My Black Ocellaris pair are spawning!!!

[rkelman]

Thanks. Yes you could use nls crushed. You won't find Otohime in a store. Reeds sells it.

I've decided to get rid of the blue carpet. The 30g is just too small. I can't put anything else in there with it there so its gotta go. I took the big rock out and broke it to get the carpet out. It was all kind of separated into different sections of the rock. I ended up tearing it into 3 pieces to get it out. I took a plastic container and drilled holes in it so I could monitor the pieces without them hiding on me or getting injured in the powerhead or drain. I've used this type of container for BTA's and it works great. That was friday night. Today they are looking pretty good and I see signs of healing. They are inflated and appear to be doing well. I've heard of people slicing a carpet into pieces but never tearing. Even slicing I've not heard of great success. I wouldn't recommend this method and I have no experience propagating carpets but I do have some with BTA's and these guys look like they are going to make it. I'll get some pics up soon. I have to take some more showing the progress. I have pics immediately after.

I was always skeptical of people saying if you do something like this with a nem it will nuke the tank if you drop it right back in. That has never been my experience with BTA's. I have inverts / coral and the 2 black clowns in this 30g tank and there was no issues. Don't forget this is no small carpet. It was probably 18+ inches across.

 

[Nebthet]

Wow.. I can't believe you did that too your carpet. I hope all the pieces make it. You will more than likely be able to get a little more for it selling it this way than as a whole.
Can't wait to see some pics of your new set up.

 

[bexar]

Hi Rob,
I don't mean to hijack your thread with a question, I'm usually sitting quietly looking forward to updates. But how can the carpet make it without a mouth? How do the pieces eat? Do you have pictures?

This shows how much i know about BTA's - really not much at all! I'm lucky our Rose is still alive. Over the last 25 years we've killed just about every 'nem that come our way. Serious bad luck!

By the way... Somehow 115 "cold clown fry" made it. They've been through just about everything! The air pump went out for awhile, I dowsed them with phyto to make a rot culture (despirate because our rots crashed), a second heater nuked them. These guys are very small (most are missbar), but they're ballzy and afraid of nothing. Even my hand cleaning the tank doesn't phase them.

Lastly, our Onyx' pair just laid their first clutch! Unfortunately we've had a lot of hardware failures, (main pump, skimmer and last night our UV was leaking). Today we're building a new shelf unit and are hoping the 3 pairs don't stop laying eggs.

 

[rkelman]

Ya I can't believe I did it either.. 2 pieces look pretty good. The 3rd doesn't look so good. I'll get some pics up.

Hi Bexar,

The carpet pieces have pieces of the foot / mouth so they will regenerate. They don't need to eat for quite some time. I fed the carpet quite well leading up to this knowing there may be an issue getting it out of the rock.

I'm glad your guys are doing well. 3 pairs. Ugh I have 2 and that's more than enough to keep me busy.

 

[bexar]

Seriously! 3 pair are now driving us crazy! There's so much to do~! Once you finish cleaning the last tank, you have to start the cycle all over again with the first one.

We have 9 pairs total. I would be typing from a loony farm :wildone: if they all were laying eggs. I'll probably get rid of a couple pairs if things get to nutty around here.

I remember when you moved some things around and yours stopped spawing for a while. How long was it until they restarted? After moving all the broodstock to the new shelving unit, only the onyx laid what was in her belly. I'm a little worried they won't spawn again and act like room. What do you think?

 

[rkelman]

I'll bet they are. Cleaning tanks sucks. I sometimes just pay my daughter to do it for me.

When I moved mine last time I think it was 3 months before they laid again.

 

[rkelman]

Here's some pics of the carpet.

These are just after splitting.

Here they are a few days later. You can see they are already forming the mouth and foot.

This smaller piece doesnt look so hot though. Ill get some more pics in a few days I dont want to disturb them too much.

 

[60G]

cool hope you have good luck

 

[bexar]

I find it incredible the carpet can do that! I wish we had your luck with them.

Our Onxy laid again along with the false percs 2 days ago. Now if the Darwin join in the fun then all is well (her belly is big).

 

[rkelman]

Well we'll see if the carpet can do it or not. One of the pieces died (the smaller one) The others appear to be healing nicely.

Good luck with your Darwins!

 

[bexar]

How long does it take to repair? Are there things you do to speed up the process?

Happy New Year!

 

[rkelman]

I don't know how long. they are looking good now. Almost healed. I am just trying to keep the water changed and consistent. Nature will do the rest I hope.

 

[coral_addict]

So how many pairs do you have spawning now? How many clowns are you raising in a week on average?

 

[rkelman]

I have 2 pairs that regularly spawn. Its hard to say weekly when they take 6 - 9 months to be sellable size. I haven't pulled a tile in months because they would be ready in the summer when its not busy.

 

[njlpowell]

rkelman, I just wanted to say congratulations an all of your breeding success, you are truly inspiring, as I really want to do this.

Also, I must say I am very lucky, because I showed the fiance these pictures, and she is forcing me to purchase all the equipment to make this happen. I never thought...

 

[rkelman]

Thanks for the kind words. Now all you need is some breeders. Good luck!

 

[bexar]

This sure isn't an easy hobby! Big ups and downs. We're bummed out now.

This morning we found 7 juvinels dead in one of the grow out tanks. I have to admit that yesterday when we tested their water and found ammonia at 1, i didn't do a water change. Now all fish are balling at the bottom.

(What level of Ammonia do you see mortality in Juvinels?) I see .25-.50 as doable, but at or near 1 is fatal. Do you agree?

Lastly, in our breeder tank, our first egg layer (the false perc female) died last night She looked fine in the morning. Water is all good, nothing obvious in that tank. We don't know what happened.

 

[rkelman]

That's too bad you lost some. It sucks to have them die. Unfortunately its a fact of this endeavor. I don't see any level of ammonia fatal. I left a batch for over a month without any mechanical filtration (i forgot to add a sponge) with no losses. I tested the water and it was off the scale. The fish were fine. I don't believe ammonia is toxic to clowns in the short term. I would be more worried about bacteria than ammonia. Is the water clear? I'm sorry to hear your female died. That really sucks for sure. I've lost quite a few fish in my time but I would be pretty upset if I lost a female from my broodstock.

 

[bexar]

We've been having a lot of bad luck lately! As you know, our broodstock died. Now we have been getting 100% mortality for the last 2 hatches (other breeders).

Tonight while filling up our RO jugs at the local Albertsons, we realized it has a tiny sticker on it that says it's been condemned for a while. My wife says she added RO to the brood stock tank the night before our False Perc dead (something we never have done before). This might be the reason for our dead loss. :*(

But it also brought up another question. RO has untraceable pH while tap has 8. We normally use tap water for the brood stock and RO for the fry. Could this be a potential problem?

What do you use on your show tank vs. fry tanks? Is it all RO or a mix of Tap and RO?

Thank you in advance!,
Bexar

 

[nauticac4]

Burn $100 bucks on an RODI unit and never worry about it again. PLus there great for emergencies. What type of water are you on city or well. Does the well have chlorine or chloramines.

Everything in my display, QT, broodstock and breeding tanks is RODI water.

Sorry for your loss but some more infor and hopefully we can get to the root cause of the problem?