my attempt at raising clownfish

Hi all,

I have a pair of tank bred Ocellaris clownfish that have laid their second batch of eggs and I'm going to try to raise them following the wonderful documentation in this forum.

About two weeks ago, the pair surprised me with their first batch of eggs after a year and a half of owning them as juveniles. I was able to practice collecting the few fry that hatched but was unprepared with feeding so the fry perished after a few days.

I'm currently at day 5?? (eyes are showing in only a handful of eggs) and I've already ordered L-type rotifers and Golden Pearls. I received the Golden Pearls today and am supposed to get the rotifers by Wednesday. I'm wondering will I have enough to feed and culture the rots by the time this batch hatches. The first batch hatched at around day 10.

I know everyone likes pictures, but unfortunately I can get a clear picture of the eggs. Here's a pic of the parents though:



I do have my fry tank setup and waiting until the night of the hatch. Since I've never grown rotifers, I'm wondering if I'll have enough to feed and culture more rots in time for this batch. I purchased the rotifer starter kit from Reeds. Any suggestions or help is definitely appreciated.

I don't think you'll have enough rotifers for this batch, but I'm sure you will for the next. You'll need something to feed the rotifers too. I use RGComplete. It's a great product. Some use live nanno. I like them both. If this is the second batch you may want to wait till about batch 5 so you get more survivors. The eggs get better as they go. Congrats on the breeding pair!!!! the eggs should hatch on day 7 or 8. I have some hatching probably tomorrow. they are all showing silver eyes.

Originally Posted by rgrking

I don't think you'll have enough rotifers for this batch, but I'm sure you will for the next. You'll need something to feed the rotifers too. I use RGComplete. It's a great product. Some use live nanno. I like them both. If this is the second batch you may want to wait till about batch 5 so you get more survivors. The eggs get better as they go. Congrats on the breeding pair!!!! the eggs should hatch on day 7 or 8. I have some hatching probably tomorrow. they are all showing silver eyes.

+1

I know it's tempting to collect now but you will have minimal success until spawns 5 or 6.

Technically, you can get a rotifer culture up to speed in about 4 days but when you are first learning I imagine it's going to take closer to a week.

Well I received my Rotifers kit today. It came with a bottle of rotifer diet that's supposed to last for 2 months so that should hold me for a bit. I'm supposed to start harvesting the rotifers on day 3 which is day 8 of the hatch. The last batch didn't hatch until day 11. I may let this batch go but almost thinking why not try if everything's ready? I do understand that I'm looking at minimal success with these early batches.

just dont run ur rotifers to thin.

Originally Posted by bguile

Well I received my Rotifers kit today. It came with a bottle of rotifer diet that's supposed to last for 2 months so that should hold me for a bit. I'm supposed to start harvesting the rotifers on day 3 which is day 8 of the hatch. The last batch didn't hatch until day 11. I may let this batch go but almost thinking why not try if everything's ready? I do understand that I'm looking at minimal success with these early batches.

I thought the same thing. I collected my 2nd spawn and ended up with 4 fish 4 months later. (I also had zero success with batches 3-6 and very minimal success with 7). Once you get going, you are going to understand the amount of time necessary for each batch. Daily cleanings, feedings, water changes, etc... It's a lot of work and in retrospect you are probably going to look back and regret the amount of effort that went into 4 fish when you compare it to your first 100+ fish clutch. That being said, go collect them and have fun. Just don't get frustrated when you have a 99-100% mortality rate. And don't think too much into what you can do differently. They are just going to die for now.

Yep and remember practice makes perfect. Keep on collecting and trying to raise them. Sooner or later its all going to click together.

Thanks for the input everyone. I got home late yesterday 3 hours after lights out with only moonlights on and checked on the clutch and they appeared to be all there. However, this morning I awoke to find all the eggs gone! I guess either they hatched or the parents ate them all sometime in the middle of the night. I wasn't expecting them to hatch until this evening but oh well. I was gonna try building a larval collector but thought about changing a few things on it. I don't quite understand why there's an up,down,up,into the collector..and why it can't be, just up, lateral, down into the collector

Ok. So the clowns have laid their 3rd batch of eggs on my clay pot. I'm going to try collecting them using this larvae collector that I've built.



I could easily take the clay pot out of the tank, but I've read that a lot of people didnt have as much success as they would if they let the parents care for the eggs until they hatched.

A question for those that have used these collectors. I have an airstone inside the T at the bottom of the collector just above where the light will shine down into the bottom elbow so that the light is contained to just the collector. How do I know how much air to use to create enough suction but still handle the fry gently?

I made one similar, but haven't used it yet. I like your adapter for the bottle. That's the part I'm having problems finding.

I would think that if there was just a nice slow stream it should be fine. Clown babies aren't as sensitive as some of the other fry. Air bubbles don't really kill them.

Originally Posted by rgrking

I made one similar, but haven't used it yet. I like your adapter for the bottle. That's the part I'm having problems finding.

thanks. I just drilled a hole in the lid of the bottle just enough that a 3/4" piece of PVC fit snuggly in it. Can't wait to see how it works out!

I've been drinking that tea lately.

Originally Posted by RCA

I've been drinking that tea lately.

Yeah it's good tea..and recycles as a great larvae collector bottle!!

I'm so pumped! I did find out that it worked last night as my 3rd batch hatched kind of unexpectedly!! This time they laid the eggs on the saucer in an area thats shaded a little by a rock so I couldn't see the clutch totally but looking through 18" of water it was looking like almost all the eggs that could be seen had both eyes. So I set the collector in the tank and turned of PH's just in case they decided to hatch. Just as I was about to call it a night, I checked the tank and it was teeming with little hatchlings!! So there I was scrambling all over the place because I wasn't totally prepared for them to hatch. My count/observation was a few days off! It looks like I got almost all of them using several different collection methods. My initial count is over 100!!

I added 300ml of strained rotifers from my culture just as Barbara's procedures and wasn't sure there would be enough rotifers to feed them...so I added 300ml more. I can see how someone can put in too many though...it looks like you've added absolutely nothing at all!! Can't wait to get home to post pics for you guys, but thanks for your help up to this point!

Today is the end of day 3 and so far I have a count of 90 remaining larvae. My rotifer cultures seem to be going well and it looks like I have a decent amount int the larvae tank. I'm anxious to get to meta but being patient and following Barbara's guide as closely as possible until we get there. I'd love to have pics up, but the buggers are so small I can't seem to get a decent pic even with my slr. Guess I'll wait until they get a little bigger.

Also my brood pair have laid batch #4 and it looks much bigger than this current clutch. I'm not yet sure if I'll try raising those or if I'll skip the batch. I'll have to see if I have the room to do so first.

It does bring me to a question though. I was wondering how many larvae is Barbara's guide designed for?

hehehe evil small spawn cant wait til they get big enough to photograph

Well a lot of batches are 100 to 300 eggs. Some people have had batches up to 1000 eggs! Just make the things bigger as the batches get bigger.

Originally Posted by rgrking

Well a lot of batches are 100 to 300 eggs. Some people have had batches up to 1000 eggs! Just make the things bigger as the batches get bigger.

Thanks. I didn't have a base to know when to start making things bigger.

As promised! All pics are 5 DPH.

aw cuties!

How are the fry coming along?