Raising Clownfish Fry

[Randy Menard]

Hello Out There,

I have just syphoned my first baby clarkii(syphoned as they hatched using a light to help) from my 400 gal. tank. They survived the night. I have them in a 10 gal. aquarium, with a small flourescent lamp-temp is 80. I see I also syphoned some baby shrimp. I guess I now have 2 questions. By reading "Clownfishes" by Richard Stratton, they don't need to be fed til the 8th day?? True , wait 8 days.I also plan on feeding frozen rotifers,. What do I do about the baby shrimp? Looks like some have died, do I vacuum off bottom now--daily??Thanks for any help from anyone who knows. Thanks so much

 

[pncstod]

I have not bred clownfish yet...although I plan on it. I have however bred seahorses. I think you are mistaking on the eight days. I believe they are born on the eighth day......I am pretty sure you need to start feeding right away.

There is alot of info on the web and there is a breeding room here on reefcentral.

Do you mean baby pepermint shrimp?? They will most likely be to large for the clownfish fry to eat. My shrimp usually had fry every 14 days. I found them valuable to older seahorse fry....I would imagine they would be good for older clowfish fry too. (again I have not attemped clowfish yet). As far as raising the shrimp to adult hood (or keeping for long stretches)...I have found that to be just too difficult...although some are doing it.

Goodluck...and remember it can take many batches before you start experiencing some success.

 

[phender]

The fry need to be fed starting the first day. They can survive on their yolk sac for the first couple days, but they need the practice to catch the rotifers.
FWIW: offering non-living food as a first food tends to not work very well and causes a lot of water quality issues.

 

[ShaneV]

Yep you need to feed everyday, and keep them fed. IMO rotifers is the only way to go for home aquarists.

 

[Princess Di]

Buy Joyce Wilkerson's book, Clownfishes. It's the best available. Phender is correct in that they need to be fed the following day and people have not had much success with frozen foods.

 

[JamesJR]

Using dead food you would be able to raise no more than a dozen or two clowns at best. Not easy to do. To get the best results you really need to get organized and do some serious planning. ShaneV is right as Rotifers have proven themselves in culturing clowns. you have to keep them fed like crazy for a few days and then switch them to newly hatched (and preferably)
decapsulated brine shrimp. It may take a few batches of eggs until you get it right. It is worth doing and I can't wait to get my tank up again to start breeding clowns.