Breed Clownfish | Saltwater Fish

[davek0819]

Day 1
My clarkii clownfish have been spawning for about 3 months. About a month ago I started culturing photoplankton. A week ago I started culturing rotifers. Last night the eggs hatched,(after 7 days) and I collected about 200 fry (guessing). I quickly set up a 10 gallon tank, 3 gallons of water, air stone and light, I'll be picking up the submersible heater on the way home.

This morning I put on the light and added rotifers to the tank. After about 3 hours I put out the light for a few, fear of them eating to much.

While at work I had my son put the light back on and add photoplankton, 1/2 cup to the tank for the rotifers to feed. He said they were swimming about, didn't notice and dead ones.

I read through some of the posts here and found it very helpful for the upcoming steps. I figured I'd post my progress, and some pics (shortly) and seek advice from those who already done this.

[miamiangler]

I keep my light on 24/7 until they morph ,then I set it at regular hours . you want the fry to learn to feed right away .That`s the reason of leaving the lights on ! good luck , hope to see pic`s soon .

[davek0819]

Day 2
Miami, thanks for the information on the light. I was a bit concerned that I overfeed the rotifers so I wanted to limit the amount of eating time. I did a small water change and added some photo to the fry tank to feed the rotifers. I turned the light off for about 4 hours yesterday afternoon and then at night. This morning after the light was turned on they started swimming around again and I can see them going after the rotifers. During the water change I collected about 10 fry that didn't make it.

I have about 3 gallons of water in a 10 gallon tank with the air hose bubbling below the heater in the back center. Looking at the tank from the front I can see the fry swimming surrounded by the little specs of dust (rotifers). I guess the question is, how populated the water should be with rotifers. They seem like they're everywhere. They are thinned out and the photo is consumed (by the rotifers) throughout the day.

The other question I have is related to the brine shrimp. I was going to start the culture at night so they are less than 12 hours old to feed them to the fry in the morning. I picked up some selco to enrich them. Can I add it to the brine shrimp culture a few hours before feeding?
Thanks for the info, I took some pics, I need to figure out how to post them.

[davek0819]

Day 3
Added rotifers both in the morning and at night, there seems to be a lot in there but I wanted to add some new/fresh ones? I'm guessing if the rotifers are still in the water column, floating around, they're still alive. I did a gallon water change through some seives I picked up from brine shimp direct that stack nicely on top of a one gallon rubber maid container. Worked great in case i accidently syphoned one. (they also have the 53 micron for the rotifers)

Notice a few dead on on the bottom, but for the most part they seem to be doing very well. I left the light on throughout the day/night until mid-night and had it off until six this morning. I noticed that some leave it on 24/7, but I still think they need a little sleep time. I tried to count them but ended up quiting around 50-60. Still think I started with over a 100.

From the other thread I noticed trace elements should be added to water so I added a few drops.

The clowns laid more eggs yesterday, a very deep reddish / orange color. When the sieves arrived from brine shrimp direct they included a free sample of their GP Diet, 300-500 mircro size. I fed it to the fish and turkey basted it to some buttom polyps and my plate coral and all their coloration seemed to improve greatly. I ended up ordering their food. Their main tank diet usually consists of all frozen with the packing juice removed when thawed. Took somemore pics but the battery died. Hope to post them later.

[alanna]

I'm one of those who leaves the lighjt on 24/7 due to fry have poor eye sight and mainly have to bump into food so you do want to have alot of rotifers in the tank. As far as being worried about fry sleeping they rest when they want to. My first 2 batches just slept on the heater at night. They were so cute. You got to do what works for you! Some poeple cover the outside of the tank to keep it dark with light only from the top so the fry will not try to eat their reflection, some put white paper on the bottom of the tanks so the fry can see better, some do all dark.
I don't cover the fry tank after hatching. I did put a white paper under tank #4 to see if it did anything, only thing is so far is that I can see them better when they are over it. I like to try new things to see what works some do, some don't. Maybe you can learn from some of my errors I tried to post them. I have some fry that are 4 half monthes old I still keep the light on for them because this is my grow out tank and I have other younger ones with them.
Selco I've read good things about it. It is alittle $$ so I don't use it. I tried once to feed my brine shrimp rotifer diet and the smell was bad the next day, haven't tried to enrich them again. The rotifer diet has isochrysis-DHA and tetraslmis-high lipids and amino acids. Pavlova -high DHA profile excellent for enriching rotifers and brine shrimp and EPA is high. I don't use it.
I keep my fry water green with rotifer diet to keep the rotifers enriched anytime the fry want to eat. I have read of them eating too much when you add brine shrimp because they are bigger than the rotifers and dying but I have never seen this in my fry.
I keep my fry water packed with rotifers (co-culture) so I don't have to add any everyday.
Good luck! Let us know how things go good and bad so we can learn from each others errors.

[davek0819]

Alanna,
Thanks for the info, looks like the plan would be to leave the light on 24/7. I read through your other posts and also decided to go the co-culture route. Great Idea, I started by culturing my own photoplankton and I have a 2 liter bottle ready to go just about the time I need it.

Day 4
I started the brine shimp to have them ready for the weekend. I liked the turkey baster idea and prob will end up going with that.

Took a day off from water changes, friday fun, both the fry and the tank seem fine.

[davek0819]

a few more pictures, the proud parents and them spawing yesterday.

[miamiangler]

Nice Pic`s , looks like you are doing fine . I read that Clarkii are the most difficult to raise , wish you good luck with many baby clowns

[davek0819]

Miami thanks for the comment on the pics, I also read the same about the clarkii so I've been constantly reading and checking on them. Joyce Wilkerson's book is great and it seems everytime I go through it I pick up something new

Day 5
I started by do a 50 percent water change with my rotifer culture (5 gallon bucket). The culture seemed fine but I'd prefer to do a water change than monitor / test the water. I also wanted to reduce the water amount, less photo to add.

I did a 1 gallon water change on the fry tank. I use the water from my main tank to add the water back. I read about the drip method to add the water, but I've been dumping it straight in. Haven't had I problem. The water in the fry tank is set for 74, sim to the main tank. I don't have a heater in my rotifer culture so I don't want to shock them by going into 80 degree temp.

I got cheap on my second brine shrimp culturing station. I cut the bottom off two 2 liter soda bottles
one for the stand, one inverted with the cap on. I didn't like the idea of just poking through the cap as Wilkerson suggested. I used rigid tubing to get air to the bottom.

In the fry tank I added rotifers in the morning, after the water change, still seem like a lot, and started with flake for the evening. (very small amount). I picked up GP Reef and larval fish diet from brineshrimpdirect to have on hand for the fry and also use to turkey baste to some of my corals. It's 50-100 partical micron size. I couldn't tell you if they ate it but they seemed to be swimming in the area I put it in. Brine shrimp tomorrow, Day 7, I read that it should be an interesting day.

[davek0819]

Day 6
Another water change, the amonia indicator went up to the alert indications. Had to scape the bottom. The brine shimp hatched so I tried them. It seemed to go well, they were feeding but I couldn't tell if they were eating the brine or rotifers. The fry seem to be a bit more active and tend to go deeper in the water level.

I decided to stop the co-cultureing, I think my cultured photoplankton might be be cause for concern with the water quality. Also due to size I figure I don't want the brine culturing in the tank.

Pictures from day six. I guess the belly indiates their eating. I also included a picture of one that didn't make it to show more detail of the fry and coloration. I lost 4 last night and 6 the night before. I'm still counting over a 100. But it's still a guess.