McCulloch's Clownfish Spawning Video at Drs. Foster and Smith's LiveAquaria.com

[DFS]

Greetings,

I am proud to say that for the first time ever in the United States, Drs. Foster and Smith has successfully spawned the McCulloch's Clownfish- Amphiprion mccullochi.

I was fortunate enough to get this incredible feat on video of the young adults spawning for the first time!

For the complete story about the history, procurement, conditioning, and care of these incredible fish, along with a video of them in action, please visit the following page on LiveAquaria.com:

McCulloch's Clownfish Video and Story

Cheers!

 

[snorvich]

Are you planning to follow through and raise the spawn?? Now that would be a great thing and a wonderful story.

 

[dfs/la2]

snorvich,

Thank you for your inquiry. We have sent a message to our Aquatics Director in regards to your question on the McCulloch’s Clownfish.

Mike S.
LiveAquaria
Drs. Foster and Smith

 

[glassbox-design]

Kevin,

Congrats and well done!

 

[achillesheel]

wow amazing guys! that is great

 

[DFS]

Thank you everyone for your compliments and support. This is a great feat for the entire marine aquarium community here in the US.

I do plan on trying to raise the babies if they do in fact hatch and have rotifer cultures and the necessary equipment ready to go. Being realistic, we are however in for a steep learning curve. I have spent countless hours researching any and all of the information out there on the trials and tribulations/successes and failures with this species, and other species with similar aggression levels during the different stages of metamorphosis.

I have a game plan that I hope will work so we will just have to be patient, cross our fingers, and hope things work out. All of us here are excited to learn quite a bit in the coming months!

Cheers!

 

[snorvich]

If it is not considered a trade secret, would you consider keeping a log of the process including successes and less than successes (there are no real failures, just situations that must be rectified) for us here on RC and for fans of your efforts?

 

[DFS]

Steve,

I have already started documenting the progress with the photography of the development of the eggs and will continue to do so. Regardless of the outcome we will prepare some nice photographs and hopefully some nice stories about our efforts.

Cheers!

 

[criccio]

Wow, that was pretty fast Kevin, congrat's and good luck! I'll have to send my girlfriend your LA link, she can never start planning my x-mas present to early.

 

[dustinP]

are you not worried about the inbreeding aspect and the long term health of the fish if they are raised

 

[DFS]

dustinP,
Although inbreeding with marine clownfishes can be problematic, it normally takes several generations before you start to see visible problems with the bloodline. I am not worried at all about genetic problems with F2 offspring. From speaking to some seasoned veterans, it is my understanding that physical deformities based solely on genetics will not surface until multiple generations down the line, F5-F10 offspring.

Nutrition plays the biggest part in larvae development, especially at a very early age in their life cycle. We are enriching their foods with HUFA to try and avoid the most common problems such as stubbed noses and shortened bodies.

One thing to consider as well is that we do not know if this spawning pair was the offspring from one wild pair, or two different pairs as the breeder in Australia had a few viable pairs of breeding Amphiprion mccullochi.

We will have to wait and see how these larvae develop, as I said before we are in for a steep learning curve, but things do look promising!

Regards,

 

[DFS]

Update- New Photos

Update- New Photos

Greetings,

We have been working hard to document the progression of the first spawn of our Amphiprion mccullochi clownfish for everyone to enjoy. For a complete set of photos detailing the day-by-day development of the eggs, as well as photos of the larvae fishes and their rearing vessels please visit LiveAquaria.com for the most recent blog update and detailed images.

LiveAquaria McCulloch's Clownfish Blog Updates and Video

McCulloch's Clownfish eggs and Larvae

Stay tuned for more to come and enjoy!

Cheers,

 

[snorvich]

Updates? We would love to hear how the subsequent batch is doing as well as the initial spawn.

 

[DFS]

Steve,

I knew we were in for a steep learning curve, and I can honestly say that we have learned a great deal in a very short period of time. For me, the best part of this incredible hobby is learning something new almost every day. The biggest thing that I have learned so far is what not to do .

Like any new venture, even with the best planning, research, and protocols, we have had a few bumps in the road and unexpected hurdles to overcome.

Proper circulation, oxygenation, water chemistry stability, temperature stability, density of food, food culture protocols and procedures, and an array of other critical elements are all integral to the success or failure. One hiccup with any of these elements, and it compromises the larvae, which can be very frustrating after the countless hours and all of the hard work put into the effort.

On a positive note, things are still very exciting here at our facility. I am happy to say we are still caring for a handful of larvae fishes, having successfully weaned them onto enriched Artemia nauplii from Rotifers. The next step if we are successful will be to wean these guys onto a prepared larviculture feed diet that is specifically formulated for marine fishes which is called Otohime.

The McCulloch's pair is doing fantastic, and for a good part of the day today they have been cleaning a piece of strategically placed tile. The pair is displaying the characteristic pre-spawning behavior tonight, and it appears they will spawn again tomorrow!

We are planning on adding this information, and even more to the "Blog Style" story on LiveAquaria.com as the saga continues!

Cheers,