October Picassos

[ClownfishSushi]

At some point last week I realized that my Picassos had not spawned on schedule. It was a busy week but I made sure to check their Frogspawn nesting site daily. To my surprise I discovered that for the first time they changed nesting locations. They spawned on a patch of live rock directly behind the Frogspawn. I guess their normal nesting site was getting a little crowded.

I took this video last night before lights out. The clutch looks really good this time. Lots of eggs packed closely together. I stayed up just incase they hatched but nothing to report. I'm guessing they will hatch tonight based on how frequently the parents are fanning the nest.

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[ClownfishSushi]

10.18.12... Another split hatch.

I managed to collect a hundred or so fry last night. The hatch began around 10:30PM. By midnight I could tell that it was really slowing down so I stopped.

I checked this morning and sure enough, a majority of the eggs are still waiting to hatch.

In my past experience with split hatches, the 2nd night of hatching usually results in significantly more fry. As an added bonus they should hatch within a smaller time frame.

I'm going to add tonight's catch to the existing group. I normally like to run 24 hour lighting on the first day so this complicates things a little. The current fry will be ready for a rest period at the same time that the new ones are hatching. I don't plan on denying them that rest period so the new fry will just have to wait until morning to begin hunting for rotifers.

 

[ClownfishSushi]

So it looks like this clutch wasn't meant to be. Looking back I think the split hatches were a clear sign that something wasn't right with the incubation process and the fry simply weren't viable. I believe it has to do with temperature swings in the broodstock tank.

In my old apartment the tank was temperature was pretty consistent. But now that I'm in an older farmhouse I'm seeing some pretty big fluctuations in temperature between day and night. I'm adding a second heater to the display tank and increasing the minimum temperature to 78. We'll see if that makes a difference next spawn.

 

[Sport507]

Jason……I am a novice breeder at best but I use Finnex temp controllers on all my tanks and they never very more than 1 degree. For under 40 $$ it a nice feeling to know that my tanks are 79 or 80F 24-7. I learned this lesson when I had a beautiful little reef tank crash because the heater thermostat stuck on and lost hundreds of dollars that could have been prevented.

 

[bigfoot610]

if its because the house is cold and drafty get some of those window sealing kits i have an old 50's era house and it makes a massive difference and cuts heating costs by a third