help on breeding clownfish

swissgaurd

Member
hi ive been keeping saltwater tanks for 25 years and feel there is an accomplishment missing.
ive raised a few bangais but always had and still have a big interest in raising clownfish
ive had clownfish lay eggs but I never raised the young.
im now at that point where I need to advance in this hobby.
I have setup a 20 gall. and a sump with a curve 5 skimmer in the 20 is a pair of clowns which I paired myself
female is a black and white Darwin and male is an onyx.ive kept them since they were 6 months old.
parents are both 3 years of age, they just went through there first batch of eggs in a clay pot,they did really well for first time parents.
id like to raise the second batch of eggs .
I have a line on the rotifier kit for which I don't need to culture green water .I can pick up the kit a day before hatch or day of.

theres going to be a lot of questions as I go.
I think I got 11 days till they lay again.

ive got a 10 gallon tank for the larva but I think im gonna use a 5 gallon tank for the first days .
what equipment do I need to have for the larva tank.


thanks
your help well greatly be appreciated

vic
 

swissgaurd

Member
ive touched doni's post a few times .im now getting a better understanding of whats going on with breeding so its time to read it again.i belong to many forums but when I really want to know something I come to RS .its a good family.

There was one time quite a few years ago oh maybe 10. I got chiggars in kansas .well the help was amazing ,so that tells ya RS has the best family around .

vic
 

Woodstock

The Wand Geek was here. ;)
RS STAFF
Hi! Congrats on your bangaii success!

I recommend using your 10 gallon tank to rear the fry but only fill it up 1/2 way to get the needed 5 gallons for them at first. That is how I started :) I eventually begin using 20 gallon tall aquariums in my hatchery that were plumbed into the main hatching system; this size allowed the fry to stay in the same tank from hatching to around 1" (3-4 months old) and then were sorted by color. Having a small volume of water is great when you want a dense population of rotifers but it quickly becomes polluted. A necessary daily task (or every other day) is vacuuming the bottom with a small diameter hose (1/4 - 1/2" dia) with a tiny brush on the end. This tiny brush will save the lives of many, many fry and is worth its weight in gold. I think I found mine on a seahorse site but can't remember which one....They had a cleaning kit with the hose and several brushes that worked fabulous!

I also suggest that you go ahead and get two rotifer colonies going. Using the algae paste is the easiest and you can freeze it for long term use.

Good luck and have fun! :D
 

swissgaurd

Member
thanks for the reply doni
I did have a batch born Monday night.i lost a lot of the eggs due to transferring the eggs one day early( they went white) .I didn't want to miss it ,I transferred them on day eight.i think I got about 20 babies swimming around in a 10 gallon tank.
I did fill the tank half way because I used a 6 inch pot ,so I wanted the water to cover it.i did a little over kill on the rotifiers,I dumped a whole kit in the tank.im having to feed about 15ml of algae to keep it tinted green.
there is a ton of rotifiers.so I don't think they'll go hungry,i started dripping ro/di at 1 drop per second to bring salinity down to 1.020, the larvae are at 3 days old . I plan on starting to feed brineshrimp on day eight along with the rotifiers

when do you think I should start doing waterchanges.
when to stop using parents tank water for waterchanges
when to add sponge filter.

I am reading your breeding post im on page 49 learning lots as I go along
theres one post you have about the sponge and the rotifiers. that Kathy mentions, im curious about this method
I also have joyces book since it was published im now starting to put 2 and 2 together

thanks for the link doni,im trying to get a hold of them so I can place an order,hopefully they'll ship to Canada

vic
 

Woodstock

The Wand Geek was here. ;)
RS STAFF
thanks for the reply doni
I did have a batch born Monday night.i lost a lot of the eggs due to transferring the eggs one day early( they went white) .I didn't want to miss it ,I transferred them on day eight.i think I got about 20 babies swimming around in a 10 gallon tank Just dip the eggs in methelyne blue mixture before placing them in the hatching tank. That will protect the eggs from any fungus.
I did fill the tank half way because I used a 6 inch pot ,so I wanted the water to cover it.i did a little over kill on the rotifiers,I dumped a whole kit in the tank.im having to feed about 15ml of algae to keep it tinted green.
there is a ton of rotifiers.so I don't think they'll go hungry,i started dripping ro/di at 1 drop per second to bring salinity down to 1.020, the larvae are at 3 days old . I plan on starting to feed brineshrimp on day eight along with the rotifiers Unless the brine shrimp are naupli (newly hatched) they will not have much nutritional value. I never fed live brine to my fry (lots of reasons not too). I would overlap the rotifers with Otihime B (powder food) starting around 8-10 days.

when do you think I should start doing waterchanges. When you notice sediment on the bottom of the tanks.
when to stop using parents tank water for waterchangest I always used new salt water & matched the temp & ph.
when to add sponge filter. Add a seeded sponge filter around day 7-8.

I am reading your breeding post im on page 49 learning lots as I go along
theres one post you have about the sponge and the rotifiers. that Kathy mentions, im curious about this method
I also have joyces book since it was published im now starting to put 2 and 2 together

thanks for the link doni,im trying to get a hold of them so I can place an order,hopefully they'll ship to Canada

vic
 

swissgaurd

Member
thanks doni
looks like theres gonna be a lot happening from day 7-10
I was planning on using fresh hatched brine but would like to see if I can get the otihime,sounds like it will make things easier.
I remember the work involved for bangai cardinals

thanks doni

vic
 

swissgaurd

Member
this is what I have available to me
A = 250 micron
B1 = 200-360 micron
B2 = 360-620 micron
C1 = 620-920 micron
C2 = 920-1410 micron

I imagine B1 would be my best bet

thanks
vic
 

Woodstock

The Wand Geek was here. ;)
RS STAFF
Yes, B1.
She will spawn ever 2 weeks. You'll fill your room up quick with hatching tanks! LOL
 

swissgaurd

Member
to me it just makes the hobby even better,
the first thing I di when I wake up is go and have a look
never thought I would be this excited about raising clownfish
 

swissgaurd

Member
ok so here it is day 6 , theres a lot of rotifiers in the tank.
ive done 2 water changes and started another culture.im adding about 12ml algae per day as the rotifiers are consuming the algae.

so I was wondering if and when the next batch hatches which will be in 7 days if I could put them together with the batch I have now ,or would it be a bad thing
first batch of clowns will only be 13 days old

thanks
 

Woodstock

The Wand Geek was here. ;)
RS STAFF
No, do not mix them at this age since their dietary needs are different. Neither will thrive.
 

swissgaurd

Member
today is day eight.i have millions of rotifiers .
at what point do I stop feeding the rotifiers.if I stop feeding the rotifiers will they just die and pollute the tank.

thanks
vic
 

Woodstock

The Wand Geek was here. ;)
RS STAFF
You could purchase rotifers each time you needed them...
or...

You could set up a rotifer colony and keep it alive for future use. The idea is to always have them when needed. I had a sustained rotifer colony for years and years and years. I kept them in a rectangular plastic planter. I actually had two (in case one colony crashed - which is inevitable :) ) going at all times. The planters held about 6-7 gallons when totally full. There was no light, an airstone in each one set to a gentle bubble and several pieces of sponge material for biological colony. If I was hatching a lot of larvae, I would ramp up both to full production (heavy phyto feedings twice daily). If I was hatching very few larvae (towards the end of my breeding venture), I would keep them only 1/2 full and feed once a day.

  • salinity 1.019 (never more than .06 difference from your fry water or you'll shock them); they reproduce quickly in low salinity
  • temp = ambient if fine (they are very, very hardy boogers!) warm water will cause a population explosion which is good when needed but can crash the colony too! I always kept mine at room temp with great results.
  • once density is good, vacuum detritus from bottom every 3 days and replace with new saltwater
  • do NOT overfeed (this will cause crashes quickly); feeding them more will cause a population explosion; feed heavily when needed but be careful
  • Always strain rotifers (micron screen or coffee filter) prior to adding them into the fry tank since the rotifer water is usually nasty.

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