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MJ's Clownfish Breeding Adventure


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(edited)

Hey WAMAS Members!

 

Introduction:

 

It really goes with out saying we all love this hobby in one fashion or another. I have found my true passion lies with clownfish. I sold my reef tank last year and began on the adventure of collecting clownfish from all over the world and not just the U.S. The patterns and the uniqueness in every clownfish just amazed me. I don't hoard them all to myself and often times sell 10 to get the 1 I am desperately on the hunt for. Well things are starting to really kick in to high gear around here and I thought it was time to start this thread and show some insight to my breeding passion!

 

I am going to break it down into increments and do my best to keep this thread up to date!

 

This first post I will show off my first display broadstock system.

 

The System:

 

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The tank is a DSA 40 Long 48x24x16 and the stand was built by DSA as well. The tank has been divided into 5 sections with 4 black acrylic dividers. The dividers have weirs laser cut into them. I then drilled (2) 1" overflow holes on the back glass with one on each end of the tank. I also drilled (5) 3/4" holes in each section for a return. I got an end cap plug and drilled a 1/2" hole in each one to create a focused stream to disturb the waters surface. I then painted all the plumbing black and the back of the tank black using Krylon paint from Walmart. I ordered two acrylic overflow boxes from eBay and siliconed them to the glass to cover up the overflow drains. This pretty much completes the construction of the main tank.

 

The sump set up is very simple. I took a 20 gallon long tank and siliconed in an AquaBox Retrofit Kit. It has (2) 1" drain holes and (1) 4" filter sock compartment. The rest of the sump is wide open with no baffles. I have a NYOS Quantum 120 Skimmer, Cobalt Neotherm 200w, Fluidized Sand Bed Reactor, and a small Innovative Marine Reactor for Carbon. The return pump is a Deep Water BLDC 7. Any left over space in the sump was filled in with live rock.

 

 

Clownfish List for this system:

Grade A Nebula Pair

Pure Darwin Pair

Snow Onyx Pair

Black Photon Pair

Onyx Percula Pair

 

*I do have other pairs how ever in this thread I am going to be focusing solely on this system.

 

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*this picture is slightly outdated and does not fully represent the above clownfish list! Newer photos to come!

 

 

 

 

Equipment:

DSA 40 Long 48x12x16

DSA Tank Stand

LED Retrofit Light (low wattage to reduce algae)

20 Gallon Long Tank for the sump with one filter sock.

NYOS Quantum 120 Skimmer

Innovative Marine Reactor for Carbon

Cobalt Neotherm 200w Heater

Fluidized Sand Bed Reactor

DeepWater BDLC 7 Return Pump

 

 

 

 

Tank Info:

Temperature - 82*

Salinity - 1.020

Lights - On 16 hours / Off 8 hours

Feed - 5 Times a day of LRS Fish Frenzy, NLS Pellets, and TDO. *I am also testing out a new breeder blend for LRS!

Water Change - 10% bi-weekly

 

I think this is probably a good starting post! I will go into my rotifer culture next and keep things rolling from there! :-)

 

MJ

Edited by Mattiejay6
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Very cool! I have a question... do you have to feed each section individually?

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(edited)

Rotifer Culture:

 

 

I covered my basic breeder set up in my original post and the next installment I decided I am going to cover my rotifer cultures. This is a boring topic, but raises a lot of questions for many. There is an ample amount of resources available to help someone get started.

 

Links:

 

Rotifer Basics / All you need to know!

http://reedmariculture.com/support_rotifers_culturing.php

 

Here is a good article where Matt Pedersen goes into good detail with culturing rotifers using Reed Mariculture's Algae Paste.

http://reefbuilders.com/2010/11/02/hands-on-in-depth-reed-mariculture-rotigrow-system/

 

 

My Setup:

(2) 5 Gallon Lowes Buckets

(2) AP Breeds Compact Culture Systems

(2) Tetra Whisper 10 Air Pumps

(1) 53 Micron Sieve from Florida Aqua Farms

(1) Plastic Painters Measuring Cup

 

f486481f3d675713e1613e6f1403519a.jpg

 

Technical Info

Rotifer: L Type

Salinity: 1.016

Feed: RotiGreen Omega*

 

*I order the RotiGreen Omega in 1 liter bags and when I get it in I split the bag up into eight and a half 4 ounce Boston Round bottles. I keep one bottle in the fridge and freeze the remainder until I need another bottle.

 

443b7471206c91674350869944e66ea0.jpg

 

 

Daily Routine

Rotifer Cultures require daily care!!!!!! The first thing I do is wipe down the inside of my bucket with Rotifer Floss. I then harvest about 30% or what I feel is 30% and dump it into my frag tank. i top off both cultures based on the amount of water I took out. Once this has been done I then go to feed the cultures. I take my little painters cup and grab some water from the culture and add what I believe is the right amount of Omega. I use a small little vile and collect some water after I add the food to the bucket and if it looks like a good green tint I have added enough :-) There is no exact science. The more you feed the more your culture produces and the less you feed well you get the point. Do not ever let your culture run out of food!!!! Daily maintenance is a must to keeping healthy rotifer cultures!!!

 

Now obviously if I have some clownfish eggs about to hatch out I do not add the rotifers to my frag tank. This is just when I am in cruise control mode with them :-)

 

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The internal filter floss in my buckets I pull those out and rinse clean them with the sinks hose bi-weekley. I think this pretty much covers the basic rotifer set up and provides some useful information to those considering getting into breeding :-)

 

-MJ

Edited by Mattiejay6
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Not planning on doing any breeding myself but love to see people branching out.  Great info here

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  • 2 weeks later...

Great looking pair of fish.  I have a couple of questions.  First, a 40 gallon tank with 5 pairs, that's 8 gallons/pair.  That's smaller than most people do.  Do your fish still spawn well, and is there any possibility that 8 gallons limits any spawning?  

 

Second, the two videos are labelled "ORR" pair.  Are they ORA pairs or is there another breeder out there I'm not aware of?

 

Keep up the good work.

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I did a google search to save you the trouble of answering my question about tank size.  A lot of people breed perculas and ocellaris in 10 and even 5 gallon tanks.  I didn't know they'd live in such a small area.  

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I did a google search to save you the trouble of answering my question about tank size. A lot of people breed perculas and ocellaris in 10 and even 5 gallon tanks. I didn't know they'd live in such a small area.

"ORR" is his breeding company Operation Reef Ready
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Hey Dave,

 

Thanks for the feedback! I need to get on my computer to post the other videos.

 

There are some breeders keeping pairs in as little as a 6x6 space and having complete success. It's all about water quality. Those tanks are connected to a big system through plumbing. And every tank has an airstone.

 

Thanks KHH for answering the question :-)

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