Breed Clownfish | Saltwater Fish

[jamesoxborrow]

HI im James.

Im considering a clownfish breeding set up so i can have a hobby that kinda pays for itself and is great fun. i have a few questions after reading the majority of the website.

1) The fry tank, is it correct that this tank should basically be a small tank with just an air stone?? Would you also use a water heater? and how would u keep the water from getting too toxic??

2) It seems you need a hell of a lot of fresh salt water for this process, for the rotifers as it needs new water everyday, i imagine for the fry although im not sure, and also for the main tank. Where does all this water come from?? Im in the UK so all the shops generally mentioned don't exist over here, but is it a case of buying the water ready or making my own some how?

I thank you now for any responses to my queries.

Cheers James

[davek0819]

My fry tank consisted of a 10 gallon tank with only 3 to 4 gallons of water in the tank. (Sorry I don't know the liter conversions), a heater, air stone and a light. The water changes of the fry tank in the begining were about 1/2 gallon to start, every couple of days with a little bit of more of water added back to bring the water up to about 5 gallons. I used water from the main tank to replace water removed from the fry tank, with the newly mixed water going into the main tank.

I added a link from brineshrimpdirect which I read a few time regarding raising rotifers.

http://www.brineshrimpdirect.com/c90/Ra ... -c199.html

For the most part after mixing the water for the rotifers I did not change it, I poured the water through a sieve to collect the rotifers but then added the water back to the bucket. I had to mix salt water to culture my photoplankton.

The salinity in water for the fry tank, rotifers and photoplankton is lower than that of the main tank. It's 3/8 cup, instead of 1/2 cup. If you were to buy ready made you would have to dilute it some with additional water. I purchased my rotifers and photoplankton online, because of the weight of the salt, I buy it by the bucket, I always picked it up at the local pet store.
It can be sometime before you can get your purchased clownfish to mate. It could be a while before you can remake most of the money you will spend. Joyce Wilkerson's clownfish book does a nice job of explaining the process from original clownfish purchase, mating, raising rotifers, collecting fry and then selling them. You might want to read this first.

[alanna]

As far as water goes I buy distilled water at Wal-Mart and mix the salt in it myself. I hope to buy a reverse osmosis unit soon to make it cheaper by just turning tap water into clean water to mix for my tanks.
I don't change my rotifer water but maybe once every 2 or 3 monthes.
You do have to do water changes on the fry. I'm lazy and do them 1 time a week or when ever I think they need it but this is not the best way.

[miamiangler]

I dont change the water much in the rotifer bucket , it`s been four month`s so far , just make sure you watch your SG . I keep mine at 1.019, if you want to have lots of rotifers take a cup ful and put it in a new bucket at a lower SG between 1.014-17 . the rotifer breed well at that SG , be sure you feed them every day with rotifer diet !

[Rocky33]

My wife and I are relatively new to this "hobby" as well and are trying to learn as much as we can. I did take your suggestion and purchased today Wilkerson's book and it looks like a great resource. Is it me or do you really have to keep an eye on the salinity of the water? I already have an ro system so I plan on using that water, but is there something that measures the salinity? a meter? I appreciate it, thanks.

[davek0819]

http://www.thatpetplace.com/pet/group/11316/product.web

http://www.premiumaquatics.com/aquatic- ... CT-HD.html

I usa a refractometer, mine is listed as saying sybon fg100, the price of them range around mid $40 up to $ 100 dollars.