orion,
thank you for your thoughts.
update:
A. batch #1: eating very well. a few show some dark pectoral fins now
i have about 25 from that group.
B. batch#2: about 75 doing well. most have headbands now. i will prob group them with the first batch after they starting eating dry foods.
C. batch#3: about 50 remain. day 4. silver bodies. this batch was odd. the hatch was delayed and half hatched with lights on during the following day. so any survivors here are a blessing. poor eggs? not sure.
as for the next batch, im going to change up another variable. will delay there hatch time for a 3 hrs. this will hopefully force them at my schedule.
also modifications to my snagger might make it more gentle in catching the larvae, which may indirectly help there survival.
my problem remains getting thru days 2-3. this is where i sustain a heavy loss.
as for the color with btas. i have a thread that there is a discussion on this. my conclusions are that its not definitive. some clowns will have fade from there bta. others will not in the same bta.i think individual clowns reaction to the stinging cells plays a major role and wate chemistry/ph contrbutes also.
as you can see from my pics of the parents, the particular rbta they host in does not affect there black. ive had one pair of onyx fade in a bta. move them out. moved another pair into the same bta and there black remains strong.... only diff? the clowns!. so its just a matter of luck if you happen to have a pair that does not fade in yoru bta.
if i wanted to assure color dev. i would not let any onyx host in a bta.
