When will my clownfish eggs hatch?

[tyleratl]

Hi everyone. I'm a newbie when it comes to breeding clownfish. My clownfish pair just spawned Tuesday afternoon of last week. Today is day #7 if you count the day that the eggs were laid as day #1. The temperature in my display tank runs hot - between 83 and 85 degrees. That's a problem for another post, but I understand that it might actually be good for breeding clownfish.

So, the lights have just gone out on the seventh day. Some of the eggs have dark eyes and maybe 20 or 25% have silver eyes. Will they hatch tonight? Or tomorrow?

 

[CoralsAddiction]

So, the lights have just gone out on the seventh day. Some of the eggs have dark eyes and maybe 20 or 25% have silver eyes. Will they hatch tonight? Or tomorrow?

It's tough to predict but 7-10 days seems to be the norm. Are you going to raise them? Your clowns will lay again so there's no need to rush it. Once you get your timing right you won't make a mistake by pulling the clowns early if you are using a separate tank for hatching. In the meantime you can focus on culturing rotifers.

 

[Donivan2009]

Once the silver sheen starts to show behind the eyes, your only a day or two away from hatching. This is the time most people usually pull out the eggs and separate them into a hatching tank.

Congratulations on a near successful hatch! It's exciting!

 

[tyleratl]

Thanks guys! Yes, I am going to try to raise them. I have rotifers on the way. The owner of my LFS here in Guadalajara is in California now and is going to try to get them imported and to me by tomorrow. Let's hope this works. If it doesn't, I am going to try to feed them baby brine shrimp and see if i can save a few.

They didn't hatch last night. I didn't want them to since not that many of them had silver eyes. So, I left the light on in the room to discourage them a bit.

I'm going to prepare for tonight within an hour or so after the lights go out. As of 8:00 AM this morning, this is what the eggs look like:

 

[tyleratl]

It seems that there was a problem with the photo in my last post. So, let me try again:

 

[ThRoewer]

I found it best to let the first few nests go and note how long it took from being fertilization to hatch. Once you got a feeling for that you can take the eggs out the night before they are supposed to hatch.

 

[tyleratl]

Well, some of them hatched last night. But, not most of them. I transferred about 15 of them to a larvae tank. I can only see about 5-6 of them in there today.

The vast majority of the eggs look like they have not hatched. I see lots of silver eyes and the male clownfish has been fanning them all day.

 

[ThRoewer]

IME partial hatches happen when light falls on the nest before the hatch is complete. This usually happens when you try to collect larvae at night. That's why I usually prefer to transfer the whole nest to the larvae tank before the usual lights off time and then leave them alone in the dark.
That said, you may always have some early birds and some stragglers.

The best way to convince the pair to lay their eggs on your substrate of choice (tile, ceramic shard,...) is to place it at the site of the previous nest and secure it in a way that the pair can't push it away.

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk

 

[tyleratl]

I've determined that the remaining eggs are dead. They turned while during the course of the day. I think that the lack of water flow might have killed them. I turned the pumps off in the display tank for three hours last night to allow them to hatch. I just put an airstone in the tank for that time period but the bubbles were not near the eggs. Anyway, I think I must have caused some of them not to hatch by inadvertently letting some light fall on the nest while trying to capture the ones that did hatch.

This trying to catch larvae business if for the birds. So, I am going to take your advice and try to install the substrate of my choice in the spot where they laid this first clutch of eggs.

Thanks for the input! I have a few larvae still alive. But, I'm not too optimistic about the results given such a low number at this early stage.

 

[snorvich]

I found it best to let the first few nests go and note how long it took from being fertilization to hatch. Once you got a feeling for that you can take the eggs out the night before they are supposed to hatch.

What he said.

 

[ThRoewer]

This is how I did it with my percula pair #2:

 

[tyleratl]

Thanks, guys. I can't really place anything in the spot that they chose for their first clutch of eggs.

In this photo, the circle shows the place where they laid the eggs. I just put a piece of tile in the tank and this is where I want them to lay the next clutch. Any advice on how I get them to change spots? What if I place a small rock in the hole that they were using to block it? Will they get mad and stop altogether?