Setting up a Clownfish Larvae Tank

Your eggs have been laid and it’s a few days before the hatching. Time to set up your larvae tank.

Here’s what you’ll need:
• 10 gallon tank – painted (see below for details)
• Small heater – with no light indicator
• 2 air bubbler wands (the width of the tank is best)
• Thermometer
• Lighting – simple, 3 watt bulb
• Egg crate top
• Live rotifer culture (read the thread “How to Grow Rotifers” )


We use a standard 10g tank (make sure that it has been sterilized and thoroughly cleaned). The outside bottom of the tank is painted white and the outside back and sides are painted black (you can also tape black paper or plastic bags to the back and sides). The front glass is left unpainted, but is covered with a black plastic bag until the larvae go through metamorphosis.

Why paint? The back and sides are painted black because the larvae are very sensitive to light. When they hatch they are pretty much just eyes and if the light is too bright they swim like crazy and smash into everything. The paint helps control the amount of light getting into the tank. The bottom is painted white to make it easier to see the larvae from the top, and to make it easier to see uneaten food, debris and dead larvae on the bottom when cleaning.

Here's one of the tanks we use.




Note: If this is your first collection, then 3-4 days before the hatching you’ll need to thoroughly inspect the tank you plan to use for rearing. Make sure there are no nooks in the silicone seams because the larva will crawl in them and die. If there are nooks, then fill them in with a little silicone until you get a nice smooth edge.



In between every hatch you want to clean the tank thoroughly and sterilize it. Do this by adding a gallon of water to the tank and just a splash of regular unscented bleach. Scrub the whole inside of the tank, rinse it at least twice with fresh water and then let air dry for at least 24 hours.

48 hours before you expect the eggs to hatch you want to set the tank up and make sure everything is working right. The first thing you will want to do is place your air bubblers in the tank. We use two bubble wands and place them as low as we can on each end of the tank.

Next we place a small heater right about one of the bubblers.



Next we place a small heater right about one of the bubblers.



You need to place the heater right above a bubbler because the larvae are attracted to the heat and if allowed to congregate around the heater they can burn up or suffocate. The air bubbler keeps water flowing over the heater and will push the larvae away. You also want to make sure that your heater either doesn't have a light on it or that you cover the light with some electrical tape. The larvae are attracted to light so if they see the indicator light on the heater they will swim over to it and burn up. The amount of bubble flow should be very gentle, you want just enough to keep water flowing but not so much that the larva are being blown all over the place. Here’s a guide that we follow:
0-3 days: 2-4 bubbles/second
4-12 days: 5-10 bubbles/second
13-28 days: increase flow so that one full exchange occurs every 1-2 hours

Next fill the tank with water (tap or RO is fine) until the heater is about 1" under the water.





Let the tank run like this for 24 hours to make sure everything is working right and so that you can adjust the heater to match the water temperature of the parent’s tank. Don't trust the dials and presets on the heater, we've gone through at least 10 heater so far and I've never found one where the dial was accurate.

Next you will need a light over the tank. Ours is about 1 1/2' above the tank.



It’s just a simple clamp on type light. We also use a regular lamp timer to turn the light on and off automatically. We set it to 12 hours on and 12 off after day 5.



Here’s a guide we use on lighting for the larvae:
0-1 days: dimmed lighting (3 layers of paper towels); on for 24 hours
2-3 days: dimmed lighting (3 layers of paper towels); on for 16 hours
4-8 days: dimmed lighting (2 layer of paper towels); on for 12 hours
9-14 days: dimmed lighting (1 layer of paper towels); on for 12 hours
15 days+ full lighting; on for 12 hours

And we use this cheap fluorescent bulb, about 3 watts



Then over the tank we place some egg crate.




And a few sheets of paper towel to diffuse the light even more.



After everything is set up and working right, unplug the heater and drain all the water out of the tank. About 60-90 minutes before you expect the eggs to hatch, remove 3 gallons of salt water from the parent’s tank and place it in the larvae tank, then turn the heater and bubblers back on. You want to wait until the last minute to add water to the larvae tank so the water chemistry will be as close to the parent tank as possible.

30 minutes prior to hatching, check the salinity and temperature of the larvae tank. They both should match the parent tank. Next, add 4-5 drops of phytoplankton to the tank. Next, strain 200-300 ml of rotifer culture and add the rotifers to the larvae tank. Why? 1) Greenwater helps the larvae catch the rotifers and it helps to diffuse the light even more; 2) Greenwater keeps the rotifers fed and full rotifers are more nutritious; and 3) Putting the rotifers in the tank early will give them time to feed before larvae are added.

(Note: You must strain the rotifers before adding them to the larvae tank because the water they’ve been living in is not compatible with the larvae tank water. To strain the rotifers, put a coffee filter in a strainer and carefully poor cupfuls of the rotifer culture over top. Once the liquid stops draining, place the rotifer-filled filter on top of the tank water in the larvae tank. Then discard the filter and the strained culture water.)

Now you are ready for the eggs to hatch and rear them in your larvae tank.

Quality info cheers mate


OMG ! have a huge batch of eggs from my tomato clowns and the wrigglers are almost free to go.


best thing is they laid on a rock i cant lift out of the tank.


A BIG CALL OUT - to experienced Aussie reefers in Melbourne who are willing to raise these youngs,

PM me !


Regards

Nick

Get info Barb, but I'll let you peeps breed the clowns I'd kill them

LOL I agree with Bill.

Originally Posted by Nick Marine

Quality info cheers mate


OMG ! have a huge batch of eggs from my tomato clowns and the wrigglers are almost free to go.


best thing is they laid on a rock i cant lift out of the tank.


A BIG CALL OUT - to experienced Aussie reefers in Melbourne who are willing to raise these youngs,

PM me !


Regards

Nick

How are you doing with the batch Nick? Any updates?

Great write up Barb. Very nice info, Thanks a bunch.

Sensational post once again Barb

Are they dead yet Nick ?

Cheers

Barb

can you tell me please , what the water level should be throughout this process? Should it remain as low as you have it in those pictures?

Tommo - hopefully not this time.

I would answer this for you but every time i do Barb yells at me

lol im sure she wouldn't mind.

I sent you a PM...we start out the fry tank with about 2-3 gallons of water from the parent tank...as you add larvae to it (if you are collecting it from the parent tank with the method we describe) then water will be added with each cup of larvae you add to it...

the water is added about 1 hour before we collect...we also "fatten up"the rotifers 1 hour before collection then strain about 300ml of the culture 30 mins before collection and add that, along with about 4-5 drops of algae to the fry tank too.

Hi
My Occ's just laid again tonight and I was wondering if you have made any adjustments to this larvae set up?
Thanks

Hi and welcome to the site!!!! I'm sure the others will be along shortly to answer your questions.

How about starting a new thread about what you have. Knowledge is powerful and I'm sure you can add something to what we've put in this forum. again welcome to the site!

US Marine Coral

We havent made any changes in the way we raise the fry, everything is done just like how its outlined above.

If this is the first time your clowns have laid eggs i wouldnt be in a rush to collect this batch. Work on fattening up the parents and getting the rearing tank set up and your rotifers going. Once your comfortable that everything is set up right then give it a go.


Let us know how it gos and good luck

US Marine Coral. Do you have any pics of your set up?

Hi and thanks for the welcome. This is my Ocellaris clowns 5th clutch and I have 2 cultures of rots going and ready. I will post some pics and info on my set up by tomorrow and I will start a my own thread. Thanks again.

That sound perfect. I see your local to us, just an FYI Barbara will be doing a talk on clownfish in a few weeks at the DVRC fragswap in King of Prussia Heres a link to the event. 2011 DVRC spring frag swap!!

Oh WOW! Cool. I am a member of DVRC, so I will look forward to it.

Alright, hope to see you there

well HELLO there US Marine Coral! welcome to reef-geeks!....as chris said, we haven't changed this set up - - it's working out great for us.....is there anything in particular you're unsure of or want clarification on? just let us know and we'll try our best to help!

Originally Posted by US Marine Coral

Hi and thanks for the welcome. This is my Ocellaris clowns 5th clutch and I have 2 cultures of rots going and ready. I will post some pics and info on my set up by tomorrow and I will start a my own thread. Thanks again.

WOO HOO!!! you planned properly!!! and waited for a healthier batch too! good job! .....would definitely be interested in having you start your own breeding thread - - that way you can document what works for you/what doesn't and we can ALL benefit!