Rearing my eggs

[icereefer]

well I'm going to give it a shot , I hope I'm ready, I have rotifers , I only have frozen I hope they'll take to them .I can't get any that live long enough in this area and I don't have the room to grow my own. Well today my blacks layed again, my male is ticked off I took his free meal. :lol:
well I went down to the craft shop and got some black constrution paper to put down the back and sides and tonight I'm cutting my egg crate to fit the top of my rear tank, which I will put black construction paper on the top to till they get threw there Larvae stage.
and comments, I'm all ears.

[bigfoot]

I hope all goes awsome for ya i have a hatch of yellow tail damsels cooking right now i take them out the day they will hatch as the eggs turn black then i keep them submerged during transport what brand of rotifers are you using? im using hikari

[bigfoot]

Its all my lfs had but he ordered it for me with out me having to ask so hes a cool guy if you guys think your 1 tank is bad he took me to his house and holy crapppp he has over 100 tanks going in his HOME shop right now with every type of fish you can think of he has 2 tanks of salt water hes chaning into freshwater takesa him about 6 months he does horseshoe crabs and snow flake eels he has some converts in a tank thats at least 2 years old and his snowflake eel is about 25 inches long! so we are all low maintenance his shop closes at 7 pm and he spends about 4 hours a day in his HOME shop he breeds black clowns like you ice but he has pretty good luck with the hakari rotifers he said. lemme know how it goes and my blue damsels have paired off but i lost the male of my false perc pair im so bummed! but ill replace him soon so i have 9 tanks now 4 10 hatchery tanks and 1 qt 2 30's soon to be 3 30's (my 9 year old goldfish has gotten popeye but he quit eating today so i hope he goes peacefully to the big tank in the sky and my ro membrane is torn so im not having a good week aperrantly?

[icereefer]

well I'll do what I can to keep track on there progress, between work and spring clean up and maintaining my tanks and helping others, my time is starting to grow thin again......that time of the year.
well I get most of my frozen foods from Brineshimp.com. I have rotifers, cyclopeeze, copepods and Golden pearl. and I just started a batch of brine shrimp.
this guy you know, his black clowns are solid black? just wondering most I've seen have some type of orange on them. usually on the front part of the face.
as for Hakari, that's some good foods, I have frozen brine, krill, and mysid shrimp. I feed with that brand.
sorry to hear about the lose on your male clown.
and on my RO/DI I make sure I keep plenty of back ups on my unit I always keep 1 TFC membrane, 2 carbons, and 3 to 4, 1 micron cart on hand, just in case. :-D

[arockkid]

Let us know when you start taking orders.
:)

[FishinInTheDark]

So far so good! Best of luck to you, Jim!

[cich1]

good luck Jim

[bigfoot]

yes his clowns are all black they are a wild mated pair i think he said all of his brood stock were wild caught

[Sugar Magnolia]

Best of luck Jim. I'll be patiently waiting for a baby. :D

[icereefer]

yes his clowns are all black they are a wild mated pair i think he said all of his brood stock were wild caught
really I sure would like to get a hold of this guy, I'm looking for another wild caught Black clown perc or from his brood, I don't know how old my female and male are and I would like to get another one from a different stock, just in case one of mine pass away. all I've been able to fine are black clownfish that are miss bars or un-true bars, or blacks with orange in them, and I've been looking all over the country, if you could hook me up with this guy I would owe you a favor.
Jim

[icereefer]

thanks for all the luck all I think I'll need it with how busy I've become in the last 3 weeks.my doctor won't release me yet to work over 40 hrs at work, so I hope he don't because I've been working 55 to 60 hrs a week, I don't think I could handle any more a week. :lol: :lol: :lol:

[bigfoot]

http://buyit.charlotte.com/findit/search/details.jsp?hbxDCmp=ILC-SBE%3BILC-SBE&catId=krd_charlotte3280e&nodeId=3280e&itemId=O7dff9a&id=O7e748c he googled both of his took him a while to get em hes been letting the fry go for the last 2 months in an effort to breed flame angles but hes gonna get some going soon he said (hes out of em now so hell be starting new hatches .

[bigfoot]

there is always these guys he said to give em a shot
http://www.miami-aquaculture.com/aq%20fish%20index.htm

[icereefer]

Day 2, 4/15. ammonia 0 PH 82, sal 1.019. Temp 79.

[bigfoot]

looking good there Ice!

[icereefer]

Day 3, april 16th. sal 1.019, PH 82, ammonia 0, temp 80.1 having problems with my central air, I noticed today I have 2 white eggs, :cry: and about 6 that looks like the didn't get fertilized, but it's still early.

[gman0526]

How about we make this thread a sticky and not reply on it anymore so we could have this as a time journal of Jim's adventure. That way he only can post on it. We could always discuss it in another thread. BTW Jim good luck!!!

[icereefer]

I could just start another journal if you want me too?

[gman0526]

I think it would be just a matter of moving our posts to a new thread and leave this one just for you. I was just thinking that it would be better to see the progression photos one after the other than to be browsing through 10's of pages.

[icereefer]

well I'll just keep going and we can put something to gether if you want, I'm not going to start counting my chickens just yet I'm having a problem with my central air and I'm on a battle keeping my temp just right. :w00t: :censored:

[gman0526]

You'll get it!!! :thumbsup:

[bigfoot]

sounds wierd but i have 2 tanks in a small bay window and i insulate them with styrofoam on 3 sides good insulator in hot or cold styrofoam is good for much more than chilling beer :)

[icereefer]

Day 4 april 17th. well I can see there turning black that's a good sign, my water temp is stabled at around 79.6 degrees, ph 7.9 and sal 1.019. amm .o. it's clear I have some that didn't get fertilized. and I have no more then the other day that turned white, (white) is not good "dead egg"
but I'm keeping myfingers crossed of not seeing any more, and hoping the larvae don't come out transparent. are I'll have to look into giving my blacks a better diet.

[MikeS]

excellent...I see a tank full of black clowns in your future Jim...

Mike

[icereefer]

just a shot of my egg crate top, if you look where the black line is I edited in, I added a piece of acrylic on both sides of the tank where my bubbles popped from my sponge filters, it worked out great all the water that collects on there runs right back into the tank instead of down the sides of the tank. :thumbsup:

[Sugar Magnolia]

This is very exciting! I can definitely see a color change in the eggs.

[icereefer]

This is very exciting! I can definitely see a color change in the eggs.
yeah if I look real close I can see the tails starting to forum, I should see eye's in the next couple of days.

[bigfoot]

cool keep me posted ice google for sherman tank co i talked to a guy that says they can get wild blacks they carry them normally from time to time

[icereefer]

Thanks bigfoot.

[icereefer]

5th day. everthings the same for parameters.
my camera sucks, my kid uses it he can get awesome macro shots out of it but I don't now how to use the dumb thing,,,,lol. :lol: , I'm calling my camera dumb, :lol: but it only takes the picture, I guess I'm the dummy that don't know how to use it...lol.
but if you look real close you can see there eyes foruming on some.

[bigfoot]

hey ice are your blacks egg eaters? i leave my eggs with the parents till the day they are gonna hatch so they pick out the bad eggs and fan em to keep them fresh and parasite free

[icereefer]

oh yeah my male fertilizes them and cares for them and every day he eats a little more then some more ,till there all gone.

[icereefer]

6th day more eyes are showing up, still not getting my marco shots down very good yet. :censored:

[bigfoot]

well only about 100 outta the 1000 eggs hatched and they died so forget that im gonna go get another clown and try that or some banggi cardinals

[icereefer]

yeah it's not easy, rearing them larvae. I don't expect any servivers either, but I'm keeping a close note on my water parameters, journal on my eggs, colorasion of my larvae, to see if I need to change my clowns diet to produce a heathier egg.ect, ect.
I can only keep going and do what I can to learn, more.

[bigfoot]

but the damsels are the super hrd fish to breed they need food half the size of rotifers florida aqua farms has developed a smaller strain called s type but they dont sell em hey ice i think im gonna try to hook the larvae tank to the tank they are layed in so the water is exacty the same just move em and then disconnect i think when you change them over so the water is the same

[icereefer]

I just make sure my water temp is the same and PH and sal is the same in my Rearing tank and then I slowly drop my PH and sal in my reaing tank, because I've read it's easier on the Larvae in 1.017 to 1.019 sal and PH 7.9. plus in there own tank with there own new ecosystem, they don't have much threat of parsites and Micro preditors. and keeping them in the same water as the parents, has more of those threats, because of the established water column.
as long as you have a good colony of bacteria growing in your sponge filters and water on hand so when you start feeding the newly hatched eggs, you need to have readly food for them , that means, you need to closely monitor the ammonia.
Jim

[icereefer]

well my qwest is just about to an end on this round.
My daughter called me up from work the other day, she was over doing laundry, and caught my grand son (her son) in my fish room and desided to share his Kool ade with my fry that just hatched that day. :( :(
well it took me about a hrs and a half to get home because I was out of town ,about 65 miles ,so by the time I got there I had fry laying all over the bottom of my tank.there's still around 4 thats still hanging in there. but I'm not expecting them to last long.
and there was still some of the eggs that didn't hatch yet and thought maybe, they just might not of got hurt to much but I think the sugar or the dye in the kool age , got them too.there starting to turn white.
Oh well I was so ticked but, when I got home it took me about 2 hrs to calm my grandson because he only wanted to share his kool ade with the new baby fish, and realized he killed them buy doing so. so how do you get mad at your 5 year old grandson, when he was more hurt then I was?

[bigfoot]

sorry to hear it yea the first life death thing is had for kids i had a nephew get a hold of an old chemistry set outta garage and dump in a bunch of stuff and the water turned black and he killed 8 fish he was 4 and i really didnt mind too much cause they were rescued feeders but he took it real hard cause he was just playing with the fish

[FishinInTheDark]

So sorry for your bad luck! I bet the little guy felt bad. We teach them to share, and then it backfires!

Turn on the Barry White, light some candles, and we'll wait for the randiest fish in captivity to go again.

My condolences,

[icereefer]

as you all know, I love my hobby and I love sharing the ups and downs with other hobbyist in the hopes, we can provide the best environment we can for or live stock. and learn from each other in hopes to keeping a healthy and happy place for or stocks to grow.
as the hobby where in is life and every day we learn a little more of how and what life is all about.
I hope you don't mind me sharing this with you all but tonite I found my little helpful hobbyist and seen how it don't matter how old you are to fall in love with this hobby. and age has no bounds on hero's.


MY LITTLE HERO:
well just a few minutes ago my Daughter and her husband and my 5 year old grandson came over. well they came over and Devry my Grandson came over with a folder of papers, and handed it to me with a sad look on his face, I opened up the folder and there where about 20 colored hand painted pictures of different colored fish my grandson and the kids in his pre-school class drew on how sad they where that all Devry's grandpa's baby fish died.
my Daughter said after they left the other day all Devry talked about was how sad he was that grandpa's fish died.
so we visited and my daughter said well we need to get home it's getting late. and Devry said to me Papa can we go look at the fish before I go home, so we headed for the fish room, which I thought was funny, because he always liked my show tank that's in the living room.
well as soon as we got in there he gives me a big hug and says I love you papa and I'm sorry, as he was digging in his little back pack he pulled out his piggy bank and said here papa, don't tell mommy because she wants me to save my money, but I want you to use this so you can buy some more baby fishies.
like the 20 pictures weren't enough,he had to hand me that piggy bank.
I tell you it was hard keeping a straight face. I just picked him up and gave him a hug and said, No you keep the piggy bank.
well sadly to say after he left, I was a little froggie in the throat.
he may only be 5 years old, but he's my little Hero.
Jim

[gman0526]

Man that's gotta be the sweetest thing anybody can ever do for you. You're one lucky Grampa, not to mention proud. He'll be a great man in the future thanks to you and your family. :coolbeans:

[bigfoot]

DITTO!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Gonna be a GREAT MAN! JUST LIKE HIS DAD AND GRANDPA :)

[FishinInTheDark]

Brings tears to my eyes. They sure have big hearts in those little bodies, don't they?

[cich1]

i my sorry about your fry Jim but it sounds like your grandson learned a life lesson that will stick with him, to often people are to quick to punish the young ones for the things they do wrong rather than take the time teach them why what they've done is wrong and show them the right path.
better luck on the next batch

[icereefer]

I thought I'd share a picture with you all of my LITTLE HERO and HELPFUL HOBBYIST.

[cich1]

thats a fine looking young man you have there Jim

[icereefer]

Well not much to report at this time.
I do still have 2 of my fry that are little troopers, there still hanging in there, they have good swimming paterns and are feeding when I give them food, there just like there parents as soon as I add the Rotifers there darting all over the place getting them. so who knows maybe they'll make it.
well another thing I'm going to try different is I'm going to go to a higher diet for my clowns in the hope to get a stronger and healther egg from them.
yesterday I went and got some fresh salmon and I will soak that in fresh lime juice, salmon is high in omega-3 fatty acids and the lime juice is full of vitamin C.
and I picked up some Beef Liver, Beef liver is a good source of water-soluble vitamins and Iron.
and I want to make them a shrimp and squid recipe adding kelp, vita-chem, vitamins and liver extract, but I'm having a hard time finding shrimp here that hasn't been bleached. :censored:
so if theres any one out there that can get fresh caught shrimp and squid, and be willing to ship me some, I'd pay for your time and shipping. but I would like right off the boat stuff.....hehehehe.
yeah and it's getting warm enough now I'm going to start another mosquito Larvae batch too.
just a note to these are recipes I have found in Joyce D. Wilkersons CLOWNFISHES book.
if your interested in clownfish, this is one of the best books I have got on understanding clownfish.
very well writen book.

Yeah Chic he's my future aquatic side kick.
Jim

[gman0526]

Well there you go, we're back to better techniqes for Reef Pimpin', take out the candles and let them clowns have some private time. We need more eggs. :)

[Ocean Singer]

I can supply you with fresh farm bred Pacific Live Shrimp, I could even ship it live :P it's the top of the line literally, my dad has about 30 employee's just studying was to make the shrimp better :P I'd have to ship it all the way from hawaii though, so it might be a little expensive :(

[icereefer]

thanks Ocean singer.
yeah I was looking for someone inland, I love my clownfish but if I start feeding them better then I do the wife. I might get home from work some day and she'll feed them to me. lol.
I just wish you weren't so far. :(

[Ocean Singer]

:-P ok, it's awefull trying to do a reef aquarium living here, I can't get certain kinds of coral and people charge $100 shipping :( and btw nice story about your grandson ;)

[bigfoot]

hey i gotta idea!!!!! and it seems to work i have a bottle of brine cysts and i took a tooth pick dipped it in the aquarium water then in the jar then back into the tank now i have little brine shrimp all over the place and i noticed my clowns and damsels picking them off the rock and glass and my damsel eggs are about 2x what they used to be so i gott about 3 inch circle of them and they are maturing faster hmmm...... and i noticed my yellow polyps pulling them outta the water and chowing down all day i have had them for about 3 weeks and all of them are budding out some are sending out 2-3 buds :) and i just dip once a week and i hit them with 2 drops of phytomax from kent for about a week every day (way overdoing it) 1 drop is good for 50 gallons evry 2-3 days :) now i have gotten rid of diatom algea and i have green algae like you get in a freshwater tank not slime or hair types so would this be marine algae of a good nature? and my snails and BLH's are super active :)

[icereefer]

well I went to a higher diet on my clownfish, I know since I changed there diet, they have been more active and fight for there food now. before the male would let her get her fill of food then would go after food but now, he still lets her get her fill but sneaks in and gets some, and there food is so high in protein and vitamins and fatty acids I don't need to feed them as much, they fill up faster and not always beggin for food.

[bigfoot]

ummm that looks gross id buy it premade myself but your a lot braver then i am have you got any eggs since the last clutch?

[gman0526]

Nice recipe, I might just try that.

[pilotrob]

that has got to be one of the nastiest things ive EVER seen! good luck Jim!

[bigfoot]

i could see blending it first and if you could pryit out of the hands of the fearfactor guy whos gonna want someone to drink it id then freeze itin an ice cube tray

[bigfoot]

and hey if ya had one of those vacuum sealer thingies you could keep it good forever or sell some in dry ice :)

[icereefer]

that has got to be one of the nastiest things ive EVER seen! good luck Jim!

well Rob after 4 kids and 5 grand kids. you think thats gross, some of the stories I could tell you of some of the things I've found under my boys beds as they where growing up. :lol:

I don't care how bad it looks, my goal is to provide my stock with the freshes food, the best source of protien and vitamins I can give them to produce strong Larvae.

And Bigfoot have you ever tryed putting octopus in a blender? believe me all you wide up with is a big ball of string wrapped around your blade, :lol: . Trust me I tryed it.
No the cheese grader is a pain but the results I get from feeding them it is worth it.
and I do have a vaccum sealer, I make usually big batches of it seal it and I'm good for years, I won't want to keep it that long for fear of getting to old and losing it's nutritions. but me and a couple of people I know that breed in this area, share. I know a few that breed fresh water fish that use this food to and get good results from this food.
but the way thy love fresh food I don't worry to much about excess nutrients and phosphates in my water column. because they leave nothing behind.
my main problem is worrying if my clean up crew gets any left overs, :lol:
Jim

[icereefer]

ummm that looks gross id buy it premade myself but your a lot braver then i am have you got any eggs since the last clutch?
yeah they layed about a week ago , but I let them go.
it was not that big of a cluster, but they should be laying there third batch here soon and usually there third batch is there last for a few months and that one in usually a good bunch around 400 eggs. last lay there was only about 80 eggs.
Jim

[Sugar Magnolia]

Thats quite a recipe! One of these days I'll have to try my hand at blending up some fresh mush for my fish. I think I'll skip the octopus though. ;)

[cich1]

I've been making my own food for my cichlids for years, its more nutritious and about $20 will feed my big guys for about 3 mons.
and they like it better then pellet foods

[bigfoot]

i dont see why your blacks would stop breeding my damsels are like a clock as are all miost small reef fish hmmm your changing anything in your tank are you? like rockwork or adding in new frags?

[bigfoot]

are your lights on a timer?
Jim are your fish on a 12-12 photo period? if yes you need a moon light because clowns reproduce by the lunar cycle also, so add a moonlight to your tank i bet it helps and there are studies going right now to see if it helps corals and such as well

[icereefer]

I run moonlights and my lights are on timers, and if I wanted to I could get them the lay like clock work every 2 weeks. my clowns I run them on a prespawn for about a month then give them a break, and let them be fish, there a breeding pair of clownfish, but I try and give them a life too.
for one I don't have the means, to get rid of all of my fish if I hatched and raised them all and the time. this time of the year, the LFS around here want to give me around $12 to $15 for each and sell them for $60.
plus I wouldn't put my Black clownfish babies in what they call display tanks.
and most don't want to pay to have them shipped overnight.
so I just keep them happy and feed them with the best food source I can offer them.
and hope I can get enough to share with fellow hobbyist. and get them to thoughs I now will take good care of them. and not breed out the blood line.
the fry that have gone to others, have no miss marked bars on them and are carbon copies of there parents.
Jim

[Brock Fluharty]

Can you put 2 different species of clownfish together? I have 2 true perculas and was thinking about getting a pair of black perculas. Would this be ok?




Brock

[icereefer]

well true percula clowns, usually don't do well to close together, I have seen 2 pairs fair well in bigger tanks with a reef wall semi dividing the center of the tank, where one pair had one side of the divided wall and the other pair had the other side.
now false percula (Ocellaris) they fair well even in small schools.

[bigfoot]

well if you get some id buy a couple from ya cause they look cool and her they are 50-75 a piece and have been cyanided

[bigfoot]

update me!

[icereefer]

yeah If I get some , I'll be posting here on the forum for those whos wanted some.
I just don't know if I'm going to have time this summer ,I might have to wait till this winter, when its slower at work, I can't get enough people in this town that wants to work so I have to be there all the time.

[Sugar Magnolia]

Heh...I could send my 19 year old to you for work. One heck of a long commute though. :D

[icereefer]

the way gas is that wouldn't work, even starting the new guys at $10 an hour......lol.
and the rent in this town is crazy, I have one of the guys that works for use living with me so he can afford to stay in this town. :roll:

[Sugar Magnolia]

I have one of the guys that works for use living with me so he can afford to stay in this town. :roll:
You are a kind soul Jim. ;)

[icereefer]

I have one of the guys that works for use living with me so he can afford to stay in this town. :roll:
You are a kind soul Jim. ;)

Kind soul? I was thinking more in line of not wanting to loose a hard worker. :lol:. there hard to find these days. plus all the kids are gone and it's nice to have someone around the home who likes to help me around the home front.
Now is that a kind soul or someone desprite.... :roll: :lol:
Jim

[Ocean Singer]

jim, I decided to try to breed some maroon clowns in my 20 gal, don't worry, it's only gonna be them, and don't tell me to get a bigger tank either, I can't afford it :poke2:

[icereefer]

good luck and keep use posted on your progress.
Im not saying to get a bigger tank I'm just throwing you the rule of thumb.
smaller clown fish or ok to breed in smaller tanks, 10-20 gal, Perc's, ocellaris.
bigger clownfish like Clark's, maroon's, tomato, should have 40-50 gal

[Ocean Singer]

actually, I might try a perc. hmm, I got a 55 gal (fresh water) and a 20 gal all set up, so I don't really wana have to take them down to breed a maroon... hmm, I have to think about this some more