tried to get some video of the dance and eggs but the camera batteries were dead.

Also the batches are getting much larger. I am about 6 months into them laying and the clutches have gone from silver dollar size to top of a soda can size.

 

[landlord]

Mine are so darn elusive. I have no idea when they are laying. It's like they are doing it in the dark. It's probably just a matter of time before I catch them in the act. They must not yet have a routine laid down becuase I had a three day window between the first hatch and the next laying and now I'm on the 5th day after a hatch with no action.

argh

Kurt

 

[landlord]

Well there was nothing new to report last night as far as laying a new batch of eggs. I did see that the spot had been picked clean so they may have done the deed last night. That is if they lay then at night! In any case I am hoping to see a nice egg mass when I get home from work today.

The rotifers have doubled several times in the 5.5 and the tank has that "snowglobe" look which I like. Should be a great start for whatever fry I am able to coax out of the tank.

Kurt

 

[landlord]

Crossing my fingers I get some eggs when I get home today. The last hatch was last Thursday so we are at the 7 days point. Hoping the first two layings weren't a fluke thing.... At least I have the Percula nest for this weekend! :lol:

Have a Great Day!

Kurt

 

[landlord]

Well it's about time. Finally on Saturday the female GSM put down a monster of a nest. Very compact and well organized. There has to be over 500 eggs in this mass. I haven't decided if I am going to remove the flower pot on the 6th night to avoid not missing what could be a late nigh hatching. I would hope to try and simply gather the fry out of the boodstock tank a couple hours after lights out but when I tried it the last time I got no action after about 1-2 hours of lights out / pump off / etc...

Time will tell.

--Kurt

 

[agsansoo]

Just found this thread ! Good luck Kurt !

 

[landlord]

Thanks Andy!

 

[phil519]

Well it's about time. Finally on Saturday the female GSM put down a monster of a nest. Very compact and well organized. There has to be over 500 eggs in this mass. I haven't decided if I am going to remove the flower pot on the 6th night to avoid not missing what could be a late nigh hatching. I would hope to try and simply gather the fry out of the boodstock tank a couple hours after lights out but when I tried it the last time I got no action after about 1-2 hours of lights out / pump off / etc...

Time will tell.

--Kurt

I am about to feint with glee over 5 baby percs...i can't imagine 500....:rollface:

congrats!

 

[Kemah]

awesome thread, I am excited for you and will be following. I want to do this my self but need to figure out where to do it. I used to live in Nebraska and my basement would have been perfect but now I live in Houston so no basement anywhere around here. I have the sump for my 120 in my garage but I dont think I could run a chiller on a breeding setup lol. So I have to figure out something else. I plan on building a new house soon and want to do it on about 20 acres. If so I will build a big barn for my cars and other random storage crap but I will also put in a large Fish/ Hangout room probably a separate fish room so I can do all of the things I want. But maybe for now i will clean out my storage shed in the backyard and put in a window ac. I think that will work.

Anyways good luck with these guys and actually if your clowns make it I would be interested in getting one from you.