I have eggs again....lots of ????

[kronan]

I have a 265 reef tank, lots of stuff,anyway my black sadle back clowns laid eggs again. the first batch starved and all perished. I have a 10 gallon tank set up next to the main tank, the 10 gallon tank is drilled with an overflow, I run main tank water into the 10 with a maxi jet ,on one side of the tank is a sheet of tank divider with a 1 micron screen siliconed on top, this is then attached to the sides and bottom ,this screen keps the fry from the over flow and being a large surface area the fry wont get stuck due to flow,what do I feed the fry? where can I get the food/ last time they laid eggs(2 wks ago ) I had at least 200 fry (the female is 4")and I am going to try again ,I read an article here http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=240158.but I have some more specific and species specific questions.. Rearing time for fry?I know of other clown species breeding/stats on Blk sddl bk clowns? Will DT,s work? frozen rotefers? Temp of tank (my main tank runs 74 at night to 80 in day)? reaing time? any imput is appreciated

[Jovreefer]

I dont know the difficulty in raising saddle backs but 99% of them are going to accept nothing except live foods for the first few days of their lives. I've herd of some people getting extreemly low numbers of Occ. clowns to survive using some powdered forms of food.

On a side note.. Congrats on the saddles laying eggs! those are few & far between & you should certianly attempt to raise them :)

Pick up Joyce Wilkerson's book on clownfish breeding, that is a great guide to help you get started raising young.

[Heterodonut]

Survival has been very poor on work done with dead rots, much better to set up a system to keep some live ones going. In a pinch you could always order 60,000 and raise a batch of babies, and not bother with the culture.

[kronan]

Update... I ordered 600,000 live rotefers ,should be here in 24 hrs, hopefully eggs will hatch on monday (2-25-08) that will be 7 days after being laid... eggs were dingy orange when first laid, then got browner and now today they are blackish, last time after they looked like glitter it was 24 hrs till hatch well see I'll keep this updated

[kronan]

today is sat (02-23-08) eggs are black ,some spotting...the eyes are developing, rotifers are breeding now I have 4 gallons ,just waiting for the glitter look then.. transfer to fry tank will keep posting

[EvoX]

awesome, congrats on the eggs
hope it works out for ya

[R.W.]

thats awesome. I am getting a pair of black saddlebacks tomorrow, i would love to see pictures of the fry when they hatch.

[kronan]

The rock with the eggs has been placed in the fry tank,parents WERE NOT HAPPY.. rotifers have tripled in number,, eggs have the glitter look, eyes are developed, hopefuly tonight..I thought it would be 7 days but tank has been warm (76 to 80) past few days,so we will see

[kronan]

Eggs are in fry tank ..I placed the whole rock in there.. The parents WERE NOT HAPPY.. it has been only 6 days since they were laid but the tank has been running a little warm(75to80)rotifers have tripled in number at least..eggs look like glitter and the eyes are fully developed,maybe tonight they will hatch, we'll see.

[kronan]

sorry for the double post..had a power spike or something ... I have been photographing everything so far and will post it in the future.

[Lifes A Beach]

Good luck and keep us posted!

[scorpiocasper]

Hopefully;
Happy Hatch day babies!!

:fish2:

[oceanarus]

Good luck. I've only had one spawning pair of saddles. The female was brown and the male black. I think saddles are alittle harder than most clowns to raise. The fry hatch out and just die alot of the time. But the good news is you will have alot of large nest to work with. I did get alot to live but not as many as other clowns I've done. But as I said I only had one pair so I can't say it will be the same for you. Let me know if you ever want to sell the pair.

[kronan]

well today is day 7..several eggs hatched last night..the rest should hatch tonight..all eggs look fully developed eyes are clearly disernable,I put some live rots in fry tank to feed the ones that hatched and they look like they have full stomachs now..

[davidandliz]

PICS! :)

[kronan]

Today is day 8 ..20% hatched last night the rest will probably hatch tonight..been feeding 40cc of rots 6x per day, maybe I'm seeing things ,but I think I can see the difference between the feeding ones and the ones that are not eating yet..the feeding fry look a little more black and look slighty larger.. took some nice pics last night of hatching in process..movie camera did not work so all I have are still photos.

[Abso]

Any chance that thay will grow up in main tank or %0?

[kronan]

Day 8 -9 pm I see a few dead fry most are alive and swimming.. still have about 75% in shell ...should be tonight for final hatching
I will probably grow out in a separate system..I increased amount of live rotifers.

[kronan]

Well.. there be fry in the tank... all eggs hatched last night between 10pm and 1 am ,I have about 200 +or- fry in tank..put some more rots in at 1am.. this morning put 200cc of rots that I strained through a coffee filter for initial feed.. fry seem to be active ..have some dead ones though not to many at this stage
it took8 1/2 days from the time they were laid to all hached tank temp was 74 to 80 during this period.. the rock that they spawned on has been put back in the main tank, the male started to clean the area where the eggs were.

[kronan]

50% have died today.. I have been feeding them live rotifers.. so I don't know why they are not making it ..I know death rate will be high so I will see..

[WDLV]

I would be happy if 10 of them made it. Keep trying. You will have more chances. I hear this is a learning process. Best of luck to you.

[Lifes A Beach]

What is the salinity of the fry tank?

[kronan]

I have a maxiejet that runs out of my sump to the fry tank , I drilled the fry tank for an overflow and just circulate water from the main tank into the fry tank and then the overflow goes back into the sump (1.0225 to 1.0230)

[Lifes A Beach]

I've had better success with lowering the salinity to 1.20 - just a thought!

[oceanarus]

Kronan, Don't worry some will make it. There will be lots more large nest. I was afaid it might be a saddle thing. I tried lots of things but never got alot of babies from each nest. But if they keep spawning you will get it. You are one of only a few people to do this fish. Take comfort in that and you will be able to sell them at a good price. Be sure to keep green water with the rots in their tank and keep vitamins in when they switch to baby brine. Please keep us posted. You are lucky to have this pair. Also my sucess was better with each nest. So it should get alittle better. I wish I could be more help and more certain of things. You are the only other person I have known to breed this one.

[kronan]

OK..we are down to about 30 fry, which is about 10%, they seem to be ok? I am still feeding live rotifers..

[kronan]

All fry have died.. I will try again, the female is swollen again with eggs..hopefully in 2 wks.

[Moosetache]

Hey kronan, can you post those pics showing the progression? I was reading through this list of postings and was hoping for a better outcome, but I wish you the best of luck in the upcoming batch of fry. Let us know how it goes. I have 1 true perc, and I am looking for a mate, so hoping for similar stories.

What kind of rock were the eggs laid on if you dont mind me asking...

thanks and best of luck!!!!