Clown Fry Deaths

So the last two batches of my clowns have all died within a few days of hatching. I'm thinking it's one or a combination of a few things.

I use a blue LED to attract or just find the larvae, then I scoop them using a brine shrimp net. When I pull them, I have to invert the net, and shake them off into the baby tank. I have a larvae collector from Chad Vossen on the way soon.

I'm using a 5 gallon tank with a bubble wand curved around the bottom. I'm using a heater that keeps the temps right at 80F.

On the first night I add live nanno to the fry tank.

The next day I add rotifers. I don't have a way to measure them, but I run a couple of quarts of the water through my 53um screen and then backflow that into the fry tank.

Here's what I'm thinking.

I know that air bubbles can damage the larvae. I've read about a method where there's four rigid airlines ran into each corner of the tank, but it's covered in a 200 micron cloth to make the bubbles fine. It will still add a ton of air flow for the tank and the damage from air bubbles will be minimal.

I'll have to fill the tank about half way up though.

Also the fry have been settling onto the bottom of the tank after the first night or two. This is a bad thing. I'm going to add a 15 watt light above the tank, but it's still going to be covered with a white cloth on the top and dark on the sides. That way seeing the food isn't going to be a problem.

I'm going to use rotifers for day 1-7 and small amounts up to 30 days
live artimia on day 5-15
crushed flake food and cyclopese day 3-20

I'm also going to be ordering Selcon to add to some of the feed for both the fry and parents.

Any help on this would be appreciated!

Just tagging along - since I am no help at all hahaha

The settling thing is common - hope there is an easy solution!

May have stumbled across some good advice from another local breeder. She's been doing this for years.

* Use Chad's snagger instead. Nets can damage the larvae. People who don't have a snagger and can't remove the eggs, use a siphon or a cup, but not a net.

*I would use a 10 gallon tank, 5 gallons of water, with a single airstone under the heater along a wall. This will circulate the water and heat well with minimal flow. A lot of air is not necessary. There is no need to add live nanno when you have yet to add live rotifers. You can add them immediately, and leave the light on overnight, and that will give the larvae a head start in learning to hunt and eat.

*One reason that larvae die after a couple of days is if the parents are not well fed. Start feeding them at least twice a day with some high quality food like Ocean Nutrition Formula One frozen food, at least a week before the next spawn, and then forevermore.
Have you read Joyce Wilkerson's Clownfishes book? It is remarkably informative.

I was gonna say ditch the net, but I am no expert.

hopefully this snagger will be in soon. I should have more eggs by next week.

so sorry glen....but I think most of us learn this way - - I think you received excellent advice! (and if I'm not mistaken, that advice is listed in our stickies here too).....

IF the babies are strong, staying at the bottom is probably because of too much light and/or too much bubbly....to ensure that your babies are strong, be sure to feed the parents extra nutritious foods and feeding a smaller amount twice a day (vs your regular amount once/day) is healthier for them too.

the net.............a no-no in my opinion.......we always collected with a cup and then gently gently released into the baby tank......I'm really interested in hearing how that collector works for you.

definitely use a 10g vs a 5g.

you will get a better flow if you use a fine bubble wand under the heater (directly under it) and place both on one side, then put a smaller wand on the opposite side...make sure to add an adjuster knob to them and then keep the bubblers at the lowest setting possible for the first week....then you can slowly increase the rate (a guideline for that is listed in the stickies too)

food:
try adding rotifers to the baby tank, along with just a few drops of phyto, about an hour or less before you start collecting....the rotifers will be filled with the "nutrition" by the time babies enter the tank and the phyto will also help them find their food...
cyclopseeze probably shouldn't be added until around day 15+ and flake until about 30+...
rely on the rotifers for the first solid week; slowly add bbs (or golden pearls if you don't want to raise the bbs) and cut back on the rotifers; then stop the rotifers (around week 2-3) and slowly add cyclops to the bbs (cutting back a bit on the bbs)...then by day 30-40 you can start to add "real" foods...

I do keep my light on for a full 24 hours the first night - - BUT I make sure that it's super dim, using paper towels to help....

when's your next collection?

Well it would be possibly tonight, but the larvae trap won't be in for a while. I'll see if I can catch a few anyway. I have a ton of rotifers and I'm itching to get a good batch growing.

I can see it now...

"So Glen what did you do Friday night??" Asked Glen's coworker(CW)

"I was up till 3am." Answered Glen

"Nice... How hot was she???" CW

"78.7 deg. like always."

"You crazy Glen. So was it good???"

"I snagged about 250 fry." Was his puzzled answer.

"I didn't ask about dinner, I was thinking more like desert."

"Oh" answered Glen, now understanding what CW was talking about. "Did you forget I'm a Reef-Geek??? It's all about the tank dude."

that's prolly what will happen tomorrow lol

I pulled the tile and put it in the fry tank. We'll see how it goes.

24 hour lighting the first day. no more snaggers. feed immediately.

try the drip.

they hatched last night. Tons of them. They looked good this morning too. Didn't see any dead on the bottom. Fed what I could before work.

Just got home and fed again. Still didn't see any dead ones. I'll try to snap some pics and put it in my journal log.

don't use a flash.

So did any of the changes help?

yes they did. Another thing was not to use RGComplete. Apparently when the fry go up to fill their swim bladder, there's an oily film on the top of the water that can prevent them from doing it. Massive deaths have happened. I need to use something else, but I don't have anything right now.

I think Joyce's book talks about oily films on the surface of fry tanks. It's been a problem long before RGComplete. She has a simple solution. She uses a paper towel on the surface to soak up the oils every couple of days.

well crap that's easy!