My Ocellaris breeding thread

[jtmbtech]

I am really learning a lot from your thread. Thank you I look forward to trying this with my clowns they are on batch 7 and I Was too afraid to to try to keep them alive. This has given me the motivation to try. I have a few questions i am hoping you can answer for me.
Where do you get your supplies? I have been looking at apbreed.com rotifiers with rgcomplete And oto
What size bottle of rg should i get with two batches and how long does it seem to last?
Also what size oto and what packaging sizes do you recomend? How much have you used so far etc.
I also saw you recomend decap brine shrimp. Whitch brine shrimp are you using? Are you decaping them yourself?

I appreciate all of your info! Thanks once again and i can't wait for more updates!

 

[ernieq]

What size bottle of rg should i get with two batches and how long does it seem to last?
Also what size oto and what packaging sizes do you recomend? How much have you used so far etc.
I also saw you recomend decap brine shrimp. Whitch brine shrimp are you using? Are you decaping them yourself?

I appreciate all of your info! Thanks once again and i can't wait for more updates!

I got the 16 Oz bottle. The 8 oz didn't last long, about 2 weeks worth, If you are only going to raise 1 batch 8 oz is enough.

OTO and Rotifers from reed aquaculture (apbreed).

OTO goes a long way. I probably haven't use 1/4 of the bag. I didn't buy A, I bought B1 through C1. Then I bought Golden pearls (baby brine size 300 to 500 microns) and also Golden Pearls (500 to 800 microns) from fensfish.com

I got my decap brine shrimp from http://stores.aquaculturenurseryfarms.com some people prefer http://www.brineshrimpdirect.com/Shell-Free-E-Z-Egg-c202.html but they didn't have an 8oz size which is what I wanted.

 

[ernieq]

Here they are Batch 7 from last night. There were still some unhatched eggs when I went to bed, but it was getting really late and I couldn't wait anymore. Lights were not on this morning, so I don't know if the rest hatched. I had forgotten just how small they are when they hatch. There's a typo in my previous message. The golden pearls were purchased from kensfish.com NOT fensfish.com (Don't even know if that exists).

 

[edandsandy]

Congrats on batch 7 and setting up the 55g... I'm sure all your babies will enjoy the extra room.

If you don't mind me asking you, I noticed you are not using the clean plastic tube on the sponge filter.. Why not????

Also is that your larvae collector? If it is, could you post a picture of it, and how it works?

 

[ernieq]

I didn't use it because it was in a 10 gallon tank and it would've been too high to fit. That sponge was originally to be used as a quarantine tank filter, but was repurposed for the fry tank. I suppose now that's in a 55 gallon tank I coould probably put it back.

The collector is just a small beta tank that I fill with water. I scoop babies up with a brine shrimp net. It stays wet well so the babies don't dry up too much and I have about the same transfer losses as I did when scooping with a bowl, but this is easier and faster. Some didn't hatch last night, so I might scoop some more tonight.

 

[edandsandy]

Thanks! I appreciate your help! Good luck with the new batch

 

[ernieq]

Here they are in growout. The little ones are 35 days old today, and the big ones 45 days old. Though now all together, they kind of blend in. I put in another 10 PVC elbows and several groups are spread accross from them. Tomorrow they will get about 10 gallons of new water and another 10 of broodstock water. Then I will be able to get my sump going.

Batch 7, 1 DPH. They are SOOO little!!! They already ate a full load of rotifers. This batch has very good appetite. I populated rotifers really well last night, and they were mostly gone by this afternoon. I had to provide a boost. Their bellies are silver and big when viewed from the side.

 

[Sport507]

Ernie, you are doing fantastic work and we all know its work. Your larvae and Juvenals look Great! Hats off to your success, keep it up and us posted.

 

[ernieq]

I am such a glutton for punishment. Couldn't let the unhatched part of the batch go last night, so I collected them. I actually think last night's collection was bigger than the previous night.

 

[ernieq]

The previous post is link to a video if anybody cares to see them move around. I put them into the fry tank so the original set of guys will now have 48 hours of light. I re-stocked the rotifers this morning to a higher density seeing how I probably doubled the fry population last night. Yesterday afternoon I removed around 15 or so fatalities.

 

[jtmbtech]

For you recommend using both golden and oto for weaning them off the BBS? Also do the seam to eat one better than the other?

Sent from my SGH-I777 using Tapatalk 2

 

[ernieq]

They seem to prefer golden pearls, but if you never introduce it, they will eat OTO just as well. I just do it for variety, even though both foods are about the same. I am going to give them some cyclop eeze as soon as it arrives. I will also start crushing some NLF pellets with thera A.

 

[ernieq]

Grow out 36 & 46 DPH. In their PVC playground. They have totally regained their appetite. Running the sponge and dual HOB filters. Will startup the sump tomorrow. I didn't get a chance to get the sieve material to wrap around the overflow.

Batch 7 1 and 2 DPH (some hatched 2 days ago, others last night).
They went through my densely populated rotifer culture pretty quickly in their 24 and 48 hour light. Tonight, they get lights out to give my rots a chance to recuperate.

 

[edandsandy]

Such an Incredible journey! I love the video's.
I forgot how small they are on hatch night.
It looks like both batches are enjoying their new home, you've made it very comfy for them.
How many tanks do you have set up now?

 

[ernieq]

I put both of them together. There's only 1 larval tank running, but the female looks very big now. My wife says we have enough clownfish! I disagree, but a happy wife is better than 500 clowns. I guess with Batch 7 numbering around 180's (could be more), I'm around 360 now. I gave them a nightime cycle last night to let the rotifers recuperate a bit, they are just going through them like nobody's business. The culture in the larval tank recuperated last night where this moring there was a good density. But I have a feeling that by tonight, they will all be gone. My culture recuperated somewhat last night, but I'm not harvesting anymore until tonight, so they have a chance to grow and multiply during the night cycle. I'm extending their night cycle to about 12 hours. It will slow their growth somewhat, but they will at least have a good supply of rotifers until meta which is my goal. I should really run dual cultures, and not just the backup that I have in the fridge, I just didn't think they would eat so much and this batch is the biggest one I've ever had. I am going to supplement baby brine at day 5.

One awesome thing that is happening is that the guys in grow out are now eating the food that falls to the bottom, so they are like their own cleanup crew now! I only siphon the really big chunks they can't eat which is very little. So I'm feeding OTO B2 more now, since it's a size they can all eat and very little that is too big. The Golden pearls sized 500-800 microns have pieces that are still too big for even the 3/4 inch speciments, they just look at the bigger chunks, but don't bite at it. With the conglomeration of clowns now, I haven't been able to spot iFish, I know he is there because I've had no fatalities since the 5 I lost mysteriously a few weeks back. I did see another misbar from Batch 4, he is one of the smaller guys and has no middle stripe on one side, but a full stripe on the other.

 

[ernieq]

Lost a lot of batch 7 today, at least 30 or so. They still have lots of rots. Maybe the transfer was not as well executed this time around.

The sump is now fully operational and has fully seeded bio balls and matrix media. I have a skimmer going as well. I wound up using a magnum canister filter sleeve to put around the overflow box and it fit like a glove. So nobody is going through the slots on the overflow box. I still have the dual hob filters running. I will just let them run so that they are fully seeded for batch 7 when they get past meta.

 

[edandsandy]

Sorry to hear about the large loss on this batch.. Its really normal as you know to have great lossed on day 2.. sorry
I'm sure your doing everything correctly, you have been very successful with your batches...
Don't let this set back get you down.

 

[ernieq]

Here's a shot at the whole growout tank completed. The big blue sleve is the overflow box covered so no clowns go into the sump! They have all spread throughout the length of the tank. They used to just gather around the sponge filter before, but now they are all over. When lights go out though, they ball up around the sponge filter.

Here is 3 DPH. Interesting that a whole bunch just hang around one of the corners and the sides of the glass. I'm guessing they are picking at the rots that way.

 

[edandsandy]

Everything looks great, I love the back ground on the 55

 

[ernieq]

I bought that in the days when having a reef tank that looked like that was out of reach, nowadays it is a real possibility. I bought 150 lbs of dry rock and will go out to the florida keys to a live rock aquaculture farm to pick up another 50 pounds of live fresh rock to convert my 10 to 12 year old Fish only tank to FOWLR tank and get rid of my bioballs. I have an emperor angel in it, so no corals in there for me, but I want that natural look. I will probably move one of my BTA's over to it ot see if my clown pair will host it. I'm kind of conflicted with the 55 Gallon setup. Since it is now operational, I really want to convert it to a clown/anemone tank, but then I won't have my grow out anymore, so do I keep it around for growout and continue aquaculturing clowns, or stop and have my clown/anemone tank. There's only so many clowns you can put on a 55, especially when they grow up and start to pair off.