SB Clown Breeding

[ryancmatchett]

So I wanted to start posting this on a larger forum to try to get some more input.

Here is what we have:
Pair of B&W Clowns - We received them January 28, 2011
We QT'd and just wanted the B&Ws for our 120gal DT....but after watching them HUNT a wrasse, and biting me, we put them back into a 20H on 3/30/11



First spawn - 4/16/11
Eggs were eaten within 2 days

Second spawn - 4/29/11
75 to 80 eggs
Lasted 5 days, before they were eaten

At this point, we acquired 2 20gal acrylic tanks:
Set up is 2 X 20gal, 12gal sump, Rio 1700 return pump, Plumbing was fairly easy. And a 2 X 54w T5 light set with 1 X ATI Blue Plus and 1 X Wave Point SunWave (10K).

As soon as we had the new tanks cycled they spawned again....

 

[ryancmatchett]

3rd clutch:
Evening of Thursday 5/12, we noticed that there was a good sized clutch of healthy looking orange eggs on the inside, top right corner of their pot. Watched the clutch go from about 200 eggs, to a successful hatch on Friday night 5/19. We had turned off pumps about 8:30pm, lights off at 9:30pm, and by 11pm, the tank was covered in VERY small silver fry. Because we were not ready to raise or move them, we let that hatch go.

4th clutch:
Evening of Wednesday, 5/25/11, we came home and watched the female lay the rest of the clutch, the male seed them, and now we have a clutch that is easily double the size of the last clutch, very orange and very dense.
Ordered and received a Otohime started pack from Reeds, and a semi-local reefer shipped Rotifers for us.

 

[ryancmatchett]

6/1/11...At this point we did pick up a bonus..
Tanks are 4' long, 60gal tanks. They each have a glass partition to make them 2 tanks a piece, plumbed separately.
We already have a 40gal sump, return pump, skimmer....but probably will not get it all plumbed and running until later in the year. Just couldn't pass up on the deal..

A couple of partial pics of the hatch. Hatch occurred on Friday 6/3/11.

Day 1:

Day 2:

Day 3:

Day 4 - Tried to add 1/2 gal of fresh water for top off....and all fry were gone by the next morning.

 

[ryancmatchett]

5th Clutch: 6/8/11
Eggs were eaten in 2 days

 

[ryancmatchett]

Decided it was time to finally move the clowns over to their new home. We are anticipating our vacation coming up soon, and figure we are not going to be raising fry till after we are back....and usually clowns pause in their cycle when they get moved.

6/17/11 - Move the clowns to the other half of the breeder set up.

 

[ryancmatchett]

6th clutch - 6/22/11
And here is the part where we are looking for some more input.

Although a few of the original clutches were spread out within the pot, most of them started out with a good orange color, and then got darker and were being culled by the pair.
But after the 2nd clutch we started to raise the salinity back up again, from 1.018 to 1.021. Now the clutches are very spread out, and only 1/4 of the original clutches. The only parameter that changed between clutches was the sg. All other parameters appear to be the same and 0s.

So we are probably going to drop the sg again.

Temp is pretty much staying between 80 and 82, maybe as high as 84 on a hot day....

 

[ryancmatchett]

Clutch 6 Day 6

Here is what the clutch looks like as of today:

Probably the move or the sg or both.....

 

[duncaholic]

IMO it's probably more to do with their diet than anything else. IME if you want big healthy clutches then feed big healthy portions at least twice a day. You might want to consider an auto-feeder with pellets, and maybe one more supplemental feeding of frozen each day.

On a different note. In my system, changes in lighting both cycles and intensty, and temperature swings both seem to have a negative affect. But with B/W Occs, the fact that they have spawned that well for you with all the changes they've endoured is very encouraging. JMO

 

[ryancmatchett]

Thank you for that, and yes, the food and sg are the 2 things that have changed. Besides moving them to a new tank, we have reduced the frozen food feedings, which always seem to increase the spawns. We usually feed the clowns at the same time we feed our Reef tank, and we ave decreased the frozen feedings there. However, we are feeding pellets at least 2 times per day and flake 2-3 times per week.
Thank you very much for the encouraging words...>!

 

[ryancmatchett]

On another note, we did bring the sg back down again, and our second pair, a reg occ pair has started to actively cleaning their pot. They are growing and growing....Maybe someday they will spawn, but we will see!!

 

[ryancmatchett]

Breeder Tanks, 6/30/11:

2nd Pair, 6/30/11:

 

[phil519]

looks good -surprised though you have LR in there. Would be safer to just have used some sponge and seeded the sponge with biospira. would eliminate any chance of predator/parasite/in the LR that is preying on the eggs.

the clutches being different is surprising. Mine just kept going and going and she definitely liked pellets (i never fed frozen).

Your fry tank water appears very light in color. In those first 3 days the fry need to sight and eat rotifers. Rotifers basically can gut-load and poop out everything they've eaten in 6 hrs. This means if the water is light in color - they have exhausted the supply of phyto and are no longer gut-loading. This makes them far less nutritious as they basically are pooping out the food. typically I keep the fry tank tinted a little green so that any rotifers that are NOT immediately eaten by the fry, are able to stay nutritious in the tank.

Also personal preference is a rigid airline tube - which releases a slow "bubble bubble". I do not attach an airstone as this can roll the water too much for the rotifers to swim consistently. They need to swim so that fry can sight them and eat them.

 

[ryancmatchett]

All Good info, with the B&Ws the LR has been in the tank since the beginning, but now that we have the skimmer and chaeto in the tank, taking out the LR is probably a good idea. In regards to the fry tank, we kept the tank tinted, but I wonder if it was too light as well. When we have our next clutch, we are going to be using a darkened tank, and I will make sure that the Rots are in good supply and tint darker. I wonder if the pics are actually lighter than they actually were in person, but we were using a tank that was totally open to the T5 lighting, and not covered at all.

For your hatch tanks, do you cover the sides too? or just shade the top?

Thanks for the input!!! Always helpful...>!

 

[ryancmatchett]

We will be plumbing our new tanks for grow out and hatching in the next month or so....Hopefully we can completely darken the hatch tank....but still be able to see the fry and rots!

 

[phil519]

All Good info, with the B&Ws the LR has been in the tank since the beginning, but now that we have the skimmer and chaeto in the tank, taking out the LR is probably a good idea. In regards to the fry tank, we kept the tank tinted, but I wonder if it was too light as well. When we have our next clutch, we are going to be using a darkened tank, and I will make sure that the Rots are in good supply and tint darker. I wonder if the pics are actually lighter than they actually were in person, but we were using a tank that was totally open to the T5 lighting, and not covered at all.

For your hatch tanks, do you cover the sides too? or just shade the top?

Thanks for the input!!! Always helpful...>!

Some people say that because of the heavy tinting, covering the tank is actually not necessary - but I covered the sides, placed white paper on the bottom and the top was just a NO fluroscent light. What works for me may not necessarily work for you. Unfortunately a lot of this is trial and error.

 

[ryancmatchett]

Its interesting how everyone seems to have their own trials and how each thing helps to make it successful. I am glad that I am finding some of the things that work for others, you never know....it may give me a great idea, or what others do may be the key!!!

Thanks and good to know! And yeah....Trial and Error!

But we are enjoying the process!

 

[ryancmatchett]

Glad to find your thread on here Ryan. I think your setup is more impressive in person

Thanks John. We are having quite a bit of success getting the B&Ws to breed. they are on a 10 day cycle right now. and their clutches are getting bigger each time. We are currently getting about 300-400 eggs per clutch, but we are not set up to raise the fry yet, so unfortunately the eggs are hatching, then dying.

Hopefully within the next 2 months we will have the plumbing done on the new grow out!!

 

[Arkayology]

I hope you get this going soon!