Breeding Clowns... my progress

[Pickle]

Hey guys... So as some of you know I've been giving breeding a shot. I currently have a pair of Ocellaris that have been dropping a new batch of eggs every 9 days and hatching 7 days after.

It was a slow start as I let the first 3 clutches go... They ate the first and second clutch and I didn't have the rotifers on time for the 3rd.

The fourth clutch only made it to day 4. I just didn't have the rotifers down and wasn't sure about some of the other conditions in the tank - i.e. air flow / lighting / blacking out the tank.

So now on my 5th attempt I've made it to day 10 and the larvae are starting meta. This last batch was a good size hatch - I collected about 140 in all. I think I still have around 70 or so that are going strong. So far I'm feeling pretty good about this second attempt but I'm in no way ready to claim victory.

I'm not not attempting to raise the 6th clutch - I'm letting my rots numbers build back up but I will be ready to go for clutch 7. I'm making a few more adjustments - mostly in feeding and expect that the 7th clutch will go better then this one.

There are so many books and theres so much info on the boards about this subject but there is nothing that completely prepares you for actually doing yourself - it's mostly trial and error. I've been fortunate enough to get the attention of some successful breeders who have coached me this far. Even that can get confusing because when you talk to 3 different breeders they have 3 different ways of doing things.

If anyone is interested, I've been tracking my daily progress here - if anyone else is interested in breeding you can definitely learn from my mistakes here: http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/inde...owtopic=229199

I'm going to try to keep posting my updates here as well - a lot of you guys made it possible for me to even attempt this and I appreciate all the help and advise here as well.

Here are a couple of pics of the larvae at day 10 (alienz!!!)

[B16Drag]

I thought babies were supposed to be cute.

[Pickle]

Ha.. I don't expect the cute factor to kick in for another couple of weeks. That's why I'm calling them alienz for now!

[ReeferGirl]

That is great! I think they are cute!

[ClintonJ]

Hey I don't know if you've talked to him, but Marc at Ultimate did this for a living for awhile. He had a one bedroom apartment and about 20 breeding tanks is Santa Barbara a long time ago. You seem like you know what youre doing but if you wanna pick his brain I'm sure he wouldn't mind

[Pickle]

Hey... that's great to know. I'll have to stop in and talk to him. He's always been helpful whenever I go in his store. I never thought to ask him about breeding though.

[Squidhead]

When they are about 1/2" to 1" a batch of them in an anemone is really cool looking.

[oildalemonkey]

That's great! Congrats on getting them this far along! I attempted to breed perc's about 20 years ago...never got past the egg laying stage.

[Pickle]

When they are about 1/2" to 1" a batch of them in an anemone is really cool looking.

man you are reading my mind... I have 5 RBTA's waiting to host them in a grow out tank. Down the road I'd like to set up a single tank - maybe a 40 cube with a branching scape and grow out some babies in there with the BTA's.

First thing is first though - got to get these kids past meta.

[Pickle]

That's great! Congrats on getting them this far along! I attempted to breed perc's about 20 years ago...never got past the egg laying stage.

Thanks! There is just so much info out there now. I'm sure 20 years ago I'd of never got them to lay!

[Squidhead]

Try just putting one in and watch them all cluster up

man you are reading my mind... I have 5 RBTA's waiting to host them in a grow out tank. Down the road I'd like to set up a single tank - maybe a 40 cube with a branching scape and grow out some babies in there with the BTA's.

First thing is first though - got to get these kids past meta.

[RiOnRoxXx]

I'll be keeping an eye out on this thread. Looks like it'll be a learning experience for all of us. Please keep all of us updated with progress

[Pickle]

I'll do my best to keep it up - today is day 12 for the fry and they are hanging in there. Numbers wise I'm not seeing as many. There are a couple of things I will do different with the next batch.

I will start daily water changes sooner and have bbs on hand to transition between the rotifers and the dry foods.

My rotifers count got pretty low as I was feeding rots for too long. I've backed off the rots now, letting my numbers pick up some and seeing if they can sustain on the dry.

The remaining larvae all seem very active, round and they are deffinately eating the crushed dry I've been suplementing. I should start seeing signs of Meta any time.

I did let the last clutch go as I didn't want to try an jugle two clutches as I was figuring it all out. But my pair laid a couple hundred eggs today so next weekend I'll have a second ten gallon tank ready to go for the new fry.

[Oats]

How much time are you taking every day with all this? Seems like a lot.

[Pickle]

It is pretty time consuming..

Lately my schedule has been somethng like this:

6:30 - all tank lights on - Feed broodstock and Larvae - Tint the rotifers and larvae tank.

Around 3 my wife tints the rotifer buckets for me and feeds broodstock.


After work typically 6 - 6:30 I feed brood stock and start water changes - rotifer harvest. Rotifers must be harvested daily regadless if I'm feeding it to larvae or not - if the larvae tank isn't getting it then I give it to my fish tanks. The broodstock appreciate it and I want them to know there will be food for the fry - especially the pair that haven't laid yet. Both Rotifer buckets get a little more then 25 - 33% change. Depending on what stage the larvae are at I may also be hatching / harvesting live baby brine at this time of day as well.

I clean the larvae tank daily - that means pulling at least a gallon as I vacume up the floor and drip back in a little more then I pulled with fresh tinted water. I try to clean the tank right after work as it can take 3 hours to drip back in a gallon of water.

At approximately 10 PM I do my last broodstock feeding / feed larvae before lights out at around 11 PM.

Seems like between all this I am constantly making fresh water for top offs and mixing mew salt - I have a 50 gallon tub that I'm mixing water in but need to get a second one going as I mix my tank water to approximately 1.021 and need to mix for rotifers at 1.015. Also broodstock gets two large water changes per week as well.

[wonrib00]

How is the broodstock tank set up? Are all the walls black? Are you using naplii? Or right to dry foods?

[Pickle]

Right now they are in individual 20g high's -

I've built a rack - the Mrs is out there painting it as I type this - hey she wants it pretty enough to come in the house.

Anyhow, top shelf will be 4 20g tanks - each tank has 3 sides blacked out. The tanks are too big - I could get away with smaller - eventually I will have a custom acrylic tank made to house the pairs.

Middle shelf is a 40 breeder divided in 3 sections for grow out with room to add another tank.

Bottom shelf is a 55 gallon sump that will be loaded with LR and cheato.

The larvae tanks are 10g tanks 3 sides painted black and the front covered with black construction paper for the first week. They also get light 24 hours a day for the first week. As they get older I pull away the construction paper giving them more light. At 13 days I hae the entire side of the tank visable now.

As far as feeding goes they all started on rotifers then I purchased a pestel and mortar and started grinding my own food.

On the next go around I will be hatching baby brine shrimp to go between the rots and dry foods.

If the numbers do not greatly improve I'll switch to othomine for the next batch instead of my grinded mix.

[ClintonJ]

This looks pretty legit Mike! When you get good enough are you gonna try your hand at some "designer" clowns or other fish types?

[Pickle]

My true motivation is trying to help stock more common true percs and ocellaris clowns... BUT that won't cover the costs. So I do have a Snowflake / Ocellaris pair that should throw some real nice snowflakes and I have a true pecr female that I am going to pair with a picasso just as soon as I come across the right one. I'd also like to get a mated pair of black ocellaris at some point. But they would deffinately have to be nice solid black pair.

[Pickle]

Well I'm about 15 days in with about 10 - 15 fish left and still no real signs of Meta - a friend of mine suggested it's probably the diet and was generous to drop a years supply of otohime A and B in the mail to me. I should have it in time for my next clutch. I may just give some to these guys if they are not further along developmentally by the time it arrives.

[Pickle]

Just hit day 18 with the little ones. They are deffinately in Meta - I have several that have head stripes now.

In other news I hooked up with another breeder on the east coast who prurchased a couple of pounds of otohime A and B - He said it would take him years to use it all and offered to send me some. I figured he would send me enough for a hatch so I could try it out. Well... got the package today and he sent me a pound of each!!! Looks like I'll be set for a while and that I'll be ready to go for another hatch on Friday night.

[egos4life]

i envy you mike.... mine just eat like pigs and stare at me...

[Pickle]

Ha... well so far it's been a lot of work for little return. I won't kid you though. I've been lovin every minute of it.

[Pickle]

I know the pic is horrible - one day I'll buy a nice macro lens but for now:

[oildalemonkey]

Precious!