Larval Tank Powerheads

No, thanks. No power of any sort for the larvae. Nothing stronger than an airstone, and even that can be too much depending on the volume of the tank, its shape, the force of the airflow, etc. Larvae are too delicate. Movement is not needed except to keep the water aerated. I use an airbar under the heater to keep them away from that and maybe another stone on the other side of the tank, but I am using 20 gallon tanks. Smaller tanks need less airstones. There has to be an area of little to no turbulance for the larvae to live in.
 
I ask for excuse for interfering, but... in the natural environment the larvae have to face very strong currents... and they survive...

This is a subject that cause me many doubts.
 
some survive, most dont, no where near the levels even beginner breeders can get.

also Ive seen the ocean, I havent found as many glass sides, especially for things that would exist in the upper water columns.

and the last time I tried swimming in a 10g tank all i did was make a mess, its not only the water movement thats a problem, its the combination of things, mechanical stress (banging into the wall, sucking up by filters .....) keeping food where the larva are, keeping larva off the screen between the water and pumps, a low flow airstone is soo much safer

though I did use a powerfilter for some larva with great success it was low flow (rio 180's with icemaker tubing attached).
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6652603#post6652603 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Flash Fish
I ask for excuse for interfering, but... in the natural environment the larvae have to face very strong currents... and they survive...
Click to expand...

Have you considered survival rates (%wise) in the ocean vs a 10g CB larvae setup (clownfish larvae)?
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6652730#post6652730 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by rsman
and the last time I tried swimming in a 10g tank all i did was make a mess,
Click to expand...

I liked this one better.... Ah, the mental pictures (which all involve Jim Carry for some reason).... :p
 
and for those that love numbers

volume of a 10g tank 10G
volume of worlds largest aquarium 8,000,000 gallons +/- a few
the mediterranean is only 11,095,226,152,145,455,000 gallons +/- a little more :D
then there is the pacific is only a measily 1.869281435e+21 gallons of which I am sure is only off +/- what 2 :D

its possible that those numbers are wrong they came out of a text book re-published in '04 and you never know us people could be claiming more or less this year than last :D and we might have melted a few more gallons off one of the icecaps last year
 
grow out tanks are fair game, big powerheads are a good way to keep the gunk off the bottom, where it will either be eaten or make its way to the filters, and add oxygen by agitating the surface.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6654708#post6654708 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Atticus
I liked this one better.... Ah, the mental pictures (which all involve Jim Carry for some reason).... :p
Click to expand...
Now that we are digressing a bit,is that Tony Calfo in your avatar?:cool:
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6662044#post6662044 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Luis A M
Now that we are digressing a bit,is that Tony Calfo in your avatar?:cool:
Click to expand...

shhhh... I could tell you, but then I would have to kill you... :p
 
So when do you call it a growout tank (for clowns)? 1/2"? 3/4"?

officially dont have the slightest clue but :D

for me it all depends on how you treat them, but instead of relying on a size I generally consider larva being pre meta(kinda duh but ...), rearing to be post meta but still requiring live foods and more hands on care, and growout to be taking prepared foods, requiring less hands on care.

I seperate them because I seperated them as they grew, all my larva were in 1 of 5 tanks, all my rearing was done in 4 tanks, and my growout was done in whatever worked (ponds, tubs, tanks ....)

when using size it depends on the fish and any issues that developed durring rearing....

plus im REAL bad at guessing the size of fish so unless i have dead ones to measure .....
 
I think it depends on how well they can avoid the intakes and overflows. Really tiny, and they get sucked up. Bigger fish can stand a little current. I am still trying to figure this out, too. I would like to turn up the flow for my 3 week juveniles, but I'm afraid they will get sucked up against the overflow screen.
 
that and should be an or, require live foods OR more hands on care :D

its the more hands on care, at day 10, they still need lots of hands on care, because they would get sucked into overflows and such, but 3 week juv. should be getting more and more flow and less and less care and getting close, that slow progression to growout style care is part of the increased care you have to give them ... i dont think i moved any clowns to my growout tanks younger than 5 weeks but my growout tanks were a mix of many different sized clowns, so they didnt just have to know how to eat and how to stay out of overflows, but how to survive with larger clowns.
 
I have a HOB filter that can be set really low. I may try that today with a sponge over the intake for an hour or so to see how they react and if "really low" is low enough flow for them right now. They are 20 days old today, and even heartily ate the regular fish/coral food I make for the main tank instead of cyclopeeze. This batch is *stinky* and my adult fish went nuts over it.

The YWG wasn't so thrilled at it, so I gave him a couple of hours with it and then fed CE.
 
Yeah, okay, THAT's not gonna work. My ancient HOB filter finally gave up the ghost. I think I will pick up some cheap corner filters tomorrow. These guys were great with baby mollies and guppies when I was a kid.
 
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