Breed Clownfish | Saltwater Fish

[MattyWard]

Hi there Guys n Gals!,

Firstly congrats on a fantastic site for breeding/raising clowns and food sources for fry! just had bit of a query as to what size tank to have the newly hatched fry in, when to change to a larger tank and what level of lighting to use and when to change? my ocellaris clowns have spawned (second time around) and i am a little unsure what size i should make the fry tank and if i should make partitions dividing the tank into two (or three) sections, any insight into this would be greatly appreciated!

Matt Ward,

Kiama,
NSW Australia

[UNIXMan]

I've only had 2 clown spawns -- both failures, but that's because I didn't know about the rotifers until I found this site This is what I do -- I've been doing it for over 30 years. It started with freshies, but it appears to work with salties, too.

I use a 10 gallon tank with two coarse air stones -- one at the heater end and one near the eggs to keep the water flowing. I use NO filtration of any kind until they're swimming well. I have a 20W flourescent 6500K light strip on a timer from 8:30AM to 8:00PM. Don't go more than 2W/gallon, it will damage their eyes. I also use a few short bushy plastic plants attached to the bottom with suction cups to give them a place to hide from the lights if they need to. Do NOT use sand or any other kind of substrate. Generally speaking, it's a judgment call as to when the fry should be moved to a bigger tank. I would go to one or two 29 gallons next -- it depends how many fry you have. The other key to success I have learned is that all water going into the fry tank MUST come out of the display tank, and NEVER on a day when you've dosed any chemicals of any kind. No pH buffers, vitamins, NOTHING. If you have a large spawn -- 400 eggs? -- I would split the fry after hatching into 2 or 3 tanks. I always use a 10 gallon -- it's a great size, you can get them cheap at garage sales, and they're easy to keep clean.

A guy I know uses a 20-L with dividers. I don't use dividers unless absolutely necessary. For them to be effective for the fry, the holes must be very small, and that restricts the water flow so much you may as well keep them in a bucket with no filter, no air, and no heater. A divider with larger holes works when they're bigger, if you really need it. Best thing I've found is 7-square plastic needlepoint mesh. Cut a sheet or two to fit the tank and silicone it to airline suction cups. Polyester twine works well to "sew" two sheets together for larger tanks. Also makes great intake guards, skimmer cones, you get the idea

I hope this has helped you (and others). If there's something special to clowns that I left out, I apologize, but as I said, I am not an expert. Feel free to PM me for specifics.

[MattyWard]

Thanks very much for the insightful info! since posting this query my clown eggs have hatched (26th Feb) and i have taken out of the main tank and put them into a 38l tank with no filtration,have been feeding them the rotifers and so far so good , i plan on leaving them in that tank for a few weeks then upgrading to the next size (hopefully by this time my clowns would have spawned again thanks again UNIXMan!!

[UNIXMan]

Congrats in order, then! How many hatched? Curiousity's got me From the looks of my last batch a week after hatching, I think your plan of a month in the 38L is a good one. Put a sponge filter in there once they start swimming around freely, and change 2-3L every few days. With a lot of little gills, it can get ugly fast. Use an air line to siphon off the bottom. Takes a long time, but they can out-run the current if they get caught in it. Make sure you rinse out the filter sponge every day or two also -- then you should be OK.

I think mine (Perculas) will drop another spawn within the week. My toughest challenge will be the rotifers. Would you mind if I picked your brain on that? Never grew them - only ever dealt with the brineys. The two LFS guys near me I trust don't know a thing about them, and nobody carries or knows where to get the cultures. I think I need to start them as soon as the eggs are laid. If it happens this week as expected, I will never get them in time if I order them online. My brother suggests I might try infusoria or a similar suspension, but I think that will just foul the water. Last time, about half were eating the brineys, but I probably should have put in five or six times the amount I did.

Do you have any suggestions, based on what you've picked up in your research and on what you've seen them do these last couple days? Much appreciated.

[MattyWard]

Hi again Unixman, firstly apologies for the delay in response (work has been crazy!) Since I have last posted last ALL my clown fry has died , I think I should have maybe now feed them more rotifers, (this is the only thing i can think off as i have gone through the process of eliminating problems and this is the only problem/query i come to) I am devistated to loses my second batch of fry, they died on the 5th day of hatching,

My toughest challenge will be the rotifers. Would you mind if I picked your brain on that? Never grew them

The first time my ocellaris spawned, I rushed around to source rotifers and green water, then later read that you need 2 (at least ) cultures of rotifers growing as the fry need to eat so many that one batch/culture would not be enough, I sourced my rotifers and green water on ebay from M&M Aquarium Supplies,(I had the same prob as you, LFS guys had no idea) and have split the single cultures and now have two, the only problem is I am not sure of the density of the rotifer culture as i have no microscope, but I found all my info on raising/feeding/maintaining rotifer cultures from http://www.rotifer.com, This site is pretty simple and straight to the point, what has your success rate been raising fry on Baby Brine Shrimp? this would be a much more practical alternative as the rotifers appear only as tiny dots in the water and its hard to tell if they are alive or not, But I'm not giving up yet! My rotifer cultures are still getting fed and growing and I'm pretty sure that my Clowns are going to spawn again soon so I will try again then, hope this has helped!

Matty Ward

[UNIXMan]

Matt-

Sorry to hear you lost a batch. I lost two myself. It's very disappointing because I've had much success with the freshies. My brother tried for over 40 years before he had a successful freshwater angelfish spawn. I'm not convinced it'll be "easy" -- but I think I can get a few out of it.

I have A LOT of experience raising brine shrimp. I tried to send you a message via this board, but it didn't work I appreciate the link on rotifers. I may give it a try, but I may try the brineys again first. I found something on a different site about the importance of darkness. They say you should cover the sides of the fry tank with cardboard and not use a light for a few days.

Brine shrimp are bigger than rotifers, and the important thing about them is they are nutritionally useless after a day or two unless you feed them. Always have two cultures going with fresh mixed water, a day or two apart. Once they hatch, I siphon them out to remove the egg casings. I feed them with a baby food; I use peas and carrots -- make sure there's no potatoes in there! Usually I make my own, one part carrots to two parts peas (boiled) in a blender with enough water to make it like baby food. I then mix up about a teaspoon in half a cup of water, and put some of that in the culture just to tint the water. It will foul badly if you put too much. Siphon out what you need, rinse them off, and feed the fry. When they get too big for the fry, the adults and corals get a treat

Clowns are the first fry I have not had success with thus far. I think it may work because several of the last batch were eating and looked well. I discovered a few worms and a giant copepod in my fry tank that I *think* did them in. I say this because I started with about 45. I know some died, and I would expect to find a dozen or so bodies, but there were none. I even had a few bushy plastic plants in there for cover, but I never imagined there'd be worms to deal with. I would say about half died of starvation, but I did not saturate the water anywhere close to what the rotifer notes say. I'll try that next time. Good thing they only take a day or two to be ready.

If you are able to send me a message through this board (click my name to view my profile then click on 'Send private message') and and are willing to share your email address, I will be happy to send you more detailed info on the brine shrimp setup. I am unable to locate several links I used to create my hatchery/nursery, but I could draw a picture, scan it, and email it to you. I am also willing to share other notes I have made on my last two spawns. I am not an expert by any means, but I do have a bit of mileage with freshwater species, and what I've done there worked better for me than anything I've read about clowns in the last 2 months.

Regards,
-Sal

[UNIXMan]

Met a guy this past Saturday who is a world reknowned expert on coral reefs of Florida and the Caribbean. He will put me in touch with one of his graduate students, who specializes in reproduction of marine species. Good fortune for us, then?

I think I'm less than a week away from another go - she's swelling nicely and he's fiercely guarding the castle. If I connect with this guy, I'll let you know what he says. Either way, I'll post my results.

[MattyWard]

Hi Again Sal,

Once again I apoligize for my delayed response, I agree if we contact each other directly via email this would be much easier as i can respond while out on the road! since my last post my clowns have spawned again (exactly four weeks apart to the day!) so I have ordered rotifers online (they should arrive 3 days prior to hatching) which should give me enough time to split the culture and have two fully developed cultures, here are a few things i will do diiferently this time round.

1:Have NO water in the fry tank : Last time I had water sitting in the fry tank for a few days prior to hatching and when siphoning out the fry I had problems with there being to much water from the siphon as I had to use a garden hose (the fry kept swimming away from the air line hose and did not have enough suction to get them)

2:Feed the fry as much as I can in the first week: After the loss of my second batch the only thing I can put it down to is food source, they all started to drop off by about days 2/3, Apparently they can feed on the egg sack for the first 24/38 hours, as everything else in the tank was fine the process of elimination comes down to the food source. I had the live rotifers present but obviously it was not enough to keep them going so they must have starved

My email address is matt@interglaze.com.au

Met a guy this past Saturday who is a world reknowned expert on coral reefs of Florida and the Caribbean. He will put me in touch with one of his graduate students, who specializes in reproduction of marine species. Good fortune for us, then?

that is fantastic! Clown Fish are supposed to be one of the easiest marine fish to breed but having NO experience in any type of breeding/raising aquarium fish I'm finding it pretty hard despite all the info on the net! anyway hope to speak to you again soon! Matty