Clown Fish Just layed Eggs!

[cabrego]

Hey Guys I am very excited to see my pair of true percs have just layed a large number of eggs in a nice spot underneath the anemone they always hang out in on some rock work.

 

Is there any chance any of these babies will survive? What should I do to try to maximize survival? We just noticed the eggs today, they appear to be at least a day old, pictures to folllow!!!!

 

I am hoping they will have a better chance of surviving since there are 3 anemones for the hide in ( 2 bubble tips and one carpet). Any tips you can give would be appreciated! thanks!

 

I will post pics soon!

[bankyf]

There is basically no chance that they will survive in your DT. You will need to set up a dedicated tank to raise them and have live rotifers to feed them. This is something you need to plan for in advance so you likely won't be able to do anything with this batch of eggs.

 

 

Hey Guys I am very excited to see my pair of true percs have just layed a large number of eggs in a nice spot underneath the anemone they always hang out in on some rock work.

 

Is there any chance any of these babies will survive? What should I do to try to maximize survival? We just noticed the eggs today, they appear to be at least a day old, pictures to folllow!!!!

 

I am hoping they will have a better chance of surviving since there are 3 anemones for the hide in ( 2 bubble tips and one carpet). Any tips you can give would be appreciated! thanks!

 

I will post pics soon!

[cabrego]

I thought that might be the case, but I figured if they babies can survive in the wild why not in my tank?!?!

 

Here are some pictures...

 

 

 

 

[Der ABT]

thats sweet, post some pics of the proud parents. if im not mistaken clowns usually lay eggs like clock work, so most likely next month you will get another batch, try putting a piece of tile right there or something you can remove if you want to try and raise a batch

[cabrego]

here is a shot of the tank, you can see the pair here..

 

Edited December 27, 2009 by cabrego

[gtipower]

thats sweet, post some pics of the proud parents. if im not mistaken clowns usually lay eggs like clock work, so most likely next month you will get another batch, try putting a piece of tile right there or something you can remove if you want to try and raise a batch

 

Yup, Der ABT is exactly right. Once clowns start, they will continue to lay eggs unless they are removed from the tank or something changes in the tank (i.e. anemone or rock is moved). Sometimes they even do it faster than monthly. So you will have alot of chances to try to keep them alive.

 

There are 2 main ways to do it. You could try to leave the eggs in there and wait for them to hatch (which is usually in the middle of the night or whenever it is really dark in the tank), and then scoop them up, or you move the eggs now and try to hatch it in a separate tank. However, the 2nd way could be more risky since the eggs are more fragile, and you will have to keep watch daily until it hatches to make sure the eggs are still healthy. If you leave them in the tank, the fish should continue to fan them and keep them nice and healthy. Once the eggs turn silverish, that means they will hatch that night or the next. But by that time make sure you have A LOT of LIVE rotifers. That is all they will eat in their first several days of life. This is why they will not survive just living in your tank. Not enough food compared to the wild. After a week they should be big enough to eat live baby brine, and you should be good to go since you would have gone past the more fragile period for them.

 

Hope this helps! Good luck!!

[cabrego]

Thanks for the replies guys!

 

gtipower, I am going to go with the larva dip method the night they hatch. I am also planning on having live rotifers hopefully today from Doug.

 

Here is an updated picture...

 

 

I think they might be ready to hatch tonight or tomorrow night..

[Almon]

Nice picture. They look like they will hatch tonight.

 

Hatching begins 15-30 minutes after lights out. All pumps must be turned off if you want to collect them at the top of the tank. They will be very tiny slivers that you will barely be able to see. They will be attracted towards light. I use a small flashlight to attact them to one spot so I can collect them in a specimen container and put them into a separate tank.

 

You will need rotifers and green water to raise the fry. You will probably need more rotifersthan Doug can give you to both feed them and start a new culture. I can give you some more if needed. You will also need algae paste, I have that too if you need some.

 

Good luck.

 

Thanks for the replies guys!

 

gtipower, I am going to go with the larva dip method the night they hatch. I am also planning on having live rotifers hopefully today from Doug.

 

Here is an updated picture...

 

 

I think they might be ready to hatch tonight or tomorrow night..

[Jon Lazar]

I think they might be ready to hatch tonight or tomorrow night..

 

Do you know what day they were laid? Clownfish take an average of 6-8 days to hatch, and your first post was on 26 Dec, so they may have a bit longer to go.

[cabrego]

Do you know what day they were laid? Clownfish take an average of 6-8 days to hatch, and your first post was on 26 Dec, so they may have a bit longer to go.

 

 

I don't know when they were layed, but we first noticed the eggs on the 26th. They already had the eyes showing, so I estimated it that it was at least day 3 or 4 from what I have gathered making today the 6th day or so. I hope they are not hatching tonight because I just got back from doug's and the lights just went out!

[Der ABT]

Really cool pics, very jealous and cant wait to get another pair of clowns,

 

How long have you had them, looks like the pick of the pair is older as the black in the updated pics has really colored in.

 

Man im getting excited to see how you do Hope it goes well and you learn alot the first go round. would be a great new years gift wouldnt it

 

p.s. Gtipower if your still watching, i used to be a vw nut with a 97vr6t gti what you got?

Edited December 29, 2009 by Der ABT

[dbartco]

and?

[cabrego]

OK. No hatch last night! I am happy about that hopefully I can keep my rotifer population up in the mean time. It also gives me a little more time to prepare.

 

 

 

Almon,

 

Thanks for the offer -Doug hooked me up with about a gallon of rotifers, I hope that is enough to get me started.

 

Der,

 

Thanks for the compliment, I was lucky to have my father in law in town so I could use his Nikon SLR to take some pretty decent pictures! I have had the pair for maybe 4-5 months. I picked them up from a fellow wamas member along with a red anemone. I can't remember his screen name :( but, from what I remember he told me these were wild caught from the Solomon islands. They are great fish!

 

I will keep you guys posted with my progress...

[cabrego]

Whew!!! We've got larva!!

 

 

Just finished up for the night. I had a great hatch so far :clap:

 

So my first hatch is officially a success, I am sure that was the easy part! Thanks to Doug and all who shared to help me get to this point!! I just had a crash course in raising clownfish this week- it's hard to believe that 7 days ago I just noticed the eggs and was completely unprepared and today I have managed to rescue a good number of larva, and have there first meal ready for them! All with minimal investment! Of course, it helps that I had a bunch of stuff in the dreaded fish closet.

 

 

I am not sure how many I rescued I will have to do a fin count tomorrow, I feed them rotifers tonight and they were muching them up!

[ctenophore]

Congrats on the baby fish! Welcome to the world of more tanks, more work and more fun

 

Check out this thread about the collective fish breeding effort.

[dbartco]

congrats, I look forward to seeing the progress. LMK if you go with a frozen nano order, I may go in with you.

[lanman]

Wow... from zero to light-speed in a week!

 

Best of luck!!

 

bob

[cabrego]

A little update,

 

I estimate the total hatch that I captured was about 90 or so, and close to 40 did not make through the night. So I estimate I have about 50 little guys going in the tank.

 

For some reason they like to stay near the corners of the tank, is that why I have noticed some people wrap their tanks ?

[Der ABT]

Congrats dad, do you feel any different, is it a life changing experience, all this before the new year, that freaking sweet that means you can claim 50 more dependents on your tax return (not to be taken as tax advice) that shuld help in this economy haha.

 

hopefully you get some long time survivors, keep the pics coming you know we all thrive off of em.

 

Again congrats and Happy New Year.

 

 

let me know and i may take a pair off ya as the parents are really pretty, they could go well in the new frag tank i am setting up this weekend. obviously thats way in the future but just thought id throw it out there.

[cabrego]

So far, it does not look like I have lost any more larvae so that is great.

 

I do have a problem with them grouping at the corners of the tank, I am not sure why but I think they are fine as long as they are eating. I covered the sides with wrapping paper but that did not seem to have any affects on their behavior.

 

Doug,

 

I think I am going to go with an order of nanno and some other things I need like more brine shrimp eggs. Where can I buy the frozen nanno? I can't seem to find it online..

[Jon Lazar]

Reed Mariculture sells frozen nannochloropsis and other phytoplanktons, and I believe Brineshrimpdirect does too.

[cabrego]

Hey guys, thanks for all the responses!

Just a little update. So far I am on day 6 and the fry are doing ok. I have lost at least 50 of the original batch so I am down to like 30-40 max. I hatched my first batch of baby brine shrimp and gave them a little taste last night. I only gave them a few maybe like 100 or so and I was still able to see some today after work. I will probably not feed them any more until this weekend. Probably friday or so.

 

Also, today is about two weeks since the first batch of eggs hatched and guess what?!

 

I have another clutch of eggs in the same spot. These guys work like a clock. I am not sure if I will be able to raise this batch, I am going to be pretty busy with work so I will have to play it by ear.

[Der ABT]

congrats man, seems like you are a good dad, cant belive they already laid another batch, like rabbits is the wrong quote should be like clownfish.

hope your able to get all the food and stuff i konw youve been searching for. cant wait to see what these little buggers look like

[cabrego]

congrats man, seems like you are a good dad, cant belive they already laid another batch, like rabbits is the wrong quote should be like clownfish.

hope your able to get all the food and stuff i konw youve been searching for. cant wait to see what these little buggers look like

 

 

Thanks Der. I have been able to get my rotifers online- thanks to the WAMAS community. I am trying to get some pics of the fry but it is very difficult to get a good pic, even with my SLR CAMERA.

 

Clownfish are worse than rabbits aren't they? I was going over my notes and realized that it had been about 14 days since I estimate the first spawn. I figured I might as well check since I had been so busy with the fry, and tadaaa there they were!

[Almon]

I will probably not feed them any more until this weekend. Probably friday or so.

I suggest keeping them well fed. Multiple feedings daily are best. You should feed them thousands of nhbbs to stuff their little bellies. Keep them well fed for better health. It's difficult to overfeed them at this stage.

 

I can never get good pictures of the fry either. I probably need a bigger lens.