false percula spawned

[+Hydro]

The orange eggs are attached to the rock in the back of the photo. Pretty cool.

[Laura]

AWESOME!!!

Has anyone ever gotten them to successfully hatch?

[teg]

My pair laid eggs like clock work, and it'll hatch exactly on the 7th night. You'll need rotifers to raise the frys though.

[+Jakedoza]

My pair laid eggs like clock work, and it'll hatch exactly on the 7th night. You'll need rotifers to raise the frys though.

What is a rotifer?

[teg]

Rotifers are food for the clownfish frys, they are near microscopic animal. You'll have to culture the live rotifers to feed to the frys. After a week you then start feeding the frys with live brine shrimp.

[+mcallahan]

more luvin' going on in the club!

[+KeeperOfTheZoo]

Anyone have a rotifer culture going? I'm thinking about starting one, along with a dedicated pod tank. I've got a collection of random small tanks.

I'm hoping my clowns will get around to spawning in the future. Itd be neat to try and raise the babies.

Keeping up with the rotifers then brine shrimp sounds a bit like real work though.

[+Hydro]

I read that once they start spawning it is usually every two weeks after that.

How do you get them out of the tank after they hatch? They are in a 175 gallon tank, seems like they would just dissapear after they hatched. If attempting to raise them I thought that I would just order rotifers online.

What is the survival rate? Must be low or these fish would be $5 each instead of $50 each.

[teg]

There are two method of getting the frys out. 1, use a tea cup and flashlight to scoop them out on hatch night (takes 1-3 hours). 2, use a rough surface tile for the clownfish to lay eggs on, then remove the tiles on hatch night. Some say survival rate is higher when you let them hatch in display tank, but I have not done enough trials to verify. Rotifers are a pain to culture, but if you don't mind the tedious job then it's fun. Rotifers can be use as coral food too, and I do see the corals liking it when I add rotifers into the tank. I can elaborate more about the methods if needed.

Edited April 20, 2010 by teg

[+Hydro]

So when they hatch do they swim away? Do you scoop them out one at a time? Surely they are tiny, are they hard to see?

[teg]

yes when they hatch they try to swim to any light source, hence the use of a flashlight to attractive them to the surface. On hatch night, the frys will hatch between 30 min - 1:30 hr after lights out. The tank must be totally dark during that period. You can check the status at 15-30 min interval on that night. Also, you'll have to turn off all pumps and power head so the frys will not get kill. When you see hatching starts, use that light source to attract the frys to the surface so you can scoop them out. The point is the frys swim toward any light source, so you can be creative about how you collect them when they hatch. You will be able to see the frys quite easily with the light source, they're about 1-2mm long when hatch. When you see all of their eyes turn Silver (All, not a few), then that's the hatch night. Usually the male will take care of the eggs by fanning it occasionally, but on hatch night you will see both the male and female fan the eggs crazily.

[+Hydro]

Cool!

I'm going to give it a shot and will let you guys know how it goes.

[+Hydro]

Do you think that I can I feed the fry this?

http://www.reefnutrition.com/rotifeast.html

Which LFS will usually have brine shrimp? Do all? I have never bought these unless they were on the counter when I checked out.

[+mcallahan]

Do you think that I can I feed the fry this?

http://www.reefnutri.../rotifeast.html

Which LFS will usually have brine shrimp? Do all? I have never bought these unless they were on the counter when I checked out.

Aquatek carries live brine. They get their shipment on Tuesday and they usually sell out pretty fast so be ready to head up there when they say they have it.

[mFrame]

Live brine are too big to start. You can pick up a bottle of rotifers at most of our LFS sponsors, I got some last week. I'm not sure how long the rotifers live in the bottle though, I'm hoping they make it til my eggs hatch this week.

[teg]

Make sure that the rotifers you guy got are live. Might not eat dead roti.

[+mcallahan]

Live brine are too big to start. You can pick up a bottle of rotifers at most of our LFS sponsors, I got some last week. I'm not sure how long the rotifers live in the bottle though, I'm hoping they make it til my eggs hatch this week.

did you get the Tigger pods?

If so, i just got a bottle and it was labeled as filled march 19th and the pods in there were still swimming around happily.

[+Hydro]

Can the fry eat tiger pods? Can they eat freshly hatched brine shrimp?

At RC Octavio told me that some people crush up fish food very fine and feed it to them.

Tonight is hatch night I think, all of the eyes are silver. I have brine eggs that should hatch tomorrow, that is the best I can do.

[teg]

I actually tried crushed powder and live brine shrimp for newly hatched frys before; Both methods did not work, seems like the food was too big for the frys to swallow.

[+KeeperOfTheZoo]

Everything I've read (in hope and anticipation of my clowns spawning ) says newly hatched brine are too big. You have to start with rotifers then wean to newly hatched brine, then other foods from there. Even then the success rate of raising the fry is pretty low.

The more I read the more I think I'd like to hatch live rotifers the feed my tank in general. Of course setting up the microplankton culture to then feed the rotifers is yet one more project I have to try to find time to start and maintain!

[+Hydro]

They did not hatch last night so I'm going to try and find some rotifers today. Yesterday I want by RC and Aquatek and neither had rotifers....does anyone else know where to go?

[Derry]

Hydro, how old are your clowns? I've had a pair for a little more than a year now that were 2" or smaller when I got them, and I've yet to see them spawn for me.

[+cyrus]

I know Aquadome has live brineshrimp at the front desk in bags. They are the most reliable. I just got a bag from them, poked small holes in it and clipped the bag to the side of the tank, this way they get the oxygen and last longer. River city gets them in but like aquaexpesive er I mean Aquatek they sell out really fast. If you have any science in you you can order dry rodifier eggs and hatch them out thats what I did for the main tank. I grow saltwater black mollies in my sump. Clowns are a hundred times harder though. Start small they say lol.

[+Hydro]

Well last night was the 7th night so I was watching the eggs closely. I came in about 1 hr after the lights went off and the tank was FULL of small creatures. I turned off the power heads and pump, grabbed a flashlight and held it over the top of the tank and sure enough they all floated to the top and I caught 90% of them. It took me until 1 am.

Ok here is the funny part....they weren't clown fry. I checked the eggs clown eggs this morning and they are all still there. I'm pretty sure that I caught a bunch of shrimp, probably either banded shrimp, pistol shrimp, or maybe camel shrimp.

Anyway I have gone this far, why not try and raise some shrimp too.

[lemonyx]

Good luck with the shrimp.

Actually if you can remove the rock with the eggs on it and start up a small fry tank about 20gals would be easier. The eggs will turn silver and you'll see the eyes and it's close to hatching. There is a guy up here who has a "clown house" that where I got my Black and White Ocelaris from.

Any way he has about 10 brood tanks just with mated pairs of clowns from Maroon, B/W, Picasso's and Platinum's and the other 40 10gal tanks are for rearing. The clowns lay the eggs on a removable surface and he then put's them in one of the rearing tanks, adds some bubbles for agitation and wait for the hatching.