mitch's B/W & O/W breeding clownfish thread

a few of last nights hatch

<a href="http://s796.photobucket.com/albums/yy243/duncanaholic/?action=view&current=20110118lastnightshatch.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i796.photobucket.com/albums/yy243/duncanaholic/20110118lastnightshatch.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

-m
 
hard for me to count cause they move so much, but I'd say about 100. 15 or so from the first half of the hatch and still at least 80 from the second. So far as of this morning they are all alive and kicking.
 
So my fry are now 3 or 4 days old depending on which night they hatched. They are all doing well, and I have them seperated into two containers, keeping the two hatches seperate. My rotifer cultures are going strong, and I have otohime, which I will start feeding tommorow. The first hatch which suffered heavy losses during/immediatly after collection is only about 15 strong. I have them in a 2.5G tank with the bottom and three sides painted black. These guys are feeding strong and stay mostly in the water column. The other batch which has maybe 100 larvae is in a three gallon white semi-translucent bucket. And although I've had very few losses from this hatch, the odd thing is that I have barely had to add any rots since the first day. And they seem to be determined to stay nosed into the side of the bucket. The water is tinted with roti-grow and does clear up some each day, but the other batch with far fewer fish is going through 1-2 rotifer additions per day, with the same green tint in their water. Both batches seem healthy, but I can't help but think the ones in the bucket aren't feeding properly. I'm not using any direct light at all, just keeping the kitchen light on until I go to bed, then leaving a table lamp on all night. When I leave them in the total dark, even for an hour or so, they all seem to just settle to the bottom. I don't think that could be good. I've read many of the threads on here, and done a lot of research on other sites like mofib, and there seems to be no definitive guidline for lighting for these guys. I have three basic questions, and I'm hoping that anyone with experience will chime in with their opinion.

1. Photo period - how long? and when lights are off how much ambient light is still present?

2. placement. over the tank, indirect???

3. intensity. how many watts? how diffuse?

<a href="http://s796.photobucket.com/albums/yy243/duncanaholic/?action=view&current=20110120frytank.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i796.photobucket.com/albums/yy243/duncanaholic/20110120frytank.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

<a href="http://s796.photobucket.com/albums/yy243/duncanaholic/?action=view&current=20110120frybucket.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i796.photobucket.com/albums/yy243/duncanaholic/20110120frybucket.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

<a href="http://s796.photobucket.com/albums/yy243/duncanaholic/?action=view&current=20110120frybucket2.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i796.photobucket.com/albums/yy243/duncanaholic/20110120frybucket2.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

So far everytyhing is working out very well, but I can see this as an impending problem. I know many of you have gone through this, and I would really like tro get a consensus. Thanks in advance!!
 
just an fyi for anyone thinking about trying this. I have kept track of my expenses in both time and $s to get this thing up and running, and I thought this might be helpfull.

So far I have spent 63 hours over the last three weeks building, tending and observing.

In terms of dollars:

live rotifer culture, rotigrow, and rotigrow enrichment (locally sourced) $44
***this would cost over $200 to order directly from most e-tailers*****
Three ten gallon tanks $36
on 2.5g tank $13
One nylon coffee filter $4
4" PVC 2 foot section $6
One wooden dowel $2
airstones 6 total $18
4 gang air valve $7
Airline tubing $8
1/4" ID clear tubing 25' $7
heaters 4 so far $73
otohime starter pack shipped $56
small led flashlight $4
salt $18
40gph pump $13
2 hydro sponge filters $22
rotifer sieve 53um and 250um $35

grand total $366

Stuff I already had, but you will need.
High volume air pump
refractometer (a must have)
test kit
lumber and hardware for building shelves etc.
buckets for rotifer cultures
u-tube
good quality digital camera (optional, but highley recommended)
space, diligence and patience.

And this is just to get larvae in the bucket. The three ten gallons will ultimatley all be for larvae, but at least one will be used with one of the sponge filters for grow-out if I can get any past meta. Then I will have to look at building a grow out set-up. I figure at least eight 10g tanks on centralized filtration. This will probably end up costing about $800-$1000??? But that would be scalable. With good planning I should be able to start for less money and add as I go. Then there's food, salt and electric as recurring expenses.

All in all though, I'd say the greatest investment is in time. I have spent probably 200+ hours trying to educate myself by reading as much as I could, and talking to anyone with experience. But if you're like me, and you find all of this both fascinating and entertaining, then the expense, over time, has good bang for the buck!
 
That is very good info Mitch.For me expense is the main factor, so if it doesn't work this time I'm done till I can afford it.I don't have nearly the setup you have but it has still been expensive.On a side note it is funny that you said the fry from the second hatch are staying to the side of the bucket-mine that hatched the second night seem to hang on the side of the tank.The larger ones from the first night seem to be more of free swimmers.Weird.
Daniel
 
Update!!

1st pic is a larvae from the 2nd batch 4 days old.

Next 3 pics are the nest my female just got done laying!

<a href="http://s796.photobucket.com/albums/yy243/duncanaholic/?action=view&current=201101214daylarvaecu.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i796.photobucket.com/albums/yy243/duncanaholic/201101214daylarvaecu.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

<a href="http://s796.photobucket.com/albums/yy243/duncanaholic/?action=view&current=20110121newnest.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i796.photobucket.com/albums/yy243/duncanaholic/20110121newnest.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

<a href="http://s796.photobucket.com/albums/yy243/duncanaholic/?action=view&current=20110121newnestfemale.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i796.photobucket.com/albums/yy243/duncanaholic/20110121newnestfemale.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

<a href="http://s796.photobucket.com/albums/yy243/duncanaholic/?action=view&current=20110121newnestmale.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i796.photobucket.com/albums/yy243/duncanaholic/20110121newnestmale.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

-m
 
Woke up this morning to find most of the first batch dead. By 2:00 they were all dead. Still have 80+ in the second batch though, so I'm not too bummed. Interesting thing though is the difference between the batches was pronounced from about the 2nd day. Should have known something was up, but having no experience, I didn't know whether it was just a little weird or a problem.

The first batch was in a 2.5g glass aquarium, and my plan from the beginning was to co-culture. In other words, put in a bunch of rotifers to get the density high, then tint the water a murky green to keep the rotifers healthy and hopefully have them re-produce in the tank itself. This never happened in the 1st batch. The water stayed pretty green, and I was having to add new rotifers every day. I think the algae eventually decomposed and spiked the ammonia too high. I didn't test the water though because with the green from the algae, my test is basically useless.

The second batch is in a 3g bucket. They have been at the same temp, and also in water from the parent tank. The difference is that I've only had to add the rotifers twice. Once the first day, then again on the third. The density has stayed super high, and every day I come home from work and have to add more algae concentrate. Now these two are 1 day apart in terms of when they hatched, so if that's not the difference, then I might have problems in the morning, but I think they're going to be OK.

I do have a question for anyone willing to chime in though. I'm thinking that with 80+ fry in two gallons of water, it might be time to put them in a ten gallon tank filled at least half way. I assume it's best to use water from the parent tank (which I will have to dilute slightly as I have done that with the bucket to get it down to 1.020), but I'm not sure it's a good idea to mess with it since it seems to be doing well as is. So my question is should I move them to the 10g tank? If so should I use parent tank water as I described above? And also, how do I transfer them without killing them? I don't want to just dump them in there as I fear it will damage them.

All thoughts and opinions are welcomed and appreciated.

-m
 
I use 5 gal. tanks & have 200-300 up to metamorphis before I move them to larger tanks. I am able to move a pot with eggs so I use new water. Also I keep the temp. 81-84*
 
Sorry to hear about the loses.I only have anout 20 left.On day 12 and still no meta.I know mine is due to not the right food.Good luck with the other 80 or so you have.
 
Fry at day 9. starting to look like a fish! 2nd pic edited for contrast.

<a href="http://s796.photobucket.com/albums/yy243/duncanaholic/?action=view&current=20110127fry.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i796.photobucket.com/albums/yy243/duncanaholic/20110127fry.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

<a href="http://s796.photobucket.com/albums/yy243/duncanaholic/?action=view&current=20110127fryedit.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i796.photobucket.com/albums/yy243/duncanaholic/20110127fryedit.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>
 
I'm feeding oto A now, but once it enters the water column it looks very similar to the rotifers so I'm not really sure. I think they are. At some point they will have to, but right now the rotifer population is still so dense, I'm not sure they care that much. I didn't expect the rotifers to maintain their density with the amount of predation they're experiencing, but they just seem to multiplying too fast for the clowns to eat all of them.

On a sidenote, I decided to transfer them into a 10g tank yesterday, and I can tell you that was no picnic. I thought for sure that at least half would be dead from the stress, but amazingly no losses. Right now I'm just counting my blessings as I never expected it to go this well.

It also looks like the new clutch might hatch either tonight or tommorow, so if I collect them, I'm going to have my hands full!!!
 
META!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YEAH!!!!!!!!!!! New nest should hatch tonight. This could get very time consuming.

<a href="http://s796.photobucket.com/albums/yy243/duncanaholic/?action=view&current=20110130meta.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i796.photobucket.com/albums/yy243/duncanaholic/20110130meta.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

<a href="http://s796.photobucket.com/albums/yy243/duncanaholic/?action=view&current=20110130metaedit.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i796.photobucket.com/albums/yy243/duncanaholic/20110130metaedit.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

-m
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Z
New lps frags - 1 day not doing well
Replies
16
Views
231
Reefing102
Reefing102
I
Rotifier protocol
Replies
3
Views
794
VWD
VWD
fullerenedream
Help with corynactis/pseudocorynactis ID & care instructions
Replies
1
Views
330
Reefing102
Reefing102
revclyburn
I think it's time
2
Replies
38
Views
2K
Patrick Seastar
Patrick Seastar
ViPeR_930
Brown Bump on Clownfish
Replies
7
Views
624
HumbleFish
HumbleFish
Back
Top