NirvanaFan's Ocellaris clownfish breeding attempt

NirvanaFan

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Premium Member
Let me start out by thanking a few people first. Subman, FB, rkelman, and everyone else on the breeders forum, I appreciate all the advice you've given me thus far. I've learned a lot from you, and I'm sure that I'll be learning more. Your threads inspired me to actually give clownfish breeding a try.

I'm not really trying to make money with this setup (for now at least). It would be nice to break even though. I have been keeping track of where money has gone, so lets hope that it earns its money back. Have any of you actually made money breeding your clowns? If I break even with these ocellaris, I would like to buy a pair of black ocellaris, or maybe a pair of gold stripped maroons. That's a ways down the road though. The LFS store that I frequent gives you two options when trading things in. They will give 33% store credit (If they can sell something for $100, they will give you $33 store credit). Or, you can take 25% cash (If they can sell something for $100, they will give you $25 cash). I'm not sure if they will do anything better for a frequent supplier of clowns, but it is something that I intend to find out.


Well, I think I'm finally ready for the clutch of eggs that will probably hatch Saturday or Sunday night.

Here are the clowns in the process of spawning a few times ago.
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Here is my setup in the basement. I currently have 7 two liter bottles of phyto going. For rotifers, there is a 10 gallon tank that I am increasing the water volume of every day. Below the 10 gallon tank is a 5.5 gallon tank that is almost halfway full now. I'm not really sure of densities, but I would guess there is somewhere around 10 rots/ml. What do you guys like to keep your concentration under? My phyto cultures are still maturing, but are able to support the rots currently.

Everything was kind of just thrown together in the basement corner. I would like to set up something a little permanent, but the fiancee doesn't want the house/basement being taken over yet.

I bought the Maxi-Culture kit from Florida Aqua Farms and am really happy with it. The rotifers seemed to take a long time to get going, but I kept feeding them, and they took off eventually. I split the culture a few days ago just in case one crashes.

The clowns still refuse to lay eggs on a tile. I think I may try sticking it in front of their egg laying spot again after these eggs hatch. It would be nice if they would lay their eggs on it.

That's all I have for now. Hopefully I'll have good news Saturday or Sunday night. I plan on redoing my larvae catcher tomorrow night, so I can be ready this weekend.
 
How many gallons of rotifers do you guys keep going for one batch of eggs? Right now I've got 7 or 8, and am going to increase it to 10 (split between 2 batches).
 
It really depends on the density. I have one 10 gallon tank with a sponge filter in it. and 2 2L cultures going.

If they are good and strong 10 should be more than enough!

FB
 
So i see that you got the rotifers going good and strong nice job best of luck to you and happy hunting over the weekend.
 
Looking good. You'll get them laying on the tile. Once they become more used to laying nests and get used to the tile as well as you fussing around their home they will settle in. I have 15g of Rotifer cultures. They are not too bad now but they were really weak last nest. I use water change water from my growout tanks for the Rots so it doesn't cost me anything to have more. I might do the sponge filter thing like FB.. Seems like a good idea. 7 2l bottles of Phyto. Wow that's alot. I'm getting by with 3 right now (barely) 4 would be comfortable. Just to give you an idea of what I'm going through. Splitting 7 bottles is a pain :) Good luck!
 
I've got 7 bottles, but only 3 of them are strong. They mature in like 3 or 4 days. The others take a week. I'm not really sure why. Thanks for the input rkelman. I'll probably try to increase the amount of Rots I have. I don't want to run out.

FB, what is the sponge filter thing? Do you have a sponge filter in the rot tank?
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13428679#post13428679 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by NirvanaFan
I've got 7 bottles, but only 3 of them are strong. They mature in like 3 or 4 days. The others take a week. I'm not really sure why. Thanks for the input rkelman. I'll probably try to increase the amount of Rots I have. I don't want to run out.

FB, what is the sponge filter thing? Do you have a sponge filter in the rot tank?

Yes, I read about it on MOFIB. You put a seasoned sponge filter in your rot tank on a moderate bubble rate. Keeps the ammonia away and it does not seem to bother the rots at all because the flow rate is so slow. It was working really well until all my phtyo crashed and burned.

FB
 
Well, they are hatching tonight. I've collected about 100 so far. Unfortunately my camera is about 6 years old, and does not take good macro shots. So, I don't have any good ones. There are still more eggs to hatch. Hopefully they hatch soon because I've gotta start my new job tomorrow morning and want a good nights sleep. I'm excited.
 
So hatching went fairly well. I captured a lot of them. I had a big loss the first night. I am guessing this is due to transfer damage. I sucked the dead ones out of the tank when I got home from work Monday afternoon. Every day when I get home there are 5 or 6 more dead ones laying on the bottom. There are probably about 20-25 left now. They are 4 days old. I hate to neglect my first batch, but life has been hectic finishing planning for my wedding and I just started a new job on Monday.

I think I should start them on bbs tomorrow evening? My rotifer culture densities are getting low so I want to get them on bbs soon. The quicker that I can get them on crushed flake/pellets the better. I have to leave for 3 days for business in a week and a half. The fiancee won't want to mess with bbs or rots, so hopefully I can get them weened onto other food by then.

When do you guys try to get them onto the next food after bbs?
 
The first batch is a learning experience for sure. It will get better as time goes on. I don't use BBS at all. I just go straight from Rots to Otohime A (after meta in my case about 6 days)
 
I may try to skip bbs with the next batch. It seems like a big pain in the rear to do everything with them. Maybe if I got some decapsulated ones it would be better. I don't really think I can do it this batch because my rotifer cultures are getting skimpy. Hopefully they take to the bbs well.

Thanks for the idea about going straight to Otohime.
 
Decapsulated is better. Even decapsulating your own is a pain. I'm having great success with Otohime. I know what you mean about the Rotifers. It always seems to be an issue for me as well.
 
How do you know if the larvae are actually eating the Otohime? I've tried feeding them crushed pellets, but I can't tell if they're eating it. I sprinkle it over them, but they don't strike at it like they do rotifers or bbs.
 
Well if you watch them real close you can see them eat it. Really though the first time was a leap of faith..
 
Well, i think that the larvae are eating the crushed pellets. They are remaining fat and it's been 3 days since I fed bbs. I've got more bbs hatching tonight so I'm gonna give them some more. I have actually seen the bigger larvae strike at the crushed pellets. It's pretty cool to watch.

The larvae are almost two weeks old. I'm surprised at how much they've grown, but they're still so small. It's amazing that they could survive and grow up to adults in the wild. I think I've still got like 15 of them.

The parents laid eggs again, and they should hatch tonight. I've got to decide if I want to try to raise them though. I have to go away for work from Sunday to Wednesday. I'll have to get the fiancee to feed them. She is nervous enough about feeding the ~two week old ones.

I want to get a better camera soon. Hopefully in the next couple weeks I'll get one so I can take some good pictures like the rest of you.

How many times a day do you feed the larvae Otohime?
 
I'd Put a ton of Rots in the larvae tank and just keep adding phyto daily to keep a green tint. I add it once in the morning and once at night. Unless the batch is huge the Rots should be able to reproduce fast enough to keep up to the demand. It cuts feeding way down at least.

I feed my clowns 4 times a day currently.
 
Well... out of the first batch of eggs that I tried raising I have 4 left. They are about 17 days old now. 1 of them has no white stripes, 2 of them have their first stripe about completed, and one of them has its second stripe starting. I noticed the first stripes on the couple fish when they were 13 days old.

My second batch isn't doing well. There are only about 4 or 5 survivors. I figured they would all die though. Going away on business for 3 or 4 days is a long time. Unfortunately I've gotta go away at the very end of this month for 7 days.

When do you guys generally notice the stripes start to appear?
 
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