I was reading Joyce Wilkerson's book some more last night and she mentioned in one of her sections that it's OK to transfer the clownfish eggs that's on a rock without having to keep in under water at all times. She mentioned that as long as the eggs don't dry out. So if I lift out the large rock and move it right away to the larvae tank without keeping it under water at all times... is this OK? What's everyone's thoughts on this?
Transfer of Eggs to Larvae Tank
- Thread starter Katowoo
- Start date
Yes. I understand that the fine bubbles are not good for the larvae and that I should use course bubbles from an airstone set on medium or even no airstone at all just the bubbles that come out of the tubing. I also understand that I must ensure that the bubbles are flowing over the eggs making contact with them.
Katowoo,
Way back around 25+ years ago, when I first began raising clowns, I had just "assumed" that lifting the unhatched eggs out of the water would somehow damage them. This was partially based on the knowledge that turning a bird's egg during incubation certainly can kill them. So - I would try really hard to move the egg mass while still submerged, but they would sometimes be exposed to the air anyway - yet they would often still hatch. After reading Joyce's book, and then Matt's book, I'm a bit less worried about this now. I think more of an issue is improper agitation of the close-to-hatching eggs, or pulling them too late. If this isn't done just right, the eggs don't hatch on the proper night, and then the next night, some hatch, but most don't, and you see high mortality.
I really hate to say this - but my best success is to dip out the larva from the main tank the night they are planned to hatch out, and moving them a few at a time to the rearing tank. The real reason I dislike this is that my staff gets time and a half OT for this work - making for some REALLY expensive clownfish! (grin)
Jay
Way back around 25+ years ago, when I first began raising clowns, I had just "assumed" that lifting the unhatched eggs out of the water would somehow damage them. This was partially based on the knowledge that turning a bird's egg during incubation certainly can kill them. So - I would try really hard to move the egg mass while still submerged, but they would sometimes be exposed to the air anyway - yet they would often still hatch. After reading Joyce's book, and then Matt's book, I'm a bit less worried about this now. I think more of an issue is improper agitation of the close-to-hatching eggs, or pulling them too late. If this isn't done just right, the eggs don't hatch on the proper night, and then the next night, some hatch, but most don't, and you see high mortality.
I really hate to say this - but my best success is to dip out the larva from the main tank the night they are planned to hatch out, and moving them a few at a time to the rearing tank. The real reason I dislike this is that my staff gets time and a half OT for this work - making for some REALLY expensive clownfish! (grin)
Jay
kerusso316
New member
No problem at all. I take my tiles out wipe the down, re rince them a few times.I dont want that crap in the larvial tank.
Thx for all the replies. Well I did just that. I transferred a large isolated rock with a coral attached out of water for less than a minute and placed it in my larva tank last night (this is the 3rd batch from this pair of true percs - they always hatch on the 7th day without fail). Put a airline with a sunction cup right under where the bubbles could make contact. Last night every egg hatched. I've got between 200 - 300 fry swimming around and this AM they're all there still with no die off. I moved the rock and coral back to the brood tank and the parents took to it right away again. Took out the airline and put a wood block air stone for fine bubbles and stuck it in the corner. I just got my new shipment of Rotigrow PLUS from Randy at Reed Mariculture that I'm dying to try out on my 2 x 5 gallon rot cultures and I also got the starter pack of Otihime from Randy as well that I want to try instead BBS. I'll probably do a mix of rots / BBS and Otihime at day 6 or 7 (your thoughts on this everyone?). I understand that during this "critical stage" it's a must to keep a very dense population of rots in the tank for the next 3 days. I plane to harvest 1/3 of each of my 5 gallon rots everyday to put in the tank. Hopefully it won't be too much and also I hope I don't deplete my rot culture too fast. Also thinking about getting a pair of black and whites or picasso's. Any good deals that you hear of... pls let me know. Would love to get the platinums but way too pricey right now. I'm sure they'll come down in price.
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