My Black Ocellaris pair are spawning!!!

[Magga Pie]

Oh on the better note!!! My clowns look like they are about to lay thier first batch of eggs!! The female is very fat and they have found a long flat piece of rock towards the back of my tank and they have been swimming in and out of there alot picking the rock to clean it. They never ever go back there and today they have been back there all day

 

[rkelman]

I'm not sure Magga Pie. Maybe post in the diseases forum. It may just be a rub mark from a rock? Good luck I hope they are laying eggs for you! Pm me if you need any help!

 

[rkelman]

Well I got bored so I figured I'd take some pictures. My last batch has probably 50 or so left. I'll be putting them all together in the same tank as the previous hatch at some point I think. I'm beginning to see a head band on some so we are pretty much out of the woods. I don't get many meta deaths so I feel good about where they are at now. No water changes at all in this last batch yet. I'm using Amquel every day. I've been co-culturing and haven't had to add Rots since day 1 as they are multiplying as fast as they are being eaten at this point.

The batch of about 45 from a month ago is doing well and growing like crazy.

This tank has probably 175 or so that are ranging from 1/2" to 3/4" in size. They are a mixture of different hatches. I'm sorting by size not age. It really doesn't matter how old they are if they are too small they are too small...

 

[rkelman]

These guys are pretty much ready to go they range from 1" to 1 1/4" I dunno how many maybe 75?

Here's Mom

Here's Dad

 

[Lifes A Beach]

Beautiful fish! Nice job! Wish you were closer I'd get a few from you!

--Barbara
:fish1:

 

[FB]

Wow

 

[MYDRAAL]

Man that looks sweet. One day maybe I'll have a tank full of baby maroons like that.

 

[rkelman]

Thanks Barbara / guys. They laid a nest tonight at around 8:30. It looks to be a decent size. Probably 500 again. Its very strange because they should have laid tomorrow night. (this is the first time they have been early) and this is also the first time they have laid after 6:00pm. Usually its 4:30 to 5:15 like clockwork. The last bunch have headbands and are eating Otohime A so they will get put in with the ones before them to free up another tank probably on the weekend.

 

[dazed]

wow nice pictures; looking at those really shows me how slow mine are growing though.

 

[rkelman]

Thanks Dazed. Good things are worth waiting for though

 

[aww_419]

That is awesome. I always wanted to culture some maroon babies. They spawned last year for a couple weeks but the eggs would never develop. I don't think the male ever fertilized them. The weirdest thing. The haven't done it since. Maybe i just have a queer male.

 

[fish addict :D]

This thread is amazing! Your pictures are awesome in showing the stages of the larvae's growth so I was wondering if I could use some of your pictures for a class project? I would just show them to the class. No selling or printing. thanks in advance!
~fish addict

 

[rkelman]

Thanks fish addict. You sure can use my pictures for your project. They are 800x600. I have the full sized originals if you need better quality.

 

[fish addict :D]

Thanks a bunch! The ones on here will be fine but thanks for the offer!

 

[rkelman]

I had a good hatch last night. Probably 400 or so. One of my Rotifer cultures crashed and the other 2 are very weak. I did a huge water change on them last week. So tonight i cleaned out the buckets and did another water change with fresh SW this time trying to salvage anything I could. These guys may go to Otohime really early this time. I have used the grunge in the bottom of the bucket before in a pinch. Hmm.. Maybe I shouldn't have cleaned the buckets so well. Hindsight is 20/20.

 

[aww_419]

good luck. hope its a large group. Where are you selling them. LFS or other and whats a good price for B/Ws and Maroon golds? Im thinking about moving my pair into my anem tank or possibly by themselves and see if they will spawn again. just want to see if the costs will even out or dig a hole in my pocket

 

[rkelman]

Well I siphoned probably 150 dead ones out this morning. I hate that. I seem to have really high losses for the first few days. I know they aren't starving they aren't old enough to starve yet...

I put water in from my display tank the night before the hatch. On hatch night I saw the water was very slightly cloudy. I've been told to use some Methylene Blue to ward off fungus ect. I'm going to get some and try that. I had a major bacterial bloom in my QT tank a couple months ago and it killed a Blonde Naso and almost killed a couple reg Ocellaris I had in there. I'm thinking my summer well water isn't as good as it is in the winter.

I haven't gotten my RO system going yet as I need a booster pump and I think I need a large sediment filter so I don't ruin my ro filters fast. More money.. My wife will be soooo happy...

Thanks aww_420 I hope I get a decent lot this time.. Although numbers are dwindling fast..

I'd rather not talk about price here it may be against policy. PM me if you want though. I'm in a different market than you but I think prices are pretty similar.

Give them a stable environment and don't mess with their "home" feed them well and wait.. It could take 6 months or a year for them to start spawning again. Or moving them to a Nem tank on their own isn't a bad idea either.

Mine have dug a rather large hole in my pocket. I'm about half way to the break even point I think.. You have to do it for the love cuz the money sucks lol. If I can get to the point that the clowns pay for my hobby entirely I'll be ecstatic.

 

[aww_419]

Well ive heard from quite a few people on RC that 1 or 2 pair breeding is more a drain on the wallet than a profit. and that your lucky to break even. and that you'd have to have a few pairs and pretty much make it a day job to turn a decent profit. I would like to do it for fun but not if its going to be a hassle or take time from the hobby, or worse my everyday life. I'm content with my reefs if its really as frustrating a gig as they say. You can post how much your getting for them i just cant offer to buy them or you cant offer to sell them to me. One of the guys on here says he sells them for $5 a piece to his LFS but time wise and finance wise its not worth it. especially when you have to rely on them needing or wanting to buy them. Its like working on commission from what i can tell. Sometimes good sometimes really bad but you put in the same work regardless

 

[rkelman]

Its definately not going to replace a day job unfortunately.. Unless you have a large scale operation.

 

[aww_419]

Exactly. I dont mean getting rich off of it or even making a little side cash. But like you said, if it can finance part of the hobby that would be awesome.