My Black Ocellaris pair are spawning!!!

[rkelman]

I feed them everything but the kitchen sink. I feed Cyclopleeze / A variety of about 4 frozen feeds, Formula one pellets and live brine shrimp. I feed them 2 times a day and I just alternate what I feed. I think variety is good for any marine fish and I've always fed an alternating diet. My Tangs also get Nori.

 

[daveyraveygravy]

Wow what a thread, best thing i have read in a long time well done

Many thanks for the pictures and keep up the good work m8

 

[timthetoolman]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12402393#post12402393 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Integral9
Just found your thread today. Awesome job btw.

I've had a pair of black percs for over a year now. I got them when they were juviis, about 1", and now they are full sized clowns between 3" and 4". I've never seen them spawn and I'm wondering if it's because of my other tank mates. Do you have any other tank mates with your clowns?

Occupants list:
Scopas Tang
Coral Beauty
Purple Firefish
Mandarin Dragnet
2x Black Percs.
Fire Shrimp

When they spawn the male will retreat to the nest site and only come out to feed.
You could try these:
1. Feed (3) times a day.
2. Feed foods that are high in HUFA, Omega 3 fatty acids.
3. Take (2) 4x4 ceramic floor tiles and clean them well. Place one against the glass near where they sleep and use the other one to prop this against the glass at a 45 degree angle. This provides refuge and a laying surface.
4. Increase the temperature. I went to 84 F.
5. Feed live foods like plankton enriched brine shrimp or rotifers (you need the practice if you're going to raise them) or feed the brine and rotifers Selco or Selcon with the plankton (simulates a plankton bloom).
6. Get a moon light with a lunar cycle.
My tang still hangs out at their place with no issues but the clown still bites me.

 

[jeff209]

any updates

 

[rkelman]

Nothing new really. I should have a hatch Thurs night. I took a picture and counted the last batch and there is about 150 fish that have survived to day 13. I'm going to have to move over the 5 survivors to the growout tank to free up a larvae tank for this next hatch. I hope the others accept these younger ones.. I'll post when I do that with pics maybe... If not I'll get a post together Friday night.

 

[robojet]

If you were to hatch every new batch and grow them out... how many tanks would you need to keep this going? Anyone know?

 

[rkelman]

Hmm. Well if you have 2 batches a month and have to grow them out to say 4 months... Wouldn't that give you 8 batches on the go at any given time? I'm going to say 8...

 

[Korrine]

Have you sold any of your first batch yet? I'm wondering...with all you have to do, is it worth it monetary wise?

I figure it definitley self satisfying...but it seems that there's so much time and equipment involved!

 

[robojet]

rkelman - Wow... so, you can't start combining the older batches to grow them out? That certainly is alot of equipment.

 

[rkelman]

I haven't sold any yet. They are still too young. I think it will be worth it. Its more self satisfying than profitable. I could make more money per hour working part time at McDonalds No Robojet you can't unless they are close in size / age. If you had a smaller batch you could put some in that are 2 weeks younger but a month younger may not work. That being said I just put my 5 survivors in with the older ones and they are a month apart and they seem to be getting along just fine so far.

 

[vaporize]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12446509#post12446509 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by rkelman
I could make more money per hour working part time at McDonalds

At least you got that part right I have yet to seen any clownfish breeder become millionaires.

However one of our RC clownfish guru did turned into a professional gambler. LOL

 

[rkelman]

Ok Its been a busy couple of days... Last night I broke down the tank from the 5 survivors and cleaned it up and 1/2 filled it with water from the main tank. I split my phyto tonight. Crushed the heck out of some more flakes / cyclopleeze for the fry. Last weekend I siphoned the bottom of my Rotifer pails and used that to start another culture. I'm sick of worrying about running out. I now have 3 pails going. Decapsulated some brine shrimp eggs and transfered my tile to the larvae tank and replaced it with another for the clowns. They weren't nearly as miffed at me this time.


Here's a picture of the phyto after the split if anyone is interested. I'm splitting 2 bottles Wed nights and 3 on Sundays to keep a steady supply instead of filling my fridge with phyto every sunday.

Here's my new Rotifer culture. Looks like pretty good density already.

Here's the tile in the nice clean larvae tank.

Here's another shot of the egg tile..

Here's the replacement. The clowns seemed much more content after I put it in. They must think of it as their nest now.

My 14 day olds larvae tank is culturing phyto apparently. I change the water and it turns green again...

I'll post some pics tomorrow night of the new hatch so long as everything goes well.

 

[timthetoolman]

Wow, you are busy.
Those rotifers are resilient. I put some change water in a bucket outside with green water not totally sure they would start. Well, now there is no more green water!
Mine laid again tonight too but I'm still not ready. Maybe I'll order my phyto this weekend.
Thanks for sharing!

 

[agsansoo]

rkelman, Great photos and setup ! Keep the info and picture coming. I'm trying to learn all I can, it's been frustrating for me so far.

 

[jeff209]

you the man

 

[jeff209]

you the man

 

[rkelman]

agsansoo it gets easier trust me. Just keep asking questions. Thanks justartedreefer

 

[MarinaP]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12448650#post12448650 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by vaporize

However one of our RC clownfish guru did turned into a professional gambler. LOL

:lol: That is just too funny.

Back to the topic - you can combine batches when you wean fry off rots as their main diet. Combining after meta should be fine.

I do not feed babies BBS, they go from rots to ground freeze-dried c-peeze + Spirulina flakes, then to frozen c-peeze, etc.

I do not feed the parents live BS from LFS because of the risk of introducing parasites.

Babies look great, congrats

What is the % of deformities that you are seeing?

 

[rkelman]

"Combining after meta should be fine."

This I did not know. I figured they would pick on the smaller ones.

"I do not feed babies BBS, they go from rots to ground freeze-dried c-peeze + Spirulina flakes"

I like this idea. Whats your survival rate? When are you starting this? After meta? I've been starting BBS at 7-8 days. I've had a few deaths so I'm going to start at 9 days this time. I don't buy live BS from a LFS I hatch my own. I haven't seen 1 deformity yet in any batch. Or at least none that got big enough for me to see before they died...

 

[rkelman]

Here's some pics of the last hatch. There should have been about 400. I can't get a full tank shot and have it detailed enough to count them. I don't think there is that many. I've lost about 30 so far. (I haven't checked on them yet this morning)