My Ocellaris breeding thread
- Thread starter ernieq
- Start date
edandsandy
Active member
Oh, how fast they grow!!! Very healthy looking! I know when they grow to about appx 2" the aggression increases. Have you tried more hiding spaces??
ernieq
New member
I actually think, the more hiding places, the more they fight. After I introduced the dry rock with all those crevices, it took them a few days to start pinning down their little homes, now most of them hide within the rocks and the PVC elbows have fewer inhabintants, most of the bigger ones take foot in the PVC elbows, everyone else just finds a place in the rocks. At this point it is still not all that bad, there is no chasing all over the tank, just from the immediate spot. I still think that there's too many around for them to get too aggressive, it would be overwhelming for a single fish to chase everyone away.
bonartpetit
New member
I just can't thank you enough for taking the time to document this and share this experience with us. I know it has helped so many people, even if there haven't been as many comments.
My fiance and I set up a 55 gallon reef tank just over a month ago and have a pair of ocellaris (one orange, one black) and, while I know it will be a long while before spawning, I have your thread bookmarked! We also have 5 freshwater tanks (125g, 65g pentagon shape, 2 40g breeders, and a 20g old school river tank) and I think we are going to convert the 125g to saltwater (in steps, we have been giving our oscars and other cichlids to new happy homes as they become available) as well as the 65 gallon (currently, it houses 2 alligator snappers, but come spring, we are building a pond in the backyard for them). He wants the 125 gallon to be just fish and live rock and the 65 gallon he said would be "easy enough" to also be reef eventually. Naturally, I want the splendor and color of the reefs, even if it comes with hard work and patience. After spending hours reading your journal, I am now quite certain that our 2 40 gallon breeders will become "grow-out tanks"
On that note, when they reach "grow-out" stage, can the grow-out set up have live sand? Or, in your experience, does that just make it way too complicated? Also, do your grow-out set ups have their own refugiums as well? What lights do you use in both the 10 gallon "nurseries" and the "grow out" tanks? In the transition from freshwater to saltwater, the greatest sticker shock certainly came with the bulbs! Then again, if there are no corals, would regular saltwater fluorescence be ok, or do they need full spectrum as they grow? Sorry, I have a lot of questions I have just noticed it is easier to know what you need and collect it as it becomes available from other friends in the hobby.
On yet another note, a great BIG THANK YOU for documenting this for another reason. My fiance used to breed snakes and sell them, including some of the most deadly venomous ones (he has the hospital bills and scars to prove it) but when I came into the picture, I told him that I didn't think it was worth him risking his life and that I didn't want to grow emotionally closer to somebody who didn't value his life well enough to not knowingly put himself in harms way like that. Well, the collection has been dwindling ever since, and he actually MISSES them! He misses raising them, watching their patterns emerge, colors change, etc. I was trying to get him excited about raising other animals as hobbies (even those expensive savannah cats) but, honestly, since he showed me his first rhino viper, I haven't seen him light up as much as reading your posts with him! Phew! I think it is a breakthrough!
I am so excited to take this on when it comes. We both have stressful jobs (he is a racecar/mega high end car mechanic/technician and I am an art director and graphic designer) and already just stare at our tanks, mesmerized, at the end of the day. You are completely correct when you refer to it as a stress reliever. My arthritis is even better since we first set up our saltwater tank ! May I ask what stressful occupation you have? Oh, and of course, if you would eventually consider selling some to us?
My fiance and I set up a 55 gallon reef tank just over a month ago and have a pair of ocellaris (one orange, one black) and, while I know it will be a long while before spawning, I have your thread bookmarked! We also have 5 freshwater tanks (125g, 65g pentagon shape, 2 40g breeders, and a 20g old school river tank) and I think we are going to convert the 125g to saltwater (in steps, we have been giving our oscars and other cichlids to new happy homes as they become available) as well as the 65 gallon (currently, it houses 2 alligator snappers, but come spring, we are building a pond in the backyard for them). He wants the 125 gallon to be just fish and live rock and the 65 gallon he said would be "easy enough" to also be reef eventually. Naturally, I want the splendor and color of the reefs, even if it comes with hard work and patience. After spending hours reading your journal, I am now quite certain that our 2 40 gallon breeders will become "grow-out tanks"
On that note, when they reach "grow-out" stage, can the grow-out set up have live sand? Or, in your experience, does that just make it way too complicated? Also, do your grow-out set ups have their own refugiums as well? What lights do you use in both the 10 gallon "nurseries" and the "grow out" tanks? In the transition from freshwater to saltwater, the greatest sticker shock certainly came with the bulbs! Then again, if there are no corals, would regular saltwater fluorescence be ok, or do they need full spectrum as they grow? Sorry, I have a lot of questions
I have just noticed it is easier to know what you need and collect it as it becomes available from other friends in the hobby.On yet another note, a great BIG THANK YOU for documenting this for another reason. My fiance used to breed snakes and sell them, including some of the most deadly venomous ones (he has the hospital bills and scars to prove it) but when I came into the picture, I told him that I didn't think it was worth him risking his life and that I didn't want to grow emotionally closer to somebody who didn't value his life well enough to not knowingly put himself in harms way like that. Well, the collection has been dwindling ever since, and he actually MISSES them! He misses raising them, watching their patterns emerge, colors change, etc. I was trying to get him excited about raising other animals as hobbies (even those expensive savannah cats) but, honestly, since he showed me his first rhino viper, I haven't seen him light up as much as reading your posts with him! Phew! I think it is a breakthrough!
I am so excited to take this on when it comes. We both have stressful jobs (he is a racecar/mega high end car mechanic/technician and I am an art director and graphic designer) and already just stare at our tanks, mesmerized, at the end of the day. You are completely correct when you refer to it as a stress reliever. My arthritis is even better since we first set up our saltwater tank
! May I ask what stressful occupation you have? Oh, and of course, if you would eventually consider selling some to us?bonartpetit
New member
Oh! and did you ever find iFish??!
ernieq
New member
iFish grew out his stripes. Sometimes that happens. When I moved him to growout, the stripe kind of completed itself, didn't think that was possible, but I've only had 3 losses in growout and none of them were misbars, in fact I can only see 2 misbars in the whole tank now. The main stress now is not job related, although there's always some stress in the financial world. Had to deal with some severe family health issues, and without the clowns to keep me busy, I don't know what I would have done.
The bulbs in the nursery were the bulbs that I used in my freshwater setups back in the day, the bulbs are probably over 10 years old, and had been in storage for a while. If you don't have anemones or any other invertebrate that requires daylight, you can actually just keep your freshwater bulbs, although you would probably get some of the nuisance algae with them. I use 10K and actinic t5 HO's in all my saltwater setups. The growout has a sump with some live rock rubble, bio-balls, chemi pure and some matrix media from Seachem. It also has a skimmer and an UV sterlizer in it. There is no room to have some macro algae, although that would have been ideal. I've been thinking of just dumping a ball of chaeto in the tank, but it would just make cleaning a pain with all the pieces going everywhere.
The bulbs in the nursery were the bulbs that I used in my freshwater setups back in the day, the bulbs are probably over 10 years old, and had been in storage for a while. If you don't have anemones or any other invertebrate that requires daylight, you can actually just keep your freshwater bulbs, although you would probably get some of the nuisance algae with them. I use 10K and actinic t5 HO's in all my saltwater setups. The growout has a sump with some live rock rubble, bio-balls, chemi pure and some matrix media from Seachem. It also has a skimmer and an UV sterlizer in it. There is no room to have some macro algae, although that would have been ideal. I've been thinking of just dumping a ball of chaeto in the tank, but it would just make cleaning a pain with all the pieces going everywhere.
ernieq
New member
I am kind of surprised that as they get older, there are no significant signs of aggression yet, other than the occassional shake dance. I am wondering if reduced numbers in grow out increases aggression? Around 99% of the clowns do not exhibit any sort of frayed fins, there is the ocassional one that turns up with a nip here and there, but not significant.
I have started feeding them NLS 1mm pellets along with Ocean Nutrition Formula 2 pellets to go along with TD OTO C2 and Frozen Cyclopeeze. I bought a can of the dry stuff, but other than making a home made mix, how do you feed the dry stuff, it doesn't re-hydrate well, how does everybody use it here?
I have started feeding them NLS 1mm pellets along with Ocean Nutrition Formula 2 pellets to go along with TD OTO C2 and Frozen Cyclopeeze. I bought a can of the dry stuff, but other than making a home made mix, how do you feed the dry stuff, it doesn't re-hydrate well, how does everybody use it here?
edandsandy
Active member
I purchased the dried stuff too, the fish and myself are not too impressed either...
edandsandy
Active member
:sad1:
I'm so sorry to hear this.....
I'm so sorry to hear this.....
edandsandy
Active member
Beautiful!!! :thumbsup::thumbsup:
nanoreef heaven
New member
Awesome pic
*Sent from my little corner of the reef. Nano nano!*
*Sent from my little corner of the reef. Nano nano!*
ernieq
New member
So here are the chosen ones going to the LFS this weekend. Being slowly acclimated to a ph of 8.3.
<a href="http://s1271.photobucket.com/user/eq2/media/IMG_1756_zpsf7468eff.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1271.photobucket.com/albums/jj635/eq2/IMG_1756_zpsf7468eff.jpg" border="0" alt="The Chosen Ones photo IMG_1756_zpsf7468eff.jpg"/></a>
<a href="http://s1271.photobucket.com/user/eq2/media/IMG_1756_zpsf7468eff.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1271.photobucket.com/albums/jj635/eq2/IMG_1756_zpsf7468eff.jpg" border="0" alt="The Chosen Ones photo IMG_1756_zpsf7468eff.jpg"/></a>
