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Author Topic: Clowfish Breeding Log  (Read 11143 times)

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Offline Miles

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Clowfish Breeding Log
« on: June 05, 2014, 10:08:06 »
My clownfish started laying eggs agian for the first time in 2.5 years and I decided to keep a log of their laying activity and the growth of the offspring.


Species: Black & White Ocellaris Clownfish (Amphiprion ocellaris var.)

Background:

I purchased this pair of clowns in December of 2011. This pair had been laying eggs consistently before I purchased them. I have no idea how old they are, I'm guessing that they are about 4-5 yrs old, but I have no real data to back that up. After purchasing the clowns, they quit laying eggs. I attribute this behavior to lack of proper nutrition, as I was only feeding them once per day. In March of 2014, I purchased the AFS module for my Apex Tank Controller and set it to feed twice a day (at 11am and 5pm). Spawning behavior started in late April.


Since I'm starting this a little late, I'm going to back log some things.


21 April 2014 - Spawn 1 laid


30 April 2014 - Estimated Spawn 1 hatch.
7 May 2014 - Spawn 2 laid
17 May 2014 - Spawn 2 hatch. I was able to retrieve about 15-20 of the fry.
20 May 2014 - Spawn 3 laid. 5-7 fry from Spawn 2 remain.
25 May 2014 - 3 Remain from Spawn 2.
29 May 2014 - Spawn 3 hatch. Was only able to retrieve 3 fry, my bangaais made quick work of the fry before they could get to the surface.
30 May 2014 - No fry from Spawn 3 remain.
1 June 2014 - Spawn 4 Laid.

Spawn 2 in Detail:
Spawn 2 is the only spawn so far where I have been able to raise fry.
For the first 7 days I fed rotifers, days 8-10 a mix of rotifers and baby brine shrimp, from 11 on just baby brine shrimp.  Currently 3 clowns remain from Spawn 2, they have undergone metamorphosis and look just like little orange versions of their parents.


1 June 2014 - Spawn 2 at 15 Days Old

This picture isn't that great, but you can see that they are developing stripes.

Spawn 4 Video


Updated Pictures of Spawn 2 Offspring to come soon!

Offline Wall_Tank

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Re: Clowfish Breeding Log
« Reply #1 on: June 05, 2014, 12:29:04 »
Cool.

Offline Miles

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Re: Clowfish Breeding Log
« Reply #2 on: June 05, 2014, 19:14:19 »
Spawn 2, Day 19




Offline Blazinreef

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Re: Clowfish Breeding Log
« Reply #3 on: June 05, 2014, 19:21:22 »
When do they develop the black color??  It looks like a couple of those may be misbars?
Firefighting:  How hard can it be?  You just put the wet stuff on the red stuff right?

57 Rimless SPS/LPS in the works

OLD:180g mixed reef, 60g sump, 2 30g frag tanks, 30g macro algae tank.  300g total system.

Offline Miles

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Re: Clowfish Breeding Log
« Reply #4 on: June 05, 2014, 19:27:59 »
I was just thinking the same thing about the misbar, this is really the first time I've gotten a good look at them since they got the stripes.

They get darker as they mature, eventually turning black. Since this is my first time, I don't really know when the transformation is complete, but if I had to guess I'd say probably at around a year old or a little before.

Offline Miles

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Re: Clowfish Breeding Log
« Reply #5 on: June 13, 2014, 08:27:35 »
6/11/14
Spawn 4 Hatch - Was able to collect most of the fry this time around. I made sure to feed the tank about an hour before the lights went out to ensure that the Bangaai's weren't hungry.

6/12/14
Woke up this morning and checked on the fry. Siphoned out 43 dead fry. Something isn't right, this is similar to Spawn 2 which I only have 3 fish from. Purchased "Clownfishes" by Joyce Wilkerson in hopes of gleaning some sort of insight into what I could possibly be doing wrong.

After looking at the "Clownfishes" book I realized that I should already be weaning Spawn 2 from baby brine (BBS). I ordered a mortar and pestal to grind up food for them, it should arrive on Saturday. In the mean time, I am feeding them a combination of BBS and BRS Reef Chili.

I'm seriously entertaining the idea of setting up a dedicated breeding tank and getting another pair of clowns. I'm afraid if I move my current ones to a new tank that they will quit spawning (I've already waited 2.5 years for them to start respawning and don't want to mess it up.) I'm going to keep an eye on the Divers Den for a bonded/mated pair of something cool.

Offline Chris

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Re: Clowfish Breeding Log
« Reply #6 on: June 14, 2014, 03:03:54 »
I'm glad u already have some survivors! That's cool!
If u r just going to move them from one tank to another in the same room, there's really nothing to worry about.

1. After looked through ur list. I'm guessing ur water temp might be lower than 80 and not stable that might be a big problem.
2. Three main possibility to the high death rate the first morning. First of all is always the water condition( if u use main tank water.) Second, temperature( also could related to the bubble level). Finally the way you collecting them.

Above r all just guessing. If you would like to share more detail of ur breeding process. That would be great!

Offline Miles

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Re: Clowfish Breeding Log
« Reply #7 on: June 16, 2014, 18:57:32 »
Thanks for the reply Chris.

I have checked my water temp in the fry tank and I think that is probably the problem. The thermostat on my heater isn't very accurate, I had it set for 80 degrees, but the water temp was actually about 72.

I'm probably doing several things wrong, so I'll describe the process and setup a little better. The evening of hatch night, I take about 5 gallons of water from the main tank and put in in a 10 gallon tank that is blacked out on all sides but the front. I add a heater set to 80 degrees (which I now know has not actually been at 80 degrees). I then add an airstone with just enough air flowing through it to keep the surface of the water agitated.

When the hatch occurs, I use a flash light to draw the fry to the surface and scoop them out with a ladle. I then use a pipette to collect them from the ladle and add them to a measuring up that I then dump into the fry tank when it gets full. (I wonder if the pipette is possibly harming them also, I really only do this because I don't want to keep dumping the measuring cup that I dump them into.) Once collection is complete and they are in the fry tank, I add about 64 oz of my rotifer culture. I have a low power light set on a timer to run for 12 hours a day to light the tank.

Update:
6/14/14 Began weaning Spawn 2 off BBS and onto New Life Spectrum Pellet food. Using a pestal and mortar to grind it up very fine.
6/15/14 Spawn 5 laid
6/16/14 No survivors remain except for the initial 3 that have already undergone metamorphisis from Spawn 2. (this is why i suspect that water temp has been the issue, I used a different heater for spawn 2)

Clownfish from Spawn 2 are developing their rear fins (real dorsal, anal and caudal fins), one of them has also developed its 3rd stripe.

Offline Miles

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Re: Clowfish Breeding Log
« Reply #8 on: June 16, 2014, 19:13:32 »
Spawn 2: Day 31





^yes i know the bottom needs cleaned....  ;)

Offline Chris

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Re: Clowfish Breeding Log
« Reply #9 on: June 18, 2014, 12:16:15 »
Overall sounds good, only several steps u may wanna improve a bit.
move the rock to hatch is always better than letting them hatch in the main tank. If u can't move them, try to collect them more careful. Pics is the way I collecting them.
always set the temp higher than 80, 81-82is better.
filter out the rotifers, do not put rotifer water in ur fry tank & if u r using the green water method, it's better to buy phyto instead of culturing urself.
even with low light,  use some paper to cover the light. Breeders  usually keep the light on 24h/d on the first 3 days.
For grow out: if u can't stay at home all day and feed them 6 times a day, keep BBS in the tank 24/7 with some phyto, they will grow a lot faster

Offline Miles

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Re: Clowfish Breeding Log
« Reply #10 on: June 25, 2014, 08:22:58 »
Thanks for the advice Chris!

6/24/14 - Spawn 5 hatch
This time I collected the larva by shining a flashlight to attract them into a bowl and then scooped them out. I made sure to set the temp in the rearing tank to 80 degrees, and am doing 24/7 lighting (mounted about 24in above the tank with a coffee filter over it... no head standing larva on the bottom).  I am also using a 53 micron plankton collector to remove the rotifers from the culture water.

After collecting them last night, I added rotifers and went to bed (leaving the light on). I siphoned out a couple dead larva before going to bed (this was probably due to trauma from moving them... the display tank is upstairs, and the rearing tank is in the basement). I checked them this morning before going to work, most of them were swimming in the water column chasing rotifers.  I added more rotifers, and siphoned out a few more dead larva (3-4). So far things are looking alot better than the past few attempts where all but 2 or 3 larva were dead the morning after hatch.

In other news, I bought these guys this weekend from Twizted1. Hopefully I can get them to start spawning.


Offline Twizted1

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Re: Clowfish Breeding Log
« Reply #11 on: June 27, 2014, 21:19:43 »
They are great looking fish. Kind of ironic they had to go only to be replaced by a bunch more.

Offline Miles

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Re: Clowfish Breeding Log
« Reply #12 on: July 01, 2014, 13:08:59 »
5/27/14 - Spawn 6 Laid

Spawn 2 update: All three survivors from spawn 2 are still alive and doing well. have developed all of their fins, and look just like tiny fish. They are weaned off of BBS and are eating a combination of ground New Life Spectrum Flakes and 1mm pellets and BRS Reef Chili. (pictures to come in a later post)

Spawn 5 update:
As far as I can tell, I have three survivors of spawn 5 left. They are now eating a combination of rotifers and BBS.


I'm pretty convinced at this point that my problems raising the fry are due to my rotifers. I'm going to start new phyto cultures and see if I can culture more nutritious rotifers.

Snowflake Update: The Snowflakes are doing well, they are very friendly. If they see me working with the fry (10 ft away), they will swim to the top of the tank and beg for food. I'm currently using an Intellifeed auto feeder to feed them New Life Spectrum Flakes (I'd prefer to feed them the pellets, but I cant get the feeder to dispense a good amount of pellets for jsut two fish.... its always way too much, or not enough) twice a day, and pellets when they beg. I then feed Reef Frenzy frozen food a few times during the week.

Offline dustinbrearton

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Re: Clowfish Breeding Log
« Reply #13 on: July 01, 2014, 14:17:06 »
Cool stuff man.  Any chance you could post some pictures of your breeding setup?  I have eggs now myself and will be giving this a go in a couple of months when I get a good breeding setup and place to keep it

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Offline Miles

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Re: Clowfish Breeding Log
« Reply #14 on: July 01, 2014, 22:39:00 »
Cool stuff man.  Any chance you could post some pictures of your breeding setup?  I have eggs now myself and will be giving this a go in a couple of months when I get a good breeding setup and place to keep it

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Sure thing!

This is a pic of my basement breeding area. The breeding pair are in the Display Tank upstairs, I'm too afraid to try to move them for fear that hey will quit spawning. you can see my water storage containers in the very back, in the corner barely visible is the tank with the Snowflake pair in it, next to that (the area behind the light) is my frag tank (which has nothing to do with breeding), under the light is the larvae tank (it is painted balck on all sides but the front, the tank on the end closest to us is the tank with the older post meta babies. The two buckets on the floor are my rotifer cultures, and the minifridge is where I store my phytoplankton and decapsulated brine shrimp eggs.


This is a closer view of the larvae tank. I have a 100W heater in there set to 80F (black tape covering the light), two air stones directly underneath the heater keep larvae from getting to close and cooking themselves, ammonia alert badge, and a thermometer. The light is high enough to ensure that the larvae aren't swimming to the bottom to avoid it, but low enough so that it is bright enough for them to see prey. To the left of the larvae tank is the stuff I use to make food for the older fry. In the back are my phyto cultures (these ones need to be restarted) and in the middle of the four bottles is my brine Shrimp culture.



This is the tank for the older babies. 100W heater, thermometer, small hang on filter with sponge on intake, ammonia alert badge,  and auto feeder.


Spawn 2 - Day 45
Some pics of the survivors of Spawn 2. Sorry they are blurry, at this stage they are hard to get pics of, they spend mot of their time in the pieces of PVC.



Offline lazylivin

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Re: Clowfish Breeding Log
« Reply #15 on: July 01, 2014, 23:08:52 »
Very cool thanks for sharing

Offline dustinbrearton

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Re: Clowfish Breeding Log
« Reply #16 on: July 02, 2014, 12:45:03 »
Awesome stuff man.  Thank you for the pictures

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Offline Miles

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Re: Clowfish Breeding Log
« Reply #17 on: July 13, 2014, 21:33:42 »
Just got back from vacation, was gone for a week, and remarkably everything is still alive. We had a riend staying at the house watching the dog and cat, who I was able to walk though managing my BBS culture and feeding the Spawn 5 larvae. Everything else I had set up with auto feeders. When I got home yesterday, it was clear that Spawn 5 underwent metamorphosis while I was gone with no casualties. I ordered some new phyto to start new cultures and also ordered new rotifers.

7/6/2014 -  Spawn 6 Hatched (not collected)
7/9/2014 - Spawn 7 Laid (estimated date) 

Spawn 2: Day 58



Spawn 5: Day 19




Offline Miles

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Re: Clowfish Breeding Log
« Reply #18 on: March 14, 2018, 14:09:33 »
Ok, so I have been gone 3 weeks in a row on business trips and just noticed something new with the clowns.

I bought a pair of black clowns about 6 months ago from a guy who said he had bought them from NDR and had them for a year. You do the math on the age based on when they are able to sell fry.  When i got them they were the same size and generally hung around each other but nothing too serious.  About 2 months ago they started hosting in some Xenia.  I just realized today she is almost 2/3rds larger than the male now.

So i saw the male dance(?) today.  almost like he was shivering or convulsing.  I was scared at first, but it looks close to some youtube videos.  does the dance just mean they are now paired, or is it a mating dance? meaning they may lay soon?



This is a quote from Wes Barron who I purchased the Darwins from originally.... this is here to point to the age of the parents. This puts their birth before March 2008

 

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