Little Nemo Diary

[-Nemo-]

This week, my 2 false percs finally decided to start a family
I think i've been waiting since the day I brought them home for this to happen

Anyways, I've been running around frantic this week looking for everything I need for them to arrive, dusted off the old 10G tank from downstairs, pulled out the extra airine tubing... So, I decided to start a journal to record all information so hopefully with every batch they lay, I will have more and more information and therefore enabling more of them to survive.

The eggs were laid on Monday (Sept. 21), around 7pm At night. It took around 2 hours before all of the eggs were finally laid. The temperature at this time was 80F (27C).

It began with both the momma and daddy ripping up much of the Anthelia (which they host) from a nearby rock. She then would lay her eggs, and the the daddy would go over them to fertilize them. They would then rip up more Anthelia, and so on.

Here are some pictures and a video of the process (The patch of orange is the eggs):

VIDEO: http/www.youtube.com/watch?v=niaAH8TpydA


A couple days later, that Wednesday (Sept 23), the eggs began to turn gray (which is normal), and by yesterday (Thursday Sept. 24) all of the eggs had turned Gray. Now today, I can see all their little eyes, which are currently black
(My good camera with the closeup lens is broken)

How will I be taking care of them?

The average time for clownfish eggs to catch is around 8 days, so Tuesday night is my prediction night, but they could hatch as early as Sunday Night. I am setting up a 10G tank with the following:
Small heater
Fake Plastic Anemone
Bubbler
Basic desklight

To help the fry see and catch their food better, I will only be filling the 10G with 3G of water to begin with, and 3 of the tank sides will be black.

I'm planning on moving the eggs into the tank on Sunday.

What will they eat?

The most recommended thing for clownfish fry to eat is Gutloaded Live Rotifers. Tomorrow I will be setting up my rotifer culture (thanks to the gracious donation of rotifers from a fellow local hobbyist). The Rotifers will be gutloaded with live phyto (more specifically Nannochloropsis) and other vitamins, that culture is being set-up tonight. The nanno will be feeding on a fertilizer mixture. I will explain more about both cultures as they are set-up.

As the fry get larger, they will be put onto newly hatcher brine shrimp, and eventually crushed pellet food and mysis.


Update tonight or tomorrow after the first culture is set-up. Let's see how this goes.

 

[ben1987]

oOoOo congrats i always wanted to try this. Mine ate their eggs though.

Good luck. The first few days you will go through tons of rots

 

[Haych]

congrats

i love clown fish

 

[kj23502]

wow totally cool. Can't wait to see the progress!!!

 

[seffieuk]

Excellent

Can I ask a favour of you - would you do a small write up in 'The Fish of the Week' Clowns for us please about your experience and plans to raise the juvies

Seffie x

 

[helterskelter]

Omega 3 supplements are a good idea to add.

Once on to brine shrimp nauplii it's good to raise them 3 days untill they develop mouth parts then feed them up with algae's and omega 3.

Also a tip when feeding them, they are attracted to light, to keep flow as low as possible, hang a light over the centre of the tank and the fry will then be attracted to this, allowing you to feed them with out to much wastage.

 

[youngfisher]

Whoah, looking forward to following this. Good luck.

 

[AK77]

Awesome!! I really hope they hatch and grow successfully!!

 

[-Nemo-]

Excellent

Can I ask a favour of you - would you do a small write up in 'The Fish of the Week' Clowns for us please about your experience and plans to raise the juvies

Seffie x

Sure thing Seffie, will do so tonight or tomorrow!

Omega 3 supplements are a good idea to add.

Once on to brine shrimp nauplii it's good to raise them 3 days untill they develop mouth parts then feed them up with algae's and omega 3.

Also a tip when feeding them, they are attracted to light, to keep flow as low as possible, hang a light over the centre of the tank and the fry will then be attracted to this, allowing you to feed them with out to much wastage.

Totally forgot to add in that i'm using omega 3. I'm using kent's Zoecon for that. Instead I will be feeding it to the rotifers. I feel it would be better to have the brine shrimp be fed soon after they are hatched in order to give the clowns the most nourishment from their yolk sac etc. But don't worry, I didn't forget the omega 3! Thank you for the tips!


Finished picking up everything I hadn't gotten yet (like the heater... background...) and sterilized everything needed to get the cultures up and running today, picking up the rotifers in about an hour.

No change with the eggs, roughly counted and there seems to be about 100 of them, as she spawns more she should also start producing more eggs.

Thanks for all the support everyone!
Off to get my rotis!

 

[-Nemo-]

Ok, here's the clownfish corner all set-up for now:

On the left is the culture of rotifers, in the middle the tank, and on the right is the Nanno cultures.

Nanno Culture:
It was mixed up last night, so not sure on its successfulness yet. Maybe see some progress tomorrow.
Anyways, the nanno culture was made using the phyto from DT's Live Marine Phytoplankton.

The two jars were first sterilized for around 30 minutes using a pressure cooker, then filled with saltwater set at 1.019 Salinity. Home-made F/2 Fertilizer was then added to the water.
The fertilizer consists of:

- Liquid MiracleGrow Fertilizer
- Vitamin B1
- Vitamin B12
- Biotin

Then 25mL of DT's was added to each jar. The light will be on them for around 16 hours everyday.

Phyto Close-up:

Rotifer Culture:
Thank you very much to Scott, a fellow reefer around here, for graciously donating to me some rotifers!! I haven't done too too much with them yet, giving them a few mLs of Phyto a couple times a day. I'm going to split them into two different cultures tomorrow, the jars currently being sterilized.



Fry Tank:
Currently the tank has 3G of saltwater from the main tank in there heated at 80F, the fake anemone, 50watt heater, thermometer, and bubbler in there. I also added the black background to the 3 sides of the tank. Later, I will be covering the bottom of the tank in black, and i will also be using something (not sure what yet) to cover the entire tank in darkness. For the first couple days, the fry will be getting very little to no light. This is because their eyes are very sensitive for around 3 days after they are hatched.

I plan on moving the eggs tomorrow, hoping they don't hatch tonight... Don't believe they will, however.
It is very important to aerate the eggs well (taking over the daddy's job), so the bubbler will be on high.


The silver in their eyes is really beginning to show today. I'm still sticking with my original prediction that they will hatch Tuesday night.

Hoping my cultures go well!! Worst case scenario, a LFS nearby is luckily getting some rotis in on Tuesday, would just be spending some extra money.

 

[xxBarneyxx]

Congrats Thanks a lot for doing the write up as well, its a great resource for everyone else to be able to learn from your experiences.

Cant wait for my clowns to start breeding but will probably be at least another year before they are mature enough to start spawning.

 

[seffieuk]

Yes I echo barney's sentiments - great stuff - please remember to add it to the 'Fish of the week' Clowns thread - we really don' t want to lose it

Seffie x

 

[-Nemo-]

Sorry, it's been hectic but I promise i'll do a write up!!

Not too much to update on today.
Split the rotifer culture, they seem to be doing well, Will be trying to estimate their density tomorrow.. (Gonna bring some to school to examine under the nice microscopes ).

The phyto Culture could be doing better, the one is looking pretty good but the other is getting cloudy and starting to froth a bit. Got some advice from Scott (my Roti donator and person I am now constantly bugging for help) to split the culture again and keep doing so until the froth is no longer produced. I'll be doing that tomorrow to both. I'm also going to order a pure culture this week so that I can start a new one that is sterile.

Today marks one week since the eggs have been hatched, and henceforth I have moved them into the fry tank and aerated them as best as I can. They are covered completely in darkness (covered the tank in cardboard with a black garbage bag on top).
I'll be checking in a few hour for little babies!

 

[-Nemo-]

Woke up to a nice surprise this morning! 1 little baby swimming around...
Just one.
Put in plenty of rotifers for him, saw him swimming around and attacking and eating them, and i could see a big silver belly on him! it was awesome!

Now, he's gone missing. The worst being assumed I don't know what might have happened to him...
Hoping more hatch tonight...

 

[aly_starh]

Congrats!!!