post meta death

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7873124#post7873124 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by FishGuttz
Tank walls should be completely black, (i've read) fish have trouble orienting themselves and hunting and generally get stressed by open glass. Also I think ORA uses this trick to get black OCs.

You probably now this already. I think Wilkerson or "somebody else I read" is pretty adamant about dark walls on tanks.

We are talking about post metamorphosis fish, 2 weeks to 2 months old, that are on dry food. Clownfish have excellent eyesight and have no trouble finding their food. I have raised with equal success larvae in transparent glass tanks and larvae in black painted tanks.

How does this trick give black ocellaris? It is a genetic variant. ORA must be very talented.
:D

Wilkerson is adamant about black tanks, but not everyone is. That notion has been described as an old wive's tale. Since I tried it both ways, and found no difference, I don't think its true. Take it from an old wife like me.

K
 
Fishguttz,
Sorry I took such a harsh tone. I just think you misunderstood the nature of the question.

Thank you for your input.
Old wife,
Kathy
 
If you've maxed out the # of fish your system can handle and you feel everything else is in check, I'd have to say it is your DO levels. Your BOD is too high for your system.
When larvae and juvies get stressed they will sometimes forego feeding because it creates more of an oxygen demand on them. Then, obviously they appear to starve to death when that really isn't the main reason they starved in the first place.

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7872304#post7872304 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Kathy55g
Thanks for the ideas. Many of these could be correct. Any others want to chime in?
Kathy
 
"I have raised with equal success larvae in transparent glass tanks and larvae in black painted tanks."

Maybe this is your problem, it might be that some from the batch don't get the right nutrition because of the light orientation and this harms them later in life? It is proven that ornamental larvae does better with all black sides, they have not evolved to see light from the sides.

What ORA does and I been told, the black tank helps develop the dark coloration, gets them darker , it does not turns them black.

Ed
 
Last edited:
Yes, but looking at my results, the fish in transparent tanks did better (little to no post meta deaths) than the fish in blacked out tanks....
 
I would make a guess at DO levels as well here which could also indicate water quality. Disease would be my second guess.

These deaths occurred at night? Again hints towards DO levels.

Solution:
I would do a good water change and break down a coulple of the growout tanks for cleaning. Once they are back online place juvies in cleaned tanks and repeat proccess on the rest.

Jacob
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7878976#post7878976 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by ediaz
What ORA does and I been told, the black tank helps develop the dark coloration, gets them darker , it does not turns them black.

Ed

It does?
 
I have a friend who visited ORA with his reef club, they told him that, he came back with lots of pics...

ORA liying?or messing with visitors?

ED
 
Black Ocellaris are still very orange by the time they are moved out of Larval tanks. Not matter if the larval tanks are clear glass, white or black.
 
Back to the topic;
So it has been a couple of weeks since the PURA filter. I have changed it religiously every 2 weeks, and the death rate has fallen to 0 and stayed there. During this time I put my new larvae, just undergoing metamorphosis on the slow system drip, and they have had no post meta deaths.

Granted, these are the larvae that survived 4.5 days with no additional heat (76F degrees) and little artificial light during the power outage. Somehow they learned to hunt/eat in the dark or during the few hours that the batteries held out in my battery-draining-emergency light.( Granted, I probably lost 300 larvae on days 4 and 5 probably to starvation.) They had little exposure to ammonia, so I did not have to put them on system until about day 11. They metamorphosized later than batches I've had where I could heat them to 84. I expect the weaker ones died off in the massive early death piles, and the ones that are left are pretty tough. Still, I am very happy to have no post meta death, and I do give credit to the PURA filter. My system is very simple and small, no protein skimmer, just a 100 micron filter, bioballs in wet/dry configuration and in the sump, and a 40 watt UV just before the water hits the tanks. The PURA may be filtering out some harmful entity. It sure does make the water clear with no traces of yellow at all.

The real test will be a normal hatch with a normal larval period.

Unfortunately I won't be able to do the real test, because I am changing my system to take advantage of a much larger sump (75 gallons vs. the 10 gallons I have now). When I get it finished I will have before and after pictures. It will take me some time, as the school year is starting up and new duties will keep me out of the basement. Later on that.
 
Back
Top