One fry past meta...what now?

[Tinuviel44]

Hello. I am a new member and have never posted to a forum before. I sure hope I am doing this correctly! After a couple of tries we have had our first small success with getting a clownfish fry past meta. The first batch we lost at day 4/5. This batch we only started with three and now only have one. We had one loss before meta, and one loss during meta. The little guy we have left is 13 days today. He is in a 10 gallon with an air stone. He has been fed rots and we kept greenwater in his tank to feed the rots. We started him on Otto A at day 6 and just a small amount of bbs alternating days. The problem is that we are having a miserable time keeping the water clean and healthy. We are assuming this is due to how we have to feed the tank to make sure he can find food to eat even though there is only one fry in a 10g tank. Should we move him to a smaller tank? Would that make it easier to keep water parameters healthy and him able to find ample food without putting so much in? How should we feed a tank with only one fry? Should we set up a grow out tank? What should we put into a tank for him? How long does it need to cycle before he can be moved? Can we add a filter now? Should we give him some live rock or something to bond with? He seems to be pairing with his own reflection at this point. Our other concern is that we have a new batch of eggs hatching this weekend. What do we do then? Surely we cant put the two ages together right away? I thought I had done a lot of research and read a lot of books before trying this, but I have learned that there is a great amount if trial and error that goes into raising fry too. Thank you to all if you that offer any advice.

 

[temper76]

The eat very little just drop small amount of food near him or above him the food first sits on top for a few then it falls to the bottom .if u don't keep your water clean he could get flared gills from ammonia burn before a water change add some ammonia lock or amquel , prime etc.. to keep ammonia from becoming toxic .I personally drip all my water changes and before adding water the new water get some prime

 

[MrGone]

That's a tough call. I would try target feeding a little more. It is difficult to feed only one fish. You might try putting only a few specs in to get his feeding response up, then feed him more as he comes up to the surface. Although with my little guys half of them just chill at the bottom and wait.

You'll have to keep them separate for now.

I added a seeded sponge filter to my mine around day 20, although I read some people do earlier, around the day 13 mark.

I have had the most success using water from the parent tank for water changes. So I would use that for new setups or for anything with the clowns for a long time.

fwiw, I have my guys in a 20 long sectioned off into 3rds. And I only had it half way full until I added the bio filter, then I would raise the water level about an inch a day.

I had lots of failure too, there is a huge learning curve unfortunately. Right now my first successful clutch is about 6 weeks along and my second one is at day 4 and it is nerve racking. Up until that last batch I couldn't get past day 3. Also for what its worth on the 6 week old guys, I haven't had a loss since day 10. I use AmQuel+ to control ammonia. I also feed them a mix of TDO A and baby brine, although this next batch I'm going to try to skip the baby brine.

 

[Tinuviel44]

Thank you both so much! This is very helpful. I think we are finally getting the ammonia under control ( he is much happier), but the nitrate/ nitrites are still iffy. I am currently doing about a 25% water change every evening, and dripping 50/50 new water and parent water almost constantly. We drip at a rate of about 2 drops per sec. We have some prime, but until I read your replies I was scared to use it. Wow! It really makes a huge difference! Can it be used with new hatchlings at day 1? MrGone, how do you separate your tank into three sections? What do you use as dividers? Do you keep all ages/ stages in there? Is the filter in with your oldest group? Does it keep the different stages for separate? If you could share with me how you are doing this, it could be a huge help for us. We started trying to raise the fry because I at first couldn't stand the thought of our tank eating all of them. Plus with 4 kids they all got very excited when they discovered the eggs. Our mated pair of percula clowns are 5 years old and just started laying this spring ( about two months after changing to an entirely new setup.) it has now become a family project with everyone participating. We have no desire or hopes of making it a business, but have had several friends and business associates ( the kids school, pediatrician ,and dentist) as well as our local marine store ( who offered trade for supplies) say they are interested in them as they grow. It has been a truly wonderful experience for all of us so far I took this last night. It just cracked me up!

 

[Tinuviel44]

Thank you so much for your responses. Your info was very helpful! I think we finally have the ammonia under control ( we had some prime, but I was too scared to use it... It is WONDERFUL!) but the nitrites/nitrates are still not good. I've been doing a 20/30% water change daily and have a continual drip of 50\50 new water and parent water at a rate of about 2 drops per sec. I am going to try your feeding recommendations and see if I can "prime" is feeding response before adding his dinner. It is so hard to figure out how much oto A to add. We've been adding a very small pinch and it still seems like a lot is wasted and trashing the tank. It's so hard to tell if he's actually eating it!
MrGone, could you tell me how you divided your tank and how you use each section? Do you separate ages into the different sections? What are your dividers made of? Does it keep each stages food separate? I think your setup would be a great option for us. Do you use your sponge filter in the older fish section? We broke down last night and put a seeded sponge filter in his tank. What w didn't realize until an hour later is that we also added a couple of the mini brittle stars that were in our sump! My husband also read that it was good to add a piece of live rock to the tank at this stage too. I found a couple of references that do that, but most I have seen do not. Any opinions? Thanks again to both of you. Here's a little pic I took last night. It just cracked me up!