ZC's clownfish breeding thread

[Zero Cool]

Ok so, I have zero experience breeding any type of fish, but after seeing so many people successfully do so, I've decided to try my hand at it! A breeder was selling his broodstock a few weeks ago, so I purchased two of his spawning pairs, one wild caught onyx pair and a snowflake/b&w occ. pair. I have the onyx pair now, which you can see in the pic below, but I'm waiting for the other pair to be shipped.

The onyx female arrived with a slightly swollen belly and the male started cleaning the pot vigorously the second and third day they were in their new home. Since then, she's been getting larger, but no eggs have been laid yet.

Rots and rotigrow should arrive today, so I'll get those cultures going while I wait for these eggs and the second pair arrive.

Right now, I have two 10gal tanks set up for the broodstock and I'll find another 10gal to use as the hatching tank... starting off half filled, then filling it up as the babies grow for it to become the grow-out tank.

Anyways, just figured I'd start a journal here. So excited!

WC onyx:

Sno/b&w that I don't have yet:

 

[Tahoe Reefer]

I have a clown that is the offspring of a B&W (m) and a Snowflake (f), it's a great looking fish and really getting darker as it ages. It will be fun to watch the clowns grow and color in from that mixed pair. Keep us updated!

 

[Zero Cool]

Ya, I love the look of this combination! ORA sells them as Black Ice and I've seen them sold by another breeder as S'Mores. I'm really anxious to get that pair.
Received the rotifers and they look good. Will let them multiply for a few days before I split the batch into two buckets, then more if need be (always good to have multiple backups). Once the weather warms up, I will test out an outdoor culture like Joyce Wilkerson had going!

I'm also in the process of converting a building next to our house into a prop tank/fish breeding room. Might take a couple more months to complete but it'll have a nice broodstock/growout unit.

 

[fote03]

Nice looking pairs. Have u been on MOFIB. A friend of mine told me abt it. Its has tons of info abt breeding. Keep us up to date with ur breeding room.

 

[Zero Cool]

Thanks, and yeah I'm a member on mofib. I've been doing a lot of reading up there and rareclownfish.com.
I split the rotifer culture into two buckets today and they seem to be doing well. So now all there is to do is work on the fish room and wait for eggs!

 

[Zero Cool]

The wc onyx pair finally spawned for me for the first time today! By my count there are around 700 eggs. I've got my work cut out for me.

 

[Zero Cool]

3 days old:

 

[CarolinaGuy]

Great pic, hope you keep posting them and show the progress of the fry.
Should be very interesting to watch

 

[Zero Cool]

Thanks, here they are today:

 

[Trademark]

you have your hads full. Alot of breeders skip the brine and go directly (after rotifers) usually about day 3 or 4 to Otohine A.

 

[justjosh]

Good Luck man! I'm subscribed!

 

[US Marine Coral]

Looks like they are still attached to the flower pot. When do you take them out of the tank with the parents? Also, can you post a pics of your tank setup?

 

[Zero Cool]

you have your hads full. Alot of breeders skip the brine and go directly (after rotifers) usually about day 3 or 4 to Otohine A.

Yeah, I'll be skipping the brine shrimp and going directly to pulverized flake food. Later on I may try the otohime, but for now I'll work with what I have.

Good Luck man! I'm subscribed!

Thanks!

Looks like they are still attached to the flower pot. When do you take them out of the tank with the parents? Also, can you post a pics of your tank setup?

Yes, they stay attached to the pot until they hatch. They need that anchor point to be able to push out of the egg casing.

I am going to keep a close eye on them in the next few days, watching for them to show silver around the eye area. That will tell me they are close to hatching. That night I'll move the pot into the hatching tank with water from the parent tank and set an airstone below the eggs to keep them oxygenated and free of fungus/bacteria. They should hatch a couple of hours after the lights go out.

And yeah, I'll post a pic of the broodstock tank, but it's unimpressive and kinda gross, lol. I still haven't found a spot for the hatching tank because I've been fighting with the flu, but hopefully I'll have that done either today or tomorrow, since I expect the eggs to hatch either Thursday or Friday night.

 

[Zero Cool]

We've got some shiny eyes now!

Here's a pic of the broodstock tank. Just a simple 10gal with an AC filter, Hydor THEO heater, net top, K nano, little bit of LR, and a bunch of algae. The algae is actually a good thing, so they say. It tells the parents there are excess nutrients in the water, therefore plenty of food for the offspring.

 

[cramdub]

nice pics!
keep them coming.
good luck

 

[thercwizard]

Great Thread.....

Great Thread.....

Awesome thread....Sent PM.....Great Pics As Well.....These Are Great Looking Fish!!!!

 

[nanoreefbro]

Nice clowns.. Definitely going along for the ride..

 

[Zero Cool]

Thanks!

I'm seeing tails!

 

[whitleyjb]

very cool. Looking forward to seeing how this goes.

 

[blakemiller1981]

very awesome goodluck with the fry