Breed Clownfish | Saltwater Fish

[alanna]

See the main site to read 1st part of story. The fry are now 10 days old. This morning I had around 20. Some have head strips some don't. I think I am doing the co-culture thing and I have 2 buckets of rotifiers. Started fry on brine shrimp I think around day 7. I can see lots of rotifiers and brine shrimp in the tank with them. So far they have not ate to much to kill them yet. Still too worried about killing them if I change the water. This is alot of fun and work I cannot believe some are still alive. How do you culture green water? I ran out of rotifier diet Sunday and unable to get any here yet. I did order some online. Unable to find a store that sales it even with a 2 hr drive. I did find a store that offered to buy the babies while I was looking for rotifier diet. I told him I would let him know in around the end of June if they make it. I have been feeding the rotifiers DTs until the r. diet comes in. My clowns did lay more eggs last Fri. Batch # 3. Can I put new fry with 12 day old fry? I do have pictures of the new eggs with the male and some blurred spots that are fry. I'll have to work on putting the picture up. I'll try to get better ones of the fry. They are so cute! I hope they are all not dead when I get home.

[alanna]

Just an update and alot of questions. I still have 20 or more fry. They grow so fast. I don't have to have a flashlight to see them now. I finally did my 1st water change. I did not kill any of them The fry from batch #2 are now 13 days old. One even has its middle strip, most just have the head strip and a few are just now getting the head strip. Batch #3 hatched last night. It took them most of the night. Did I do something wrong? The 1st batch only took 30 mins. I also did not get as many fry this time. I didn't kill the rotifers. I feed them DTs for 3 days until the rotifer diet arrived. I'm still wondering how to grow/culture green water. Due to how much it cost to ship one bottle of rotifer diet. I guess rotifers can live on DTs and a green water culture. I may not catch the next batch if I am out of rotifer diet due to the cost of shipping. I'll see Mon. if I can get a saltwater store to stock it. It is cheaper to drive the 2 hrs to the nears saltwater store than shipping it. How many times do clownfish usually lay egg when they get started? I only have 1 tank left. What is the difference in the tank they are in now and a grow out tank? How old or big do the fry have to be before I can put them together. I didn't realize how big batch #2 was until batch #3 hatched. I did put batch #3 in a different tank. I'm still very surprised every time I come home and find that they are alive. I guess just luck. I'm still working on getting some one to put my pictures up. I must say they are not as good as others on this site. I not good with pictures but I proud of my fry. My friends just look at the blurred spots and say "Oh". I guess it is like looking at a proud parents picture of an ugly child. I figure the fry are like the ugly duckling. I think they are cute.

[miamiangler]

Liked your read , learned alot just reading your post , lost my 1first batch last week not knowing they where going to hatch that night when they get those silver eyes:) , this morning there`s a new batch of eggs , so hopfully I will have some luck this time . Have waited 6 years for my clownfish to start breeding lucky it`s on a small rock ,and might attempt to move it when the time is right !

[alanna]

Sorry about your 1st batch lost I'm sad to say I lost all of batch #3 I believe my heater was not working. Batch #2 is still doing great. I've just got to get them to eat other foods besides brine shrimp. I do use the same batch of brine shrimp for about 4-5 days and I'm still feeding them rotifiers once a day. I still have 20 or more fry. I did do a water change only about 20% 2 days ago. I also have new eggs as of 4/28/09 my family got to watch them lay the eggs. I'm going to try to move the rock out this time just before lights out, I'm going to put the air stone under it and leave the male in my big tank. I'm just worried that bothering the rock will stop them from spawning. I hope I don't chicken out, it is a large rock. Maybe I waited too long last time to catch the babies. I am going to set up my new fry tank just like the last one. 10 gal tank with about 2gal of water from the big tank with rotifiers. Plain lights for any tropical fish one clear and one is just colored blue. 4 inch air stone. I'm still looking for a solid back heater so the fry want go to the light and get fried. Not sure about putting tape over the lighted ones. The night of the hatch I will put more water from the big tank to make sure things match as much possible. I hope all goes well with your #2 batch. I do keep the light on for the fry all the time so they can see the food. I did not cover the outside of the tank. The water was very green from the rotifer diet. Let me know how your hatch night goes. Thanks for posting I was going to stop posting due to nobody was talking back.

[miamiangler]

Sorry to hear you lost #3, as for the heater .. I used a strip of black plastic bag wrapped around the heater light ..seems to work so far , tonight batch #2 will hatch I Hope . I`m going to move the rock to the fry tank within the hour , lucky it`s on a very small rock 3inches by 5inches and easy to remove hope it works . good luck on your try to move your rock !

[alanna]

How did you move your rock? Did you keep it under water in a bowl or just pick up and move it with alittle air getting to the eggs.

[miamiangler]

I put the rock in a plastic bag filled with the reef tank water . It was not as easy as I thought . what I have read so long the eggs are kept wet should be no problem , but I still like to keep the rock under the water . I do the same with all corals ,don`t want the coral exposed to the air.

[alanna]

Ok. Thanks I'll try the bag thing tonight. How are your fry doing and your rotifers?