clown and damsel fry

[MM WI]

It is funny how this hobby takes you in directions you did not really plan.

I have clown pairs in most of my tanks. I raise phyto and daphnia and other critters for my coral. With most of the clowns spawning i have recently tried collecting the fry and embarrassingly have just started to have success collecting them without damaging them and turning them in retards that swim in circles until they die. With that bridge crossed I collected fry from a pair of black ice peculas and it went OK but with two tanks corner to corner I noticed fry also congregating in the other corner I figure that pair eggs which i was sure was several days away had hatched. I noticed they were smaller and transparent but just logged it as food for thought. I have them all in the same rearing tank. Next morning i noticed those clown eggs had not hatched yet. In fact i am letting them concentrate under the flashlight right now.

The only other paired fish in the tank are a white tailed light blue damsel species. So obvious conclusion i have damsel fry mixed in with clowns.

Question, these fry are less than half the size of the clowns, do they need something smaller yet than the daphnia?

I am at day four and i think they are growing and getting color as they are not as easy to distinguish from the clowns but i am sure i see a few in there yet. Just looking a small bit of input.

I tend to stumble these things until i get them working. That keeps me from falling in the trap of whatever the present dogma maybe. But I am would love to know what you all feed some of the smaller fry. That is the attraction to rearing clowns right, that they have robust decent size fry?

Oh and anyone know what species of damsels are light blue with a white tail?

Mark

[billsreef]

Rotifers, probably S-strain would be best for the smaller damsel fry.

[MM WI]

thanks for the response.

I am not sure what s-stain is but i will find and order some from someone. I have a rotifer culture but i don't know what strain. I have been adding them to fry tank. Something is working, no fry collecting in the bottom of the tank yet on Day 5! I am going to start adding some fresh hatch brine shrimp tomorrow to the mix. As i said i am new at this, stumbling through. I have fresh hatch brine shrimp to add to the tank tomorrow morning and there will be some ground spirulina in that mix. I am hoping they will eat a little bit of both. Oh, their bellies are all fat so they are eating part of what i am adding. I am doing partial water changes every other day also.

- Mark

[billsreef]

S-strain is simply a smaller strain of rotifers. L-strain is the name for the common size.

[MM WI]

well I am definitely on the learning curve. I feed some ground spirulina to the fry and they ate it up but some of them started doing the death dive. I turned the lights out and put a blanket over the tank for about ten hours to stop them from feeding. Up to that point i had not lost any fry, but i lost about half of them. If I had not turned off the lights they would have kept feeding and i may have lost them all. Good news is the ones that are left are eating up fresh hatch brine shrimp. Their bellies have been fat since about day two but now their bellies are orange with baby brine.

Anyway. Is ground flake food a big do not do? Was this a known screw up? When do you start feeding something other than live?

Oh and i think i still have both clown and damsel fry in the tank. I am really hoping to have some of each make it to adult hood.

- Mark

[billsreef]

I start them Otohime A when they start to transition to BBS. Best dry food for rearing larval fish around.

[MM WI]

thanks i will try that, i was surprised that the spirulina messed them up like it did. But half or more are still going and fat little orange bellies with fresh hatch brine.

- Mark

[MM WI]

day 9 just ending and i still have fry from both hatchings, black ice perc and damsels with fat little bellies full of bbs, and a third set of fry from some Os Clowns in another tank at day five. For having only a passing interest in doing this it is taking off. I have six pairs of clowns spawning and one species of damsel spawning now. If these make it to adult size it will crazy cool. Not sure I am ready to keep doing this but it has been fun.

- Mark

[billsreef]

[_shorty_]

Originally Posted by MM WI

day 9 just ending and i still have fry from both hatchings, black ice perc and damsels with fat little bellies full of bbs, and a third set of fry from some Os Clowns in another tank at day five. For having only a passing interest in doing this it is taking off. I have six pairs of clowns spawning and one species of damsel spawning now. If these make it to adult size it will crazy cool. Not sure I am ready to keep doing this but it has been fun.

- Mark

That sounds like things are going great. Keep us updated. BTW, how does someone with only a 'passing interest' develop SIX pairs of spawning clowns? lol.

[Luis A M]

Can´t take pics?.I suspect they are all clown larvae.You will find out soon anyway

[_shorty_]

Originally Posted by MM WI

With most of the clowns spawning i have recently tried collecting the fry and embarrassingly have just started to have success collecting them without damaging them and turning them in retards that swim in circles until they die.

Can I ask what method of collection you used previously vs now?

[MM WI]

the first time a pushed a wide mouth jar into the tank and sucked them in but the current was too violent. I tried a net the next time and that messed them up even more. Now i use the wide mouthed jar again but i do it much more slowly. I am still not collecting very many larva. I got about twenty five black ice fry, about ten damsel fry and about fifteen perculla fry. I still have about half of them, i lost about half trying to ween to early I think, I lost some after feeding ground flake spirulina. I am thinking about trying again. Tomorrow will be day 14 they have their front stripe now and are starting to grow the back stripe. it is cool watching them turn into little clowns. Seems I have a bout five of the damsels left in there. They were so damn small, half the size and colorless. The black ice are fat with some color when they hatch. Stumbling through and having fun. Later i will take some pics of the damsel parents so someone can identify the species for me.

- Mark

[MM WI]

I am going to try to order a professional weaning food for the fry tomorrow next day air as I will leaving someone else in charge of them for a week while I am out of town.

I will keep you all posted and I appreciate the comments. I kinda like to find my own way before I read all of the current best practices. I will do that later and adopt some and reject others but I appreciate any comments or advice. I'll you know how ends, crash and burn is still high likelihood as this is the first real attempt at rearing. So far I am doing better at rearing than i did at my first tries to collect them.

- mark

[MM WI]

Oh and no question some are damsels, all in that tank is one pair of damsels, one pair of yellow tangs and one pair of percullas. The percs hatched five days later, they did not hatch twice and the tangs are out of the question, and they are not developing stripes like the clowns. Oh, and they were very small larva.

- Mark

[MM WI]

on the damsels, sometimes a blind squirrel finds a nut. - mark

[MM WI]

Last thought, the Otohime A was out of stock at Reid mariculture so i am gonna call them tomorrow and ask what else would be a good food for weaning. - mark

[GreshamH]

Originally Posted by MM WI

Last thought, the Otohime A was out of stock at Reid mariculture so i am gonna call them tomorrow and ask what else would be a good food for weaning. - mark

I'll save you a call to us.

TDO-A, better product anyways. You can get "S" rotifers from us as well.

[MM WI]

I ordered that exact product this morning. I am leaving town on Wednesday for a week or more. My cultures are gonna crash while I am gone. I am gonna start fresh with the S-strain and be careful to not cross contaminate when i return. maybe UV sterilie some salt water before i add the fresh S strain and start over. I have a freind that is gonna take the fry for me while I am gone. I see a couple of pairs are gonna to hatch this week and I will have to pass on it and wait for the next round.

Is the S-strain expensive? They dont list a price, says to call?

- Mark

[GreshamH]

Little pricer than normal l strain mainly due to low volume sales.

If you keep them at a higher temp, the a strain will out compete any l strain if any l get in there.

[MM WI]

thanks for the info, what temp do you keep the s-strain at? - mark

[MM WI]

Day 25, the clowns all have their third stripe now, still developing colors though, down to two of the damsels they are growing so slow, started so small though. Easy to spot with the larger clowns now having most of their markings and full clown fish shape.

- Mark

[adamgoldberg]

Pictures? Please? I'd like to see the little guys.

[Wilrok]

Sounds like fun ! Raising and trying to figure out what works and what does not ! Keep us posted !