Amphiprion percula "Onxy" (Onyx Percula Clown) Breeding Log!

[keefsama2003]

ok so i just told the wife to get me the wilkerson and hoff books for xmas.

what else should i be doing other than following you guys.

im trying to perfect things before i have eggs so im that much more ready.

i think im going to start culturing also even tho im probably a long ways off

[Voltekker]

I was wondering do they always lay the eggs in the same spot ?

[mwp]

Keefsama, Wilkerson's book is definitely worth it and will walk you through it step by step. Hoff's book, while also great, is far more technical and goes way beyond the basics.

Voltekker, they pretty much lay them in the same spot...it's slowly shifting "left" though. If they keep moving to the left I may be able to get some sort of tile down and do this the RIGHT WAY for a change

Matt

[keefsama2003]

well im going to start reading for when they do start i want to be ahead of this game.

[mwp]

A quick update on Batch I - they are now taking down whole adult frozen brine shrimp without any hesitation, and are even willing to tear apart a PE Mysis shrimp!

Matt

[keefsama2003]

how would you rate this expierence on a scale of 1-10 for its difficulty?


i know its going to be tedious at times and rather frustrating but how is it?

[mwp]

HMM. On a scale of marine breeding I'd say 3/10, if only because I've had so many botched batches where I miss the hatch or accidentally kill most of the larvae in the first 24 hours....chalk those up to my mistakes.

On a scale of ALL breeding, FW and SW, more like a 5/10...that of course being out of ALL fish that can be bred in the home aquarium without anything terribly special.

FWIW,

Matt

[mwp]

BTW, for comparison, I'd say mandarins are a 10/10 on both scales, and the Greenbanded Gobies would be a 5/10 in SW and a 6/10 in general. Were it not for all my beginner's mistakes, the clowns might be a 2/10 on the SW scale, if only to allow for the Bangaii which has been equated to being a "Saltwater Guppy" (of course, mine have been nothing short of completely problematic...I bred them 10 years ago without even thinking about it, but now that I WANT them to breed....forget about it!)

FWIW,

Matt

[keefsama2003]

COOL

so i can see what im getting into from someone who has been around the block.

this is my first attempt ever so im not expecting a walk by anymeans

but im going to put all my effort into it and hope for the best.

[mwp]

Well, considering I have 4 babies from Batch I, 3 Babies from Batch III, and the 1 baby that went off and later disappeared from Batch II, and none from batches #4 and #5, I'd have to say that if you do it by the book and do not deviate, in many respects it's possible to get a BIG BATCH the first time around. More likely though is you'll end up like me...still hoping for the stars to align right for that first mega batch.

Of course, having the clowns spawning on something that's removeable would be far easier than having to collect the babies from the broodstock tank - that by far has been my biggest obstacle; if I were hatching in the larval tank I'd be way ahead of the game.

FWIW,

Matt

[mwp]

Quick update on Batch III -> They are now 40 or 41 days old and we have one with a nicely developing 2nd stripe....harder to watch these ones grow as they're still in a breeder net!

I'm thinking about taking daily photos of the clownfish nests to show the development day by day (and do "egg counts" to see what, if any attrition rate, there is)....we'll see!

Matt

[keefsama2003]

good luck and im tearing down my 300 and moving my clowns into a 30 cube so i will take tile and place tile in the tank next to where their host is just so they get used to having it in there and then just hope for the best.

[mwp]

Back from Vegas and it looks like all system's go for a hatch Tuesday night. I'm ready to nail the clowns this time around! Reread Wilkerson cover-to-cover on the plan trips there and back (went to visit my parents).

I know Tuesday will be early for a hatch, but they sure look ready (heck, I almost thought they had started hatching tonight when I walked in and put the flashlight on them!)

Matt

[keefsama2003]

good luck still hoping mine come around these black/white oc's are evil i went to go feed a piece of shucked mussel to the anemone and i had them both on me like a pair of rabid pitbulls grabbing on and shaking and hitting me like there was no tomorrow. im just glad they werent maroons or clarks i would have had a few chunks taken out. but they seem to be settling in as i still havent taken down the 300.

the little guy got his shake on alot after i fed the nem and the female really did antagonize him for a bit i guess she was upset he let the big thing get too close but this morning they were both snug in the nem so hopefully its a sign of things to come.

[mwp]

12-12-06 - the eggs of Batch VI are 7 days old, and I shot a picture. I'm pretty sure they may hatch tonight. My count - 469 eggs remain, ready to go...



Here they are again, for comparison, at the time of spawning (7 days ago).



FWIW,

Matt

[mwp]

12-12-06, 10:00 PM, we have a HATCH! Batch VI officially begins! Just over 7 days from egg laying to hatch...incubation temps hovered around 82-83F

So the lights in the parental tank go off at 9:30 PM...I immediately turn out all the other lights in the room. By 10:00 or so, larvae had started popping off...by 10:30 it looked like the larval collector had captured all it would get, so I spent the next 35 minutes collecting maybe 15 more by hand...mostly with the specimen cup, but the last few deepwater stranglers via a very gentle turkey baster. The larval tank was drained & seived, returning the rotifers and calanoid copepods to the tank along with 5 gallons of parental water earlier today. So far it looks like everything has gone without a hitch, except for the fact that I collected maybe 100 larvae at best.

So somewhere between this afternoon and now, 350 larvae were lost. Don't know if the tankmates got to 'em as they hatched, or if something else happened. Bottom line though, it simply wasn't large enough of a hatch for what I was looking for. I'm thinking that my next move is to try to replace the parent's current spawning setup with some sort of tile arrangement that can be removed and replaced for hatching.

The other strange thing is that at least to me, the larvae look like the "thin" larvae that Wilkeson describes. So, for at least tonight, I think I'm going to leave the lights on and let them feed....probably adding .5 L Nannochloropsis as well. This gametime decision hasn't officially been made.

Any thoughts or advice are welcomed as always...

Matt

[EMBRYOGUY]

matt congrats

!
my lights went off at 9pm eastern. seems we have births same time hehe

[mwp]

So just some quick updates.

Batch VI - most of the larvae were on the bottom at light's out. I had added 1 L Nannochloropsis to the water to enrich the pods and rots which had been without food since this afternoon. I was going to leave the lights ON, but realized that they're on the same strip as the culture lights...so for now...they're getting a rest and in the morning it's time to FEED little buggers!

Batch I - over the weekend the largest juvie simply disappeared...Graham (my reef buddy, former coworked and fish caretaker) was actually in line for the particular fish that disappeared...bummer. He said it simply stopped eating and was gone the next day. We're both clueless on this mystery loss. The rest all seem to be going strong.

FWIW,

Matt

[keefsama2003]

good luck

[mwp]

.5 days on Batch VI and for a change, the bottom isn't littered with corpses when the lights came on this morning! That's a step in the right direction

Matt

[keefsama2003]

sure is get apicture :-p

im taking mental notes and pictures and trying to figure in my head what i need to do im really hoping i can raise these b/w offspring because i do plan on a harder to get pair of clowns in the future and i want to perfect this.

[Kathy55g]

How would you like to fight your way out of a constricting shell and the have to stay awake for more than 24 hours swimming on brand new muscles without so much as a nap?

Larvae need their rest. Good decision to leave the lights off. They will learn to eat just fine in the time they have. They have 3 days to master the skill. Just keep those rots bursting with selco or fresh phyto, and they will be fine.

[mwp]

Well Kathy, they DID get their rest and today they look great...all swimming around and feeding (tail curling lurches towards rotifers etc..). Unless I really screw something up, I may actually get a fair amount of juvies for a change!

Matt

[Kathy55g]

Terrific!

[mwp]

SS Rotifers are on the sink, getting a selcon enrichment as I type this. I'm keeping the tank's "food" limited to SS Rots, as well as the existing copepod populations, so that down the line I don't have to tear down and start it over should I want to use it for Mandarins or something else...I'm sure the clowns will remove MOST all of the pods and rots, but just thinking that having the pods and rots present when I finally move the clowns out will make it easier to get it ready for "tiny larvae" rearing...besides, I have way more SS rots on hand at the moment!

Matt