My clownfish breeding journey

[JasonG]

Here is a pic of them today at 5 days past hatch. They have grown quite a lot and are starting to show orange pigment.

I ordered the next step in their food chain which should arrive tomorrow. It's a very fine granule fish food from reed mariculture called TDO Chromaboost.

I will start adding a small amount tomorrow to start getting them used to it. I will feed this and rotifers for the next several days.



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[nanogry]

Wow!! Looking awesome!! Imagine how much fun you are gonna have when the other clowns lay their eggs!! Yeeee!! Keep the updates coming bro

ain't no fun if a reefer can't have none!

 

[Rrocky]

dope mang! youre a fish father!

 

[JasonG]

Quick update, I started adding a small amount of the granular fish food yesterday (tdo chromaboost A) and I just noticed tonight when I added it that they are already eating it! I noticed some of them skimming the surface more than usual and when I looked closely I could see them stalking little pieces of the food and dart towards it to swallow it!

Super excited because my rotifer culture has been pretty taxed lately and I am barely able to harvest enough to keep them well fed. I am going to slowly start reducing the density of rotifers over the next few days.

A few of them look like they are going through metamorphosis already, their body shape is changing and they are starting to swim more like a fish.

Lastly my female looks like she is ready to lay eggs again, so the cycle begins again lol I am thinking she will lay eggs by Friday.

 

[nanogry]

I got dibs on the dude with 1 little fin hahahah

ain't no fun if a reefer can't have none!

 

[oredith]

this is so awesome. i really hope you can come to the party on the 14th. i was just talking to ashley about how much i look forward to updates on this thread.

how much upkeep has this been for you?

 

[JasonG]

Will try to at least stop by, Jeff! I might have family in town so not sure if I can stay long, but will come by and check out your tank and hang for a bit.

Its honestly been a LOT of work lol. I get up at 5:30 to deal with rotifers and get all of my pairs fed, and feed the larvae before I go to work. My wife feeds the parents throughout the day (they get fed at least 5-6 times a day). I come home and do water change on the larvae tank nightly and feed more rotifers to the larvae and clean the cultures.

I have somewhat let my reef tank take a dive because of everything involved unfortunately, I am just constantly making up water, etc for the other tanks and just don't have the time for it. I am going to have to figure something out there soon (green hair algae out the ying).

But with all of that said I am still totally glad I did it, watching these things happen is pretty cool. Keeping everything in line is challenging but I am just trying to stick to what the experts recommend and take it one step at a time.

Glad you are enjoying the thread, I definitely enjoy writing about it too!

 

[oredith]

i'm really interested because it was one of those things where both ashley and I were like "oh, that would be totally awesome!".. but the more and more i look into it, the more complicated it gets..

it would be really awesome to be able to talk to you to see what you went through to set everything up..

 

[sixshot00]

Awesome job, Jason. Keep the updates coming.

 

[JasonG]

The pair laid eggs again yesterday, I really beefed up their food over the last couple weeks and added Rods Breeders Blend to the mix and it looks like it paid off, this clutch is huge, almost twice the size of the last one! Just wish the rods food wasn't so pricey lol

Baby clowns are doing great, most are through metamorphosis, lost a few maybe five or so in the process. They are now swimming more like clowns using their pectoral fins which I don't think they had before (could be mistaken)

Most of them now hang out in the middle of the tank as opposed to at the surface where they have been for the last week. Not too much as far as color change yet, should happen soon, will load some pics when it does.

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[jesuses]

Dope. Post pics or it didn't happen

 

[MrAlmostWrong]

I'm always impressed when someone can get aquatic animals (besides guppies and platies) to breed. Wonderful job with the Clowns. I can't wait to see them all grown up. Fish farm time!

 

[JasonG]

Here are a couple of pics of them today @ 12 days old some of them are around a 1/2"

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[JasonG]

Lost quite a few through metamorphosis, I have some ideas that I will try next time. The current clutch should hatch on Thursday night. This time I will remove the pot on Thursday afternoon so they all hatch in the rearing tank (in theory)

Should save quite a few because I won't have to catch them as well as eliminating the stress on the parents of having a flashlight on them in the middle of the night!

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[chk30]

Great job

 

[Zoarder]

Wow, very cool! Hopefully those will make it.

 

[oredith]

did you name half of them Marlin Jr. and the other half Coral Jr.?

 

[nanogry]

I like nemo.ok one of them will be nemo then the rest will be marlin jr. Lollllzzzz but what if.they dont like me? There's 400 eggs, one of them will like you. Bwhahahahha

ain't no fun if a reefer can't have none!

 

[JasonG]

Pulled the pot last night with the eggs in it, checked this morning and I thought none had hatched, but I just saw a few larvae swimming around tonight! They may have just hatched but the lights in the room are on, so that's weird (normally they wait until total darkness).

Hopefully there will be a bunch swimming around in the morning!


The older guys are doing well,growing quickly, no stripes yet
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[JasonG]

More babies today!

More than 50% white eggs after looking at the pot though (won't hatch), wondering if it's because I added rots and rgc on the first night?

Still happy with the result, some is better than none! Next time I will pull it on day 8, the reason I did day 7 was when I let them hatch in tank some hatched on day 7, the rest on day 8.

Not sure on how many yet, under 100 for sure.




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