Breed Clownfish | Saltwater Fish

[alanna]

I did read somewhere that adding the iodine and a few other chemicals like calcium will help the fry live through the change from clear to orange on about the 7th - 13th day. I believe I started mine on brine shrimp on the 6th day of life which changes the stomach from silver to orange. I'm not sure about the flake food this early. My larger fry still haven't eaten much of it yet and it fouls the water faster. I did feed the rotifers while they were in the fry tank so I only have to feed the fry once a day. My 2 day old fry I didn't feed them last pm or this am because they have plenty of live rotifers swimming in the tank. The co-culture thing.
About the black cover I read somewhere to leave on for about a week just have light from the top. I never put a cover on my 1st batch and I did leave the light on all the time and stll have it on. 3rd batch I did cover the out side during the hatch because I moved the rock. I did take it off the am of the hatch. I look at them so much to see if they are OK and if they need more rotifers and if the rotifers need more rotifer diet. I usually do feed the rotifers once a day to keep the water a light green which does make the tank darker so that may have taken the place of the black cover. I'm not sure but it worked for me.
I tried to count the 2 day old fry this am and I think I have around 10-12. I still have 25 or 26 of the older fry. The next batch I think I'm going to leave the rock in again when they hatch. Congrats on your new eggs I wonder how many times we get to get this wright.

[admin]

Definitly should add some trace elements to the water that has Iodine in it. It has been proven to help with metamorphosis. As far as making the tank darker. What happens is that the fry see their reflection in the glass and are constantly trying to swim towards their reflection and constantaly colliding with the glass. If you put black plastic on the glass so that the glass is not as reflective on the inside of the tank, it helps big time. It will decrease losses. Anyways. Love following your sucess. Keep us updated.

--Scott

[alanna]

Babies from April 12th doing great. Babies from 5/5 still ok I have about 10-13 maybe. Temp on new fry is around 82. Started new rotifer culture. still have all the old ones going 3 old ones. I did a 40% water change in one of them they all have lots of rotifers and lost of green stuff in them they smell when I open them. But I guess they haven't crashed yet due to I still see fotifers. I feed them once a day. New fry tank still packed with rotifers. I did add some more just because on 5/7pm. Keeping the tank green with rotifer diet. I am looking into some frozen algae and cutting down on rotifer cultures due to too much to feed all the time and I have rotifers in the tanks. I'm alittle worried about getting rid of some of the cultures sure enough the others would crash. Also I'm running out of rotifer diet and will try 5/9 to see if the saltwater store got any I hope so. I will have to cut my cultures down due to no food they did live on DT's for a few day before while waiting on roti diet. This algae stuff and selco not sure what that is. I'll be doing more research on it got to find a cheaper why to keep rotifers alive.

[miamiangler]

Up Date Day 5 10hrs

Well I have counted 21 still swimming , I measured one of the dead fry 3.2mm. all are still eating well .
I have tried everything with the lighting ,but some fry still hang on the edges and on the glass ,not sure what else I can do ?
all of the rotifer cultures are being fed , it`s more work then the fry tank ! still not sure how often to feed the culture or when to add new water !

Alanna ,glad you doing well with your baby fry ,I just hate waking up every morning finding fewer fry in the tank ,I hope when day 8 comes and goes I will have some baby clownfish ! Do not get rid of the old cultures . I slavaged mine and seems like it is growing again !

Update Day 6

So far so good all still swimming around , did a 1/2 gal water change with a very slow drip ! did the tank bottom cleaning ,not really that much drit . I tried feeding the brine shrimp ! Only thing is can you use the water from the live baby brine shrimp or is there another way ?
The cultures are doing well my old ones seem to have more roti`s in them . that algle paste must be doing the trick ! so far so good !

[miamiangler]

Update Day 7

So far no lost fry all are eating well ,just dont see any change yet , will be using new mixed salt water with a SG 1.020 which has been aerated since last night .

[miamiangler]

Update Day 8


Well day 8 has come and gone , all fry are doing well no more loses all are eating well Put brine shrimp in with the rotifers Took awhile till the fry started eatting the shrimp . Did a early morning water change and will do another one later this evening . Water temp was at 81.9 F and the SG I am keeping it at 1.020 .Still no sign of Medamorphosis , but hope it happens soon !

[alanna]

Get a brine shrimp net. At least thats what mine was called. All babies fine no losses either group. Hoping for more eggs soon. Planning 20% water change in older fry tank I check the levels on new fry tank but doing the co-culture thing is suppose to help keep level better I read somewhere. This may explain why I have done so few water changes and my fry are still alive. I wonder how much fry sell for to the stores. I asked one he said $3. each. I think I'll ask the other store. Just wondering about a fair $.

[miamiangler]

Hi Alanna,

So far only one changed to a baby clown fish that I can see .It swims wagging it`s tail and has an orange huge to it .. Still all are alive

As for price for selling ,one store I checked sell tank raised Clowns for around $18.99 ,so I think depending what type of clown fish you raised ,should be able to get $ 5 - $ 7.50 or even $10.00 for each clownfish you raised ! my 2 cents


Update Day 9


Still no losses of fry , I still have one baby clown but the others have not changed as of yet . This clown fish baby could be one of the 14 fry that hatched Saturday morning instead of the 2 hatches I had on Sunday . I did the daily water change using new aerated salt water (overnight) . The temp was alittle up 83F , but still keeping the SG 1.020. I did not add much baby brine into the water today , so the fry will still hunt for rotifers. will start a new batch of Baby brine tonight .

As for my rotifer cultures I have 3 2.5gal buckets full ! One that I safed from last week is full ! just in time for the batch #3 which I expect to hatch on May 14th

[alanna]

Too busy didn't do water change yet in either tank. All is good with them no died ones. I have new eggs as of last night. I'm going to leave the rock in this time. Not sure where to put the new fry Maybe they will be close enough in size. I'll wait and see. The store didn't get my rotifer diet in. They are still working on it meanwhile I have enough food for 1-2 days I'll try to order some rot diet on line again from Reed. $$$ I did talk with another store owner he gave me lots of ideas on different foods but I wonder how bad it will foul the water. So far sticking with what works. I may drive the 2 hrs to see him and his stuff and another store there has a sea apple I may get if its still there. All rotifer cultures are fine. I'm not in to ckecking all the water stuff daily to much work I do check it when I do a 20% change. I never changed the rotifer culture water in the 1st culture just to see how it will do its fine so far. I need a rotifer catcher thing the coffee filter takes awhile to do. Do you have a sieve I think thats what its call. If so where did you get it. One store said I could use the brime shrimp net. Not so sure about possible brine shrimp in my rotifers this may be bad. Its hard not knowing what to do. Its alot of work but you don't want to do too much to make it not fun. Sorry no pictures yet. I have not had time to get camera and cord (find cord to computer)for camera or cell phone. Very busy at work and late hours. What is the name of your algae paste?

[alanna]

Oh! My older fry at night lay down on their sides to sleep. I was worried they were dying and would tape the tank and they will jump up. One has claimed a front corner of the tank he lays down every pm and if another fry come near him/her he gets up and runs them off. Some of them like to sleep on the heater. The temp. is still 82. They group together alot. I still haven't put anything in the tank with them maybe I should. Poor little things looking for live host and found a corner and heater. I think of something, tank to dark for live stuff.