Neptune Aquatics

Black Ocellaris Pre-Spawning Behaviors?

in a clan with the parents which means they'll remain juvenile
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sorry still incorrect. They will not remain juveniles if left in a family "clan". They won't grow as large as the female but they'll at least grow as large as the father.

Any LFS that sells Reef Nutrition can order you live rotifers and Rotifer Diet. You ca also buy direct from www.Reed-store.com (if you call they can probably send it ground to save you money since your "local" to them. I suggest getting rotifer diet, 1million rotifer culture and some Cloramx. Don't get the kit unless you want the book. Go to www.rotifer.com and click on "Small Systems (Home or Lab)". That should be all you need to know.
 
Sorry, no "will call" any longer. The office (In Campbell on Hamilton) has no product (or the ability to hold product), it's all shipped from the farm and unless your last name is Reed, you ain't even gonna find out which city it's in :) The production facility location is kept secret as there are far too many trade secrets at it. I could tell you, but then I'd get fired an sued :(
 
And if you still somehow found out, you'd have to be made into rotifer chow :D

But at least that's better than what happens to the oysters :D
 
GreshamH said:
If it's not yours, simply quote it. when you don't it can be taken as if you wrote it. FWIW your leading repentance really doesn't say you didn't write it. It just says the "info" was passed onto you.

90%, sorry I do not concur. I see people cite their source all the time. I take very little stock in posts that don't!
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Well since we are talking about how a post is taking.

I took yours as something that should start with a request to a member via PM, the intail post was one thing the one 2 posts later saying "Cite your source and quote the info!!!" was borderline rude, espically since I did cite MY source, now it may not have been the orginal source but then again IMO 90% of what I see posted I have seen before however I don't ask each and everyone posting to tell me not only where they got their info but also where the person they got it from got their info, if that was the case a LOT of posts on THIS board would need to have your plagerism policing, so get busy.....................
 
Roc read your post. Info you were GIVING and then it starts into the info and many parts written in the first person. There was no delineation between your part of the post and of David's rundown. I'm not the only one that read it this way Roc/Imus.

read that first sentence you wrote ;)

Roc said:
Here is some interesting info I was giving yesterday when I told ppl about my clowns spawning


David Bloch said:
Spawning

Once the clownfish have settled into their new home, anywhere from one to twelve months, spawning will commence. The first indication of possible spawning is when the male clownfish swims up and down in front of the female. The male will dance in a head-up fashion and will thrust towards the female. This is known as the clownfish waggle. This behavior is a pretty lose indicator but generally means that spawningwill happen soon. The next indication is when the male, and often the female, will start to clean a portion of rock near the base of the anenome. This is a good indication that spawning will commence within a day or two. The last indicator of spawning behavior is the appearance of both the male and female clownfishs' genital tubes.

Spawning starts when the female swims over the cleared patch of rock and deposits a small line of eggs with her ovopositor. The males follows shortly after and fertilizes them. The process of laying eggs takes anywhere from 2 to 3 hours. The eggs look like little capsules about 2 to 3 mm long and 1 mm wide. If the adults have been fed well the eggs should be a bright orange color. During this time the clownfish, notably Amphiprion clarkii, may lay up to 600 eggs. More often than not however, the number of eggs start out small, around 200, and increases with each spawn and as the female increases in size. Once the fish have started spawning they're likely to repeat it at intervals of around 12 to 18 days.

The eggs usually take from 6 to 15 days to hatch depending on the temperature. One day before hatching the larvae develop a silvery color around their eyes. This is the time when you must make a decision: Either you leave the eggs in the tank to hatch, and you remove the larvae, or, one day prior to hatching you remove the live rock upon which the eggs were laid.

If the eggs are to be removed on the rock then it is important that the eggs be kept underwater at all times. The water in which the eggs are kept must have also been taken from the spawning tank as small differences in water quality may damage the eggs. Once the eggs are in the larval rearing tank then they must be provided with sufficient water current to properly oxygenate them. . The easiest way to do this is via an airstone that produces coarse bubbles. All then that is required is to remove the rock after hatching.

If the eggs are to be left in the main aquarium then some planning will have to be made. To make things easier, the lights can be turned off as the larvae hatch within 2 hours of darkness. Once the lights have switched off all circulation to and within the tank must be ceased. This will ensure that the larvae are not sucked up and damaged by pumps and water currents. After the pumps have been turned off and the tank is still it's time to wait! The eggs will hatch in waves, and as the larvae hatch they will swim to the surface. Once at least a quarter of the eggs have hatched it's time to use the torch (flashlight). The torch is shone in the water from above, and used to concentrate the larvae into a small group. Once this is done the larvae can either be siphoned into the larval rearing tank with airline tubing, or dipped out with small plastic cups/containers. This is done repetitively until all larvae are caught.

Larval Rearing Tank

Clownfish larvae can be reared in many different sorts of containers and tanks. Old 2 foot aquariums can be used, however, I have found that circular tanks give much better results.This is because square/rectangular tanks have corners, and with no strong currents to thoroughly mix the water, dead spots develop in the corners. This occurence in the end will cause the death of many clownfish larvae. With round tanks there is no such problem, as there are no corners, and it is very easy to get water to circulate in a circular fashion.

An ideal larval rearing tank is a round plastic or fiberglass tank with a water holding capacity of between 50 and 150 liters. These tanks can be set up as: 1) having a filter and recirculating water, or 2) stand alone, and just using airstones and water changes.

The ideal setup for clownfish larvae is to have a central standpipe in the round tank, and to place a mesh screen of between 100 and 300 microns around it. The different mesh sizes are used for the different sized live feeds such as rotifers and artemia. Water overflows into a sump where there is some sort of both biological and mechanical filtration. A low volume pumpthen pumps the water back into the tank at very slow rate, just enough to cause the water to circulate slowly and keep the larvae moving. An airstone may be required in the center of the tank along the side of the screen to ensure that it does not block up. This system closely matches the natural environment where they are found drifting in the surface waters.

The second option is to have a round tank with only surface aeration provided. This setup is much easier to prepare but water quality can become a problem unless regular water changes are performed to reduce ammonia levels. A further problem develops in that it is much harder to flush excess live foods out of the tank.

The larval rearing tank should receive the same lighting cycle as the main tank. It preferably should have its own light and timer. is that the larvae are visual predators and require light to hunt for their live food prey.
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can we move on now?
 
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I have a client who has an active culture of rotifers that he uses to feed his tank and raise baby clowns, they are actually quite easy to rear if given a stable environment. One thing though Matthew, there actually is a little routine to follow so it does require some discipline and consistency, if you're good with that then have at it. Shoot you bring a few containers to a BAR meeting and people will snatch those up like free pizza. :)
 
Daily routine (twice a day). The website I posted is about the best you can find. It's written by people that produce the largest volumes sold commercially. No other company sells in such large volumes. Need a billion? N problem :lol:
 
Jeff has about a billion everytime I go to his house, and one of the nicest mixed reefs in Emerald Hills (and certain parts of Redwood City :D )
 
Speaking of Rotifers, there was an interesting bit on them on NPR last week
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=123067622
 
tuberider said:
Jeff has about a billion everytime I go to his house, and one of the nicest mixed reefs in Emerald Hills (and certain parts of Redwood City :D )
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Those are both in California right? I had to go to Livermore the other day. Passed a whole string of new places (new to me anyway). Maybe I should go beyond the East Bay some year...Hmmm.........
 
Meh... I'm to lazy to go buy some so I'll just have my mum order them along with the rotifier culture container thingies..... Anyways, when the babies are mature enough (Like 2-3 months) I'll see who wants them and how many they want then I'll bring them to the BAR meeting to sell them to the people who wanted them... I'm thinking maybe $25 each or $45 for 2... I'll probably even trade them for anemones for my pair... so like 1 clown per inch of BTA... :bigsmile:

I'm trying not to get too ahead of myself, but I like fantasizing... :D
It's just a matter of time before they'll actually be successful at breeding... then I may have a batch every 2 weeks! :D
I think they need some ore encouragement... I think they may need a bigger anemone! :O
Well, if anybody has any 15" GBTA for sale that is cheap send me a PM because I need something to top the size of their current host! :bigsmile:
 
Ibn said:
Why look for such a large 'nem?
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They just like bigger anemones better. I bought one at AC that looked 8", but it turned out it was closed up... It is 14" which is why my clowns just love it. It's the reason the female chose a new spawning rock! It was only $70, so I was really happy! And IME, larger anemones seem to do way better. I've had a 10" RBTA for a year that is doing great. The reason all my other RBTA passed was because I went on vacation and there was a pH swing... The larger ones survive pH swings better than the smaller ones which is why my clowns and I prefer 8"+. The only RBTA that died while I wasn't on vacation was my 1st RBTA. I loved it so much I fed it every other day and the food rotted inside of him... Then I learned my lesson to feed 1 time ever 5-6 days. :bigsmile:
Since my vacation back in July I haven't lost anything while I was home!
 
Good luck on raising any clowns, but don't count your fishes before they're hatched. And after that, do lots of water changes :D
 
5 gallon bucket is best for rotifers, no need to by any thing fancy.

+1 on Norms post above mine. Most first clutches are rarely successful and if they are, in very low numbers. Be sur to keep you fish feed good right now :)
 
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