Dustins breeding attempt

[Dustin2]

Ok around 6 months ago i bought a 90 gallon reef ready setup that came with a pair of clowns. After the first couple of weeks I noticed that they were laying eggs and i wanted to try to breed raise them. So i asked around and i was recomended to buy the book clown fishes by joice wilkerson. So i read over that and i am sure i will have to read a couple more times. So in the begining of the summer i started the phyto culture and and it took almost a month to get green enough to split. SO i finally split it in to two cultures and they did really good. So now i put the two cultures i had into a 10 gallon tank and i will add water a little at a time. Here are some pictures of what i have so far.
here is a picture of the clowns laying eggs:http://i316.photobucket.com/albums/mm334/dembones567/P1026623.jpg
here is a picture of the starting culture that went slow:http://i316.photobucket.com/albums/mm334/dembones567/P1116720.jpg
a picture of a kit i purchased:http://i316.photobucket.com/albums/mm334/dembones567/P1010725.jpg

[Dustin2]

and here is a picture of the culture now in the 10 gallon tank:http://i316.photobucket.com/albums/mm334/dembones567/P1010724.jpg
any questions or advice are appriciated

[dazed]

Dustin2; Glad to see that you started a thread. Also nice to see that the phyto culturing seems to be working. Have you started any rotifers yet?

[rkelman]

Get some fertilizer in that culture and you'll be splitting it weekly. Also you need more than one in case of a crash. Great start keep up the good work.

[Dustin2]

ok thank you . I have not started a rotifers culture yet. should i? Because i thought i should wait till i have more phto?

[rkelman]

If you get some Guillards F2 (SP?) from Reeds or somewhere you will be able to quadruple that amount of phyto in a week. Honestly I don't think the tank is a good idea because it has a large flat bottom and dead cells ect will build up on the bottom and foul your culture. I would use a round bottomed container if possible. Pop bottles work well and shake them daily to suspend the cells so they don't settle. I usually try and have 5 bottles on the go. I split them at different times in the week. I split 3 at one time and 2 at another so I don't have 5 bottles in my fridge. (the wife would not be impressed 3 is pushing it) 5 may be too much but I feed my main tank with it too.

[Atticus]

David, I noticed the eggs are a little pale. I would make sure to increase the fresh/frozen meaty foods and cyclop-eeze in the parent's diet. Light eggs typically yield weaker fry.