My Black Ocellaris pair are spawning!!!

[mrstihl]

"I tried twice when I had no rotifers. Results were dismal (0). You really do need the rots. I was able to get some results using rots to day 3 and then oto starting day 4. Again results were not very good, but some did live."

Looks like that might jsut answer my question right there. Was the results the same as if they just starved completely (no food at all) or did they get some nutrition at a young age but unable to keep up with their requirements?


"Thanks I appreciate your comments. I haven't tried Oto only. I may try some day. Who knows. I don't have time for experiments usually. My day is pretty full already without setting up a tank / feeding it multiple times a day only to possibly get 10 - 20 misbars.. Not to mention what it costs to get those fish to a point where you can make a determination of the success. I'll post if I do try it. It would be interesting. "

Would you say rotifers are easy or just a negligable amount of work compared to the other duties required to raise clown fry? and I know exact costs arn't really to be mentioned here but do you need to have these larger batches just to break even?

 

[FB]

Would you say rotifers are easy or just a negligable amount of work compared to the other duties required to raise clown fry? and I know exact costs arn't really to be mentioned here but do you need to have these larger batches just to break even?

I wouldn't say they are hard but you have to get used to them. At first I was having to buy them non stop and restart my cultures but as time went on I started to know exactly what was going on in the bucket just by looking at it. Once you get to that point they get a lot easier and will take 5-10 minutes of your daily routine depending on how much you are working with. The more you use them the more stable they become. It's when they just sit that you start to have problems.

Once I stopped making my own phyto and started using Instant Algae it became a hell of a lot easier as I always had food for them.

 

[rkelman]

Rots are a real pain for me at least. They crash all the time. Its a battle. I think there is something about my water they don't like. Perhaps the alk. I'm on a well and have very hard water.

I agree Instant Algae or similar products really make life alot easier.

 

[rkelman]

Ok I need some Rots help. This past 6 months I've really been struggling to keep them going. I get a healthy culture going and they gradually decline until they crash totally. I've tried doing 100% water changes and restarting my cultures but about 1/2 of the time it doesnt work. Even the ones that survive seem to never really get dense like they used to. I was getting my startup cultures from a fellow reefer (who got them from me) so Its not he strain. I also tried them from Reeds and the same thing happens. All I can think of is possibly something is contaminating my cultures. I'm unsure of what pests there are that could be affecting the Rots. Now I'm using filter floss / changing lots of water and using cloram x and still I am struggling. Any ideas would be appreciated.

 

[joncd]

http://cnidarianreef.com/G180/phyto.php

"Rotifers cultures crash, it's a fact of life. Deal with it. Every so often you will notice that your rotifers culture seems to be getting less dense each day. Once in a while it will rebound, most of the time this is the tell tale sign of an impending crash. As long as you know what to do, it is easy to rebound. Rotifers produce cysts when they sense that water conditions are changing for the worse. These cysts lie dormant, are virtually indestructible, but will soon hatch when water condition are right for their survival. So knowing this, when you find yourself witnessing a crash, here's what you do. Mix up a new batch of salt water, add about a cup of phytoplankton. Then siphon out ½ to 2/3 of the water from the crashing rotifer tank, using the same method as above. When siphoning make sure you siphon the bottom and pull out some of the gunk on the bottom of the tank, as the cysts are down there. Then transfer the contents of the plankton collector to the new water. In about 18-24 hours the new cysts will hatch and start to reproduce, in the beginning you do not want too much phytoplankton in the water. Make sure you check every day and add a little bit more phytoplankton, just enough to make the water a slight ting of green. In about 5-7 days your culture will have rebounded. Now, just care for them as before. This method has worked for me every time, so you should have good luck with it. "

 

[rkelman]

Thanks for the reply. I know rotifers crash but they always came back for me in the past. I use a similar method to what you are saying. I can restart all three of my cultures and most often 2 of them never seem to take off. One will but of course that's not enough for my uses. Its really strange when you start all 3 the exact same way. Why would 2 not start? I've been keeping Rots for a couple years so I do have some knowledge in their care but I don't know its like there is a contamination of some sort. They never crashed this often before.

 

[birddog486]

I've had some of the same issues, and found it works better to use water from a water change from the brood tank instead of new salt water.

 

[rkelman]

I've talked to a few people that do that. Maybe I'll try that thanks. I haven't done it in the past because it means I have to have full strength sw on hand all the time. I don't have a lot of room so its a pain.

 

[joeyt66]

I keep my rotifer culture in my sump room and usually scoop out 2 or 3 litres and put them into my refugium and scoop out same amount of tank water to replenish the culture. I try to do this everyday but it actually gets done 2-3 times a week.
PS Rob if you need more rots anytime just shoot me an email. I usually have a consistence in rots ......its the clowns that aren't as consistent .

 

[rkelman]

Thanks Joe. Last time I tried some from Reeds thinking maybe that a different strain might help. It didn't.

 

[Nemo8710]

Any chance we an get a "fish porn" video ? LOL

 

[rkelman]

This is a family forum. lol

 

[duncaholic]

Hey Rkelman thanks for the brilliant thread. Sooooooo much valuable information!!! For a wanna be breeder I can say for sure that your shared experience has already prevented me from making some serious mistakes. So thanks for that!

One question. I read a few pages back where I think it was you or Dazed said that B/W and orange occellaris make fugly brown babies when cross bred. Do you or anyone reading have access to any pictures of said fugly fish? I'm asking because I've got a pair in my main display, and I really think they are both exceptional fish. I'm biased to be sure as these were my first clowns, but to the point...I've always thought that one man's treasure is another man's trash or how ever that old saying goes, but sometimes one man's trash is just trash. So if anyone has a pic I'd be very gratefull. Thanks

 

[kbb0118]

Nice thread. I'm going to throw a huge party the day my pair of darwins lays a nest!

Regarding rotifers crashing. I have either been very lucky or have stumbled upon something. I have not lost a rot culture yet in the year and a half that I have been culturing. Yeah they get real stinky but then I do a water change and we're good to go.

A little about my "system" (LOL):
1 five gallon black bucket
airline tube with ridgid portion at the end turned to a slow bubble
roti floss from Reed
RotiGrow Plus algae paste from Reed
Used saltwater (seived through rotifer seive so no evil hydriods)
A cool environment (helps keep their metabolism and numbers in check)

My "strain" started from resting cysts from Florida Aqua Farms but I'm guessing their mostly the Reed variety now since I added a bunch from them a while ago.

I'm real lazy with the rotifers so I'm shocked they have lasted so long. I don't harvest everyday like you're suppsed to, I don't feed much unless I have fry. Maybe that is the key.

 

[milhous3er]

Great thread !! I bet its a pretty nice feeling when you can watch all those tanks and see how well you've done. I missed the part when you started breeding the ocellaris, but with 37 pages skimmed through in 3 hours I just overlooked it. That must be one heck of a nice fish room though !!

Keep up the great work !!

 

[rkelman]

Hey Duncaholic, I've seen pics but I can't think of where. MOFIB maybe. They were ugly unfortunately.

kbb0118, You can support an entire hatch on 1 bucket too? I can barely keep up sometimes with 3. So your solution is less maintenance? I like it

milhous3er. Ya It is cool to just sit back and watch them all. I wish it was a nice fish room. Its really quite messy / cramped. Some day I'd like a nice one. No room now.

Thanks for the complements guys. I do appreciate it.

 

[kbb0118]

kbb0118, You can support an entire hatch on 1 bucket too? I can barely keep up sometimes with 3. So your solution is less maintenance? I like it

I can! Even while bottling most of them up for sale at a LFS. I wish I knew what it was about my "routine" that was causing me to have robo rotifers. Wish I had time to do a real experiment to figure it out.

 

[Sprockett]

Great Thread

Great Thread

Like so many others, I've been reading this thread. I'm very impressed, we have a pair of Percula's that have been part of the family for 5 years, Itchy and Scratchy. They started laying eggs much to our surprise, at first we couldn't even catch the fry. So on their last batch (#5) we caught about 30 fry total using Wilkersons fry trap, out of the 30 we are on day 5 and are down to 2 left. Learned a bunch along the way, I'm hoping these two make it all the way. They have rotifers and BBS in the tank now and I ordered some of the Otohime to see how that will work.

We have another batch sitting in the tank now, just got a 5 gallon and supplies to start a second fry tank for the new ones. I'm hoping that we have better success with these, we will have plenty of food this time.

Just a couple quick questions, you mention using phyto to turn the water green to stop the hovering on the glass stuff, does uncovering the sides help as well? I noticed that they don't hover on the side that's exposed, only on the ones that are covered (I darkened the water a bit this evening to get one off the glass).

I'm waiting for day seven when I can put in a foam filter and move them to a better location where we can start growing them out.

On the Otohime, what sizes are you feeding at what stages?

Thank you for sharing all this information, it's been a lifesaver for us

 

[kbb0118]

I too am interested in your Otohime use. I'm quite tired of rotifers.

 

[rkelman]

I can! Even while bottling most of them up for sale at a LFS. I wish I knew what it was about my "routine" that was causing me to have robo rotifers. Wish I had time to do a real experiment to figure it out.

How many are you raising out of a hatch?

Just a couple quick questions, you mention using phyto to turn the water green to stop the hovering on the glass stuff, does uncovering the sides help as well? I noticed that they don't hover on the side that's exposed, only on the ones that are covered (I darkened the water a bit this evening to get one off the glass).

I'm waiting for day seven when I can put in a foam filter and move them to a better location where we can start growing them out.

On the Otohime, what sizes are you feeding at what stages?


Thank you for sharing all this information, it's been a lifesaver for us

No uncovering the sides doesn't help. In my experience covering or uncovering does nothing.

Don't move the Fry on Day 7. Way to soon to be switching tanks.

I start feeding the A at around day 4 depending on the progress of that particular hatch. After that I feed them whatever size they can eat.

I'm glad its been of help. Your welcome.