Breed Clownfish | Saltwater Fish

[spazed09]

hey all,
On the night of a hatching, i moved the rock with the eggs, into fry tank. The next morning, all signs of eggs and fry were gone. No dead fry or eggs left. Only thing in fry tank was 4 inches of water an airstone and a covered heater. i shook the rock, no bodies. I looked into the rock for a good look, and no crabs. I think im gonna stick to syphoning them instead.

[admin]

It is very possible that a critter such as a bristle worm ate them. I have witnessed a bristle worm come out of the rock that the eggs were on and eat the eggs. When the male is there he protects the eggs and scares off any worms. Since the male was not present they probably got eaten by a worm. I have had the best luck with the siphon method. Some people on this forum have used the removing of the rock method and had good sucess. One note though they also moved the male to the other tank to take care of the eggs until they hatch. Try again and keep us posted.

[Becky Lavender]

My clownfish started to breed just by chance I didn't exactly expect this to happen. I have had three batches and just now found your site to know what I am seeing. My question is what kind of tank do I use to have a hatchery? Since there should be no movement of water flow does a regular 5 gallon tank with saltwater in it work and what else would I need to do to convert the tank into a hatchery? I have rotifers that I can buy in frozen tablets and I take some water from the tank in a cup and melt the rotifter tabs in it and then add the food back into the tank already melted is the store bought rotifer okay for feeding I had it originally for my corals? Last night was hatch night and I think I lost everything because I didn't turn off water flow. I am sure in a couple of days they will do another batch. How big in millimeters are my fry and are they white in look? Even if I get a couple of cup fulls of fry to transfer I think it would be cool to see if I can get them to grow. I would be able to get precultured sea water that I bought to do partial water changes and I have a bubble stone and I could get the heater and substrate as well.

[UNIXMan]

Bristles, definitely, and also you could have other hitchikers. I found a LARGE copepod (and 2 worms) last time. I read a few posts where people suggest to use a tile or clay pot for the clowns to lay eggs. I guess so no worms can get in. I wouldn't do that -- you can get lead in your tank. Maybe a small square of dark glass? Best thing is to use a small light and take out whatever you can. Also, not a bad idea to put the fry in a small container once they hatch, take out the rock, siphon out what you can from the bottom, filter it through paper towels, put it back in the tank, and put the fry back in. Look in that tank every day, ten times a day, for anything that is not a clownfish, and take it out.