I've been reading threads along with Joyce Wilkersons book about breeding clowns and have discovered a wealth of information through both this book and other peoples trial and error. In order to keep from pestering Doni with my trivial questions I thought I would start my own thread where I can pose my noob questions that I cannot find an answer for. It will most likely be updated as I encounter more problems.
Background: I relatively new to saltwater having only kept 2 other SW tanks before my current two. Both other ones where destroyed by hurricane causes power outages. I currently keep a 40g breeder and 7.5g rimless reef tank and have become interested in breeding marine fish. I have bred FW before with some sucess but seem more inthusiastic with the idea of breeding clowns.
Questions: Time to get to my problems.
1. According to Wilkerson, when dealing with the smaller sp. of clowns (ie. percula, etc) it is better to start off with a small, young pair than a group of individuals because the struggle to for a hierarchy prolongs pairing to unreasonable lengths of time. Is this the general concensus? I was planning on gathering a small group (4-5) of picasso clowns from different breeders but if it is better to start with 2 or even 2 pair in different tanks I would start that way.
2. The other problem I face it the tank setup. Is it better to have the breeding pair in a normal reef tank environment or a dedicated breeding tank. I almost hate to hide a beautiful pair of picassos away in my laundry room (where I keep my water change equipment and will be the site of rearing "facility") but I worry about tranferring them after they pair and disturbing them. It would be more practical to keep them out of the way while raising the parents, close to my RO and SW mixing barrels for easy water changes but I am not sure if it is a good idea to stick them back in a room by themselves where I cannot monitor them unless I venture back into the room. What are the opinions in this situations?
Those are all I have for now. Sorry for the uber long post but I appreciate any help.
Background: I relatively new to saltwater having only kept 2 other SW tanks before my current two. Both other ones where destroyed by hurricane causes power outages. I currently keep a 40g breeder and 7.5g rimless reef tank and have become interested in breeding marine fish. I have bred FW before with some sucess but seem more inthusiastic with the idea of breeding clowns.
Questions: Time to get to my problems.
1. According to Wilkerson, when dealing with the smaller sp. of clowns (ie. percula, etc) it is better to start off with a small, young pair than a group of individuals because the struggle to for a hierarchy prolongs pairing to unreasonable lengths of time. Is this the general concensus? I was planning on gathering a small group (4-5) of picasso clowns from different breeders but if it is better to start with 2 or even 2 pair in different tanks I would start that way.
2. The other problem I face it the tank setup. Is it better to have the breeding pair in a normal reef tank environment or a dedicated breeding tank. I almost hate to hide a beautiful pair of picassos away in my laundry room (where I keep my water change equipment and will be the site of rearing "facility") but I worry about tranferring them after they pair and disturbing them. It would be more practical to keep them out of the way while raising the parents, close to my RO and SW mixing barrels for easy water changes but I am not sure if it is a good idea to stick them back in a room by themselves where I cannot monitor them unless I venture back into the room. What are the opinions in this situations?
Those are all I have for now. Sorry for the uber long post but I appreciate any help.
