The Picasso Clownfish Breeding Project

they WILL improve in batch size and survival rates too!!! .....just give it a few more batches after the parents are fatter ..........but you can keep adding pics and videos of each batch until then!

Yes they will get better. It wont be long until your getting 3 or 400 per batch

Looks like they spawned again. It's very hard to tell because they changed locations. They decided to lay their eggs on the inside lip of the planter that holds the flower pot. I won't be able to get pictures or an accurate count of how many eggs there are without disturbing the parents.

I might have interrupted the spawning itself. The male appears to be fertilizing the eggs still. I'll try to get a better look tomorrow.

oh I'm sure you can't bug them to much. I've taken a video of the female laying them and the male going in after. Mine aren't to shy lol

Originally Posted by rgrking

oh I'm sure you can't bug them to much. I've taken a video of the female laying them and the male going in after. Mine aren't to shy lol

Have you noticed a change in their eating habits a few days before or after a spawn? I don't know if I've just been feeding them too much but my pair seems to have gotten very particular about what they eat. They hardly touch their food now. They are passing on all their favorites.

I'm feeding 2 varieties of rods, 5 star reef, mysis, brine shrimp/spirulina, krill, flake and pellet.

We never noticed anything like that. Ours will eat away like normal.


How are the rotifers going?

I never noticed anything either. the female eats and eats as does the male. In fact she should be ready to lay some again this weekend.

Originally Posted by chris&barb

We never noticed anything like that. Ours will eat away like normal.


How are the rotifers going?

I have no idea. haha

I'll be switching their bucket today. Maybe I'll finally see what the look like.

Pick some of the culture up in a glass and hold it up to the light and you will see them floating all around in there. You cant see any detail just dust specks.

that is an odd behavior jason.....ours never did anything differently.....are there other fish/inverts near the new nest? ....odd indeed..............are you making sure to harvest those rotifers everyday? you really need to do that if you wanna keep your culture strong

Originally Posted by Barbara

that is an odd behavior jason.....ours never did anything differently.....are there other fish/inverts near the new nest? ....odd indeed..............are you making sure to harvest those rotifers everyday? you really need to do that if you wanna keep your culture strong

Chris told me to wait a week before I began harvesting! Whoops.

I wanted you to add 1/3 the water volume a day until you build your culture size up and then start harvesting 1/3. I figured that would take a week. We are still adding 1/3 to ours and it should be two more days until we can harvest for the first time.

Well I have added 1.019 water throughout the week to get the culture up to about 4 gallons. I've also been adding 2 drops of that phyto stuff every day.

I changed the bucket today and harvested my first gallon of water before I did that. Ran it through a coffee filter and gave it a good shake in the reef tank. But to be honest, I'm still not sure what I'm looking for.

I do see things that I'd refer to as specs in the water. They aren't green, more of a brown or gray color. They don't appear to move. I'd figure these things would be swimming around or something.

Any chance this culture just didn't make it?

Rotifers arent green, they are golden brown just like you saw. They dont really swim around either. They have little hair like things on them that they wiggle around so they can move. They wouldnt win a race with a snail thats for sure. Our culture is going fine so i bet so is yours.

The only thing is i think you might have added too much water too fast so your culture is a bit thin. Just keep feeding them and harvest a little less and it will thicken up.

Try scooping up a cup full of culture water in a clear glass and sit it on the counter until the water stops moving and then look through the glass and you will see them slowly moving around.

Originally Posted by chris&barb

Rotifers arent green, they are golden brown just like you saw. They dont really swim around either. They have little hair like things on them that they wiggle around so they can move. They wouldnt win a race with a snail thats for sure. Our culture is going fine so i bet so is yours.

The only thing is i think you might have added too much water too fast so your culture is a bit thin. Just keep feeding them and harvest a little less and it will thicken up.

Try scooping up a cup full of culture water in a clear glass and sit it on the counter until the water stops moving and then look through the glass and you will see them slowly moving around.

Ok, think I'll try that. And that makes sense that I may have thinned them out too fast.

Heres a close up video of them



Give me a bit and ill make another video of our culture so you can see what to look for

hey jason.......sorry I misunderstood .... I thought you started with a full culture already rather than a portion that you're building up for a full culture ........ WHEN it's a full culture, then make sure to harvest daily

and yes...........the rotifers are brown not green........here's a good way to tell if they're healthy or not: you're feeding phyto daily right? when it's feeding time, is the water culture bright green every time OR does it start out bright green after you feed it and then turns a much paler green when it's feeding time again?

the culture is definitely changing color. It goes from green to more of a yellow throughout the day.

then you got yourself some healthy and hungry rotifers!