Clownfish eggs
- Thread starter TheBishop
- Start date
Considering that you haven't made any preparation for raising the fry, I'd say your chances are small to none.
However, if you figure that they will lay another cluster of eggs, and you prepare for it, you do have a chance. It's a lot of work though, and will require some additional tanks and such.
However, if you figure that they will lay another cluster of eggs, and you prepare for it, you do have a chance. It's a lot of work though, and will require some additional tanks and such.
if you wish to attempt raising them, you wont be ready in time for this batch, but now that they are laying eggs, they will do it again in 10-14 days. Research clown rearing, and get cultures of rotifers and get the equipment to setup brine shrimp hacheries.
Once they hatch, they ahve to be fed 3-5 times per day with live rotifers for first 7-14 days, and then slowly(both foods at the same time) wened onto live baby brine shrimp. from bout day 12 -day 21 they have to be fed 3-4 times a day with live baby brine shrimp no more than 36 hours after the shrimp have hatched. its best during this time to keep them in a small tank, 10-20g tank, so food is easier to find. you will have to do 5-10% water changes every day to keep quality up.
Even with proper prep and knowledge, you can expect a 40-75% mortality rate in the first 21 days. once they Morph and look like mini adults, the survival rate is higher. birth to morph is considered tough, and successful with a 25-40% survival rate. Even then, some will need to be culled due to deformaties etc.
Professional hatcheries with dedicated setups can manage 50-60% survival. Home aquariast should be thrilled to get 20-30%. for the first 21-24 days, its literally a full time job, like taking care of an infant.
Once they hatch, they ahve to be fed 3-5 times per day with live rotifers for first 7-14 days, and then slowly(both foods at the same time) wened onto live baby brine shrimp. from bout day 12 -day 21 they have to be fed 3-4 times a day with live baby brine shrimp no more than 36 hours after the shrimp have hatched. its best during this time to keep them in a small tank, 10-20g tank, so food is easier to find. you will have to do 5-10% water changes every day to keep quality up.
Even with proper prep and knowledge, you can expect a 40-75% mortality rate in the first 21 days. once they Morph and look like mini adults, the survival rate is higher. birth to morph is considered tough, and successful with a 25-40% survival rate. Even then, some will need to be culled due to deformaties etc.
Professional hatcheries with dedicated setups can manage 50-60% survival. Home aquariast should be thrilled to get 20-30%. for the first 21-24 days, its literally a full time job, like taking care of an infant.
I want to do it, I know how, i just dont have the time. I leave for work at 6am and get home at 6pm(usually) 5-6 days a week. I just flat dont have the time. I haev a LFS that all but wrote it in blood that they would buy all i could produce, but i havent the time.
Good advise ^
If you are interested... here a great :read:
http://www.reefsanctuary.com/forums/livestock-breeding/32474-rearing-picasso-percula-clownfish.html
If you are interested... here a great :read:
http://www.reefsanctuary.com/forums/livestock-breeding/32474-rearing-picasso-percula-clownfish.html
No, no license is required. What is required is just a customer who is willing to buy large quantities. The market for live fish has bottomed out, due to online vendors. LFS who will take them is all you need. You could sell them online like others do, but the packaging, shipping, bags, heat/cold packs, would probably eat up what little profit there is to be had unless you do so on a large scale. Plus once they hatch, they cant really be sold till 6mo of age or so.. 1" roughly in size. So you have to have a Grow out tank that can handle 80-200 of the little buggers.
Once the fry have hatched, its best to keep them in a small container. 10-20g with 1mm covered overflow going to a sump, this sump can be a shared sump with several other tanks(which can be used down the road as grow out tanks. Rotifer cultures are easy. Buy a culture and some Rotofeast. The instructions are easy to find. The first 9-14 days for baby clowns is the toughest. fed 3-5 times per day with live rotifers. At the 9-14 day mark you can start introduing live baby brine shrimp in addition to the rotifers. Once the baby brine are more than 36hrs old, toss em. at the 18-22 day mark, they will morph. They will look like glass slivers up till then, but then they change and start looking mroe like real clown fish. You can continue feeding them the baby brine shrimp. After the morph, u can expect to have retained 20-30% if you have good luck, sometimes 10% is considered a win. Considering clownfish, varying by species, can lay upwards of 800-1200 eggs... even 20% will leave ya with nearly 200 of the little buggers. Then you can start transfering them to the other tanks for grow out. Ready to sell at aprox 6mo of age.
I have an aquaintance that does this with a 9x20 g setup. They hatch and go to morph in 1 tank, then he divides them up into the 8 other tanks for grow out. The 9 tanks are on a common sump, with all inlets and overflows covered with 1-2mm mesh. He does maroons and clarkii's...im partial to false perc's myself. I just dont have time to attempt it.
You do need to remember to keep several feet of distance between your rotifer cultures and phyto culturs(if u are doing live phyto). never use the same tools, nets or hoses for both tanks. a couple rotiphers in a drop of water can crash a phyto culture in just a day or 2.
Once you reach the "grow out" Stage, you can keep them in pretty much any size tank you want.
I have an aquaintance that does this with a 9x20 g setup. They hatch and go to morph in 1 tank, then he divides them up into the 8 other tanks for grow out. The 9 tanks are on a common sump, with all inlets and overflows covered with 1-2mm mesh. He does maroons and clarkii's...im partial to false perc's myself. I just dont have time to attempt it.
You do need to remember to keep several feet of distance between your rotifer cultures and phyto culturs(if u are doing live phyto). never use the same tools, nets or hoses for both tanks. a couple rotiphers in a drop of water can crash a phyto culture in just a day or 2.
Once you reach the "grow out" Stage, you can keep them in pretty much any size tank you want.