It Finally Happened!

[Warnberg]

yeah but dirty tank.... need to call the cleaning lady...WOODSTOCK?

[Dentoid]

[Warnberg]

I need a cigar

[Warnberg]

Ever since I started this hobby I've wanted breading clown.. well it's happening, now it's time to step up to the plate and get these guys from eggs to babies....

YES

[lcstorc]

Are you ready to start raising the fry?
Take lots of pics and keep us updated. That would be a really cool thread.

[saltwaterfarm]

Could you tell us how you are planning to raise them? I just received a breeding pair and am curious as to how one would go about raising them...

[aquaman3680]

basically, at least to my knowledge, you take the eggs out of the tank, put them in a tank full of phyto, let them eat that for awhile, and then when they are big enough feed them other things. This is kind of the same process as raising seahorses but more seahorses die than clowns... thats just what I know...

Matt

[klc317]

Congrats! My pair of Clarkiis lay eggs every 8-10 days or so in our 180. I have yet to attempt to raise any of the eggs but I may give it a shot someday if I can get them lay eggs on something that I can remove. For now its just free food for the rest of the tank when they hatch. I'm just afraid of being successful (lol) at raising the eggs and having 100+ baby clowns I can't sell or get rid of every couple of weeks.

[murkywaters]

This thread made me run over and look for eggs in our tanks. :-)

[Warnberg]

Here is the process as I understand it. You want to time the hatch, in other words you want to try to time it so you take the eggs out the day before they normally hatch. I am going to use parent tank water to set up a hatching tank. I ill fill the hatching tank about half full of parent tank water, aerate the eggs and slowly add green-water and rotifers to the hatching tank. If all is well the next day I will have lots of little ones. Then what I will do is at least once a day do a small water change, syphon off any dead babies, add green-water and rotifers. If I remember correctly I will need to do this at least once a day for about the first 7 to 12 days, then in addition I will add baby brine shrimp for the next 5 to 7 days still doing daily water changes. At about 14 to 18 days I believe I can start to introduce finely ground flake food, at this point they will be transferred into a 10 gallon aquarium. Once they are on flake it will just be a matter of growing them up.
Lots of work I understand but I really want to do it.

On a side note, this AM I fed as usual and checked in, as I suspected the hatch is about half the size it was. So they are consuming some again, time to go back to the books and do some more research. Even though I was told it is normal for them to eat the first few clutches it still bugs me.

[saltwaterfarm]

Thanks everyone... that is great info. What size tank would do the trick??? As far as the "green water"... what product (is it DT's or something else?) are you using and how much? Also, does it need to be aerated daily? Do you use any filtration, or do the w/c's do it all? Sorry to nail you with all of these questions... but, I am seriously considering it.

[woolfe]

Cool! I love Babies. I had a goldfish that had babies once. None of them made it though. I'm waiting on a pair of gold maroons, my tank is almost ready for them. I hope they will spawn eventually.

[Warnberg]

green water aka phytoplankton... here are the plan for a culture station and some info for you. I got my started cultures from Florida aqua farm.
Phyto http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issu...02/breeder.htm
Rotifers http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issu...02/breeder.htm
culture station http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2002-07/ds/index.php
Starter cultures www.florida-aqua-farms.com/

You will need a Nanochloropsus culture and a Tetraselmis or Isocrysis culture for rotifers. Then you will want some resting rotifers. This will get your cultures going. You might just want to get the kit with the book it will explain better than I can.
One thing to note, I believe they go way overboard on sterilization and I do not think it is necessary. I have not had a culture crash on me yet unless I just neglected it (split it when it was ready). All I do is take a coke bottle (or any other 2 liter bottle with lid on it), make sure when you are done with the coke you cap it tightly until ready to use. Rinse it several times with HOT water from the tap and use RO water to make your salt water for the culture... NOT RO/DI, I get much denser and better cultures with RO water (I tested RO, RO/DI and tap)...

Anyway I have rambled on enough, hope this helps. I can go into more detail if everyone would like.

[saltwaterfarm]

Thanks! I will check out the links... then, I will probably be back, LOL.

[Woodstock]

How did you train them to spawn on that slab?

Congrats again!