Xth attempt raising clownfish

You should be able to see the cilia on their cute little rotating heads! 1000x!!!!

Setup is not done. Waiting on some plumbing parts I could not find at HD to be shipped.
Mostly it is done. Tanks are painted and ready to hook up. I have the eggs in one of the tanks on the table so I can just work around it. I figure I have another week to complete.
 
I came home from bowling this afternoon, and while getting the schmutz out of the larval tank, I noticed what I thought was a dead one--premature hatch! So I sucked it out and thought I would check it out under the scope. Holy clownfish! It's little heart was still beating! I quickly got it back in the tank. It's probably doomed, but after putting on my bifocals, I found another one. Both look like they are rolling around the tank, encumbered by their enormous yolk sacs. When my teenager gets off the upstairs computer, I'll try to post a picture.

I am pretty sure this means that the rest will hatch tonight. I finally got my rotifers in gear, and they are just now grown up enough that I will probably have enough to feed the new brood. I have some thoughts on rotifer culture, but I'll save them for another thread.

I think it's going to be tonight, and I'm really excited!
Cheers,
Kathy
 
My premmies didn't turn out well, but maybe your little guys will make it. Good luck with the main hatch tonight!
 
Kathy,

Wow, cool, are you going to start a new thread on this one?

Hope those prems make it through.

Good luck.

Steve

PS: Did you sell all the others?
 
I will wish you luck even though you are already a proven ma. :) Lets hear the thoughts. I ordered some Nannochloropsis that you just add a few drops into your rot bottle to feed them and some of that ClorAm-X we well give that a try. Kathy what do you use to get the rots out of the bottle again?
 
Hi Steve,
Thanks for the well wishes. I am in process of selling the other fish as they grow big enough. They are not all the same size at the same time. As they get to be 1 1/4 inch long, I pm the next customer on the list.

As for the new thread, ... this is the new thread! We've gone off topic a time or two, but


what would I call a new thread?:)

Mike, I will post about rotifers in another thread in an effort not to make this one too long. Thanks for the luck. I am proven to get 10% through, but that really doesn't mean anything. Still a lot to learn, I am sure.:)

News: One little larva swimming around this morning. The eggs look more silver, so I have a feeling it is either tonight, or fungus! I really hope its not fungus....

cheers,
Kathy
 
Sigh.
I thought I should do an iodine dip of the eggs to prevent fungus... I miscopied a unit, miscalclulated, and overdosed by 1000 fold. The eggs are white now, and



dead.
 
Sorry to hear,

Using formalin, meth blue etc. it's kind of risky, I would stay away unless you have a history of fungus, I only recomend that for hatcheries that deppend on high yields, increase areation and temp. next time.

Ed
 
I'm sorry Kathy, I was so looking forward to seeing your babies and watching their progress, partially so I could gauge mine better too.

If mine lay on a tile this time, maybe I could ship you a set overnight...would that even work? I plan to try and raise the ones that are due to hatch any day now. After that, I'm out of tanks, so I won't have any use for my eggs until after I recover financially from the holidays and the initial rearing setup.

I think you said you have local source, but it'd be my pleasure to send you a batch in return for all your answers, advice, and patience :)

Better luck next time :(

Jason
 
Ed, thanks, remember last time I snatched the eggs early and they came down with fungus. This time I got the eggs earlier than I thought I was getting them. They had been without their daddy for 3 days, and I was getting worried. Exam of the eggs under the scope revealed that I had a reason to be worried,( and maybe they would have died anyway).

I did not have any methylene blue handy, but I did have lugol's, and I read in the marine fish manual that it could be used. So I thought I was doing a careful calcualtion, but I did not. 1000X is a lot of overkill. A stupid mistake.

Jason, you are too kind, but I don't think it is a good idea to ship eggs :) !! Now it is my turn to watch your progress with your babies while I wait again for the parents near me to spawn.

We live and learn.
Or at least I do.
Kathy
 
Kathy,

My heart goes out to you. I am really sorry to hear about your loss.

Let us know when the next lot arrive.

Steve
 
Bummer, but like you said another learning experience and we are all doing it I still am not sure if I have rots or not. :lol: They are so small but someone said they are males then where are they coming from there must be millions of them in the jugs?
 
Hi Mike,
If you are like me, and need reading glasses, put yours on, and take a look at the liquid in your rotifer jug, or put some into a glass and take a close look. If you can see little whiteish specks moving around, you have rotifers. If they don't move, they aren't happy rotifers. Males are too small to see without magnification. Even for young eyes.

Let us know.

Kathy
 
Hey Steve,
Thanks for all your support. I am a bit bummed out, because this was a really BIG nest.

A couple of eggs hatched prematurely, and the larvae survived thus far without food, so I put them into a tiny tank inside the 20 gallon, and added rots and greenwater and an airstone. The heater of the bigger tank will keep them warm. One larva looks more vigorous than the other. We'll see if they live. I won't get my hopes up.

The parents should be spawning in a couple of days. Next year is another year!
 
:lol: :lol: :lol: Yep Kathy you guesed it knocking on that # fifty door here. Well I looked and couldn't see any even dumped one of the jugs out and and checked what was in the strainer nothing. But the little guys go right through. The water is so thick with them that you can almost see it crawling. What do you think they might be? I have been feeding a dry food to them made with fish food and yeast. I just ordered some instant algae cause I am to lazy to grow my own yet looks like I need to get some more rots too. Could I feed them to my babies if I get them collected new years eve? Oh ya anybody know whats up with my spell checker cause I don't spell to good?
 
Mike, I have no idea what you got growing there. If you put it thru a rotifer strainer and didn't collect rotifers, you ain't got rotifers. If you don't have a rotifer strainer, get one, and in the meantime, use a paper coffee filter. If nothing collects, you ain't got rotifers.

Reed mariculture has live rotifers, and so does florida-aqua-farms.com
 
My two premies are swimming around in their little tank this morning, just like normal larvae. While I was checking them, I noticed another little guy in the larger tank, and then later I found one with a big yolk sac. I put them both in the little tank with the rotifers and the other 2 larvae and they all appear fine right now. The yolk sac one is resting on the bottom, encumbered by his next meals, and the others are swimming around doing their larval hunting thing. :)

It's a small consolation for losing the big nest, but it'll keep me busy until the next one.

Cheers,
K
 
Turns out I won't have to kill time for long. My friend's parent fish spawned again yesterday, another big nest!

the yolk sac baby died, but the other 3 are swimming around hunting rots as they should! So far so good!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

P
HELP!! Bristle worm harrassing my clown goby
Replies
9
Views
496
Paul B
Paul B
A
Clownfish Mating? Fighting?
Replies
2
Views
615
griss
griss
JeannineC
Clownfish eggs?
2
Replies
26
Views
2K
Anemone
Anemone
OrionN
Anemone Show-off
Replies
11
Views
484
OrionN
OrionN
Tamara Marshall
𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐡𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐀𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐥𝐞 𝐀𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐩𝐇- 𝐌𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐚 𝐒𝐲𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐦𝐬 𝐀𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐥𝐞
Replies
0
Views
182
Tamara Marshall
Tamara Marshall
Back
Top