scyphozoa
New member
In the last several weeks my orange skunk clowns began spawning. I collected the larvae after the last 3 hatches and made a novice attempt to raise a few to adulthood using the rotifers and brine I already have been raising for my reef. My first try was not very successful...I only have one juvenile that has made it through so far. I tried to improve rotifer quality and parent fish nutrition. On the night of the second hatch my scarlet cleaner shrimp also released their own babies which were almost impossible to separate from the clown larvae. Many of the baby shrimp accidentally transferred died in the larval rearing tank making water quality an issue. I thus far have 3 individuals from this batch that are living.
The 3rd hatch is where my question lies. The night of the 3rd hatch I turned the lights off in the tank and waited about 15 to 20 min. My clowns lay their eggs on the front glass/silicone in the corner on the far right side of the tank. Newly hatched larvae usually collect in the corner then slowly spread about in the tank only if the current/pump is off. Before I noticed any clown larvae I saw these very thin larvae (very small ...about 1/3 to 1/4 the size of clown larvae) with jerky movement in the middle of the tank. I collected a few and just assumed that they were under- developed clowns and added them to the rest of the batch when the "normal" clowns started their hatch about 5-10 min later. Thinking that these small larvae had very little yolk to carry them thru I thought after the first day most would die. Today is day 5 and I just noticed several of the "small larvae" swimming about amongst the clown babies. (I don't think I have the camera capability to post pics due to their size. ) I came across the post in this forum about the greenbanded gobies and noticed the pic of MWP's larvae resembles my "small larvae". In my reef I also have a pair of yellow clown gobies that reside in a bird'snest coral in the middle of the tank. One of the yellow gobies within the last few months rushes out and nips at my copperbanded butterfly if it comes to close to the area. Is it possible that I have baby gobies or more likely that they are clowns? Without tearing out some corals I don't think it would be likely that I could find a nest. Where can I find more info on clown goby fry/ development (pics?).
Thanks for any help anyone can provide.
The 3rd hatch is where my question lies. The night of the 3rd hatch I turned the lights off in the tank and waited about 15 to 20 min. My clowns lay their eggs on the front glass/silicone in the corner on the far right side of the tank. Newly hatched larvae usually collect in the corner then slowly spread about in the tank only if the current/pump is off. Before I noticed any clown larvae I saw these very thin larvae (very small ...about 1/3 to 1/4 the size of clown larvae) with jerky movement in the middle of the tank. I collected a few and just assumed that they were under- developed clowns and added them to the rest of the batch when the "normal" clowns started their hatch about 5-10 min later. Thinking that these small larvae had very little yolk to carry them thru I thought after the first day most would die. Today is day 5 and I just noticed several of the "small larvae" swimming about amongst the clown babies. (I don't think I have the camera capability to post pics due to their size. ) I came across the post in this forum about the greenbanded gobies and noticed the pic of MWP's larvae resembles my "small larvae". In my reef I also have a pair of yellow clown gobies that reside in a bird'snest coral in the middle of the tank. One of the yellow gobies within the last few months rushes out and nips at my copperbanded butterfly if it comes to close to the area. Is it possible that I have baby gobies or more likely that they are clowns? Without tearing out some corals I don't think it would be likely that I could find a nest. Where can I find more info on clown goby fry/ development (pics?).
Thanks for any help anyone can provide.
