First Successful Batch
Printed From: Utah Reefs
Category: Breeding
Forum Name: Livestock Breeding and Rearing
Forum Description: This is the place to discuss breeding and rearing of our tank inhabitants.
URL: http://www.utahreefs.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=51285
Printed Date: December 27 2024 at 2:29pm
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Topic: First Successful Batch
Posted By: Jeffatpm
Subject: First Successful Batch
Date Posted: September 10 2011 at 3:51pm
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I wanted to use this post as a blog type entry to recieve comments or suggestions on my first Successful Batch. Last night my Maroon eggs hatched, and night before that was the perc eggs that hatched.
I caught them all using a turkey baster and put them in my larva section.
I have put a ton of rotifers in the section but woke up this morning and found about half of the larva dead.
I added a bubbler into the section thinking it needed more oxygen and flow.
So far so good, I'll keep everyone updated.
------------- 210 Reef with loads of LEDS Large Fishey Room Located Near Jordan Landing in West Jordan. |
Replies:
Posted By: ptronsp
Date Posted: September 10 2011 at 4:08pm
That is terrific!  . When I first started out raising clowns it took me awhile to get it down to have more larvae live then when I initially started. I still have quite a bit of loss so you just have to be patient and keep trying.The turkey baster method catching them may possibly be to stressful and therefore cause too much motion and maybe causing the death as well. Make sure they get plenty of rotifers? Are you using the green water method? Also, can you take a pic of the set up you decided to go with for the grow out? This is awesome! Congrats! ------------- The only clowns I like are in my tank! |
Posted By: Jeffatpm
Date Posted: September 10 2011 at 6:29pm
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I was trying to think of other ways to catch them, I wasn't fond of the net to catch them fearing it would hurt them and them being out of the water.
I do have plenty of rotifers in there and I add more about three times a day to keep it thick. I am using the green water method, and I add some of the greenwater once per day.
I will absolutely get some pics up asap. ------------- 210 Reef with loads of LEDS Large Fishey Room Located Near Jordan Landing in West Jordan. |
Posted By: davser
Date Posted: September 10 2011 at 6:59pm
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The way I did it when mine were laying, was simple someone would hold the light at the top near the water and when alot gathered I would dip a cup and catch them, it works really good I cought about 90% everytime ------------- It's not about what you know but about who you know |
Posted By: Jeffatpm
Date Posted: September 10 2011 at 8:21pm
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I thought about that, and I tried using airline tubing as a suction to a container outside the tank, as if I was doing a water change. Problem is those little buggers are quick. You get next to them and start sucking with the turkey baster and they take off like a rocket! ------------- 210 Reef with loads of LEDS Large Fishey Room Located Near Jordan Landing in West Jordan. |
Posted By: davser
Date Posted: September 10 2011 at 9:01pm
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Try the cup thing it works keep it close to the light so that they will have less chance to scape and slowly submerge it, if you ever come to salt lake I can show you how I do it so yoy can get a better idea ------------- It's not about what you know but about who you know |
Posted By: BobC63
Date Posted: September 10 2011 at 9:21pm
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Do what Dave said, use a flashlight and a cup - it really works! ------------- - My Current Tank: 65g Starfire (sitting empty for 2+ years) - * Marine & Reef tanks since 1977 * |
Posted By: ptronsp
Date Posted: September 10 2011 at 10:15pm
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Yep, we use a clear cup and scoop them out with the flashlight. Works like a charm! Pam ------------- The only clowns I like are in my tank! |
Posted By: Mark Peterson
Date Posted: September 11 2011 at 11:37am
That's great Kevin.  Dave, do you give them to Pam or to Russ&Kathy to be raised? Where are Russ and Kathy anyway? Haven't seen them here for a long time. ------------- Reefkeeping Tips, & quick, easy setup tricks: www.utahreefs.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=9244 Pay it forward - become a paid WMAS member
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Posted By: davser
Date Posted: September 11 2011 at 12:36pm
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I was giving them to pam but they stoped laying although I think they might be laying behind the rock but I cant really tell ------------- It's not about what you know but about who you know |
Posted By: Jeffatpm
Date Posted: September 11 2011 at 10:42pm
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I'll keep the idea about the cup in mind, yeah that might be a lot easier. I'm finding I'm going through rotifers very quickly, I have two 5 gal buckets and I'm not sure if they can reproduce quick enough to keep up with the demand. Tomorrow I'm headed to BSD to get some algae paste and darken that water up pretty good! Here is a pic of the tank. - I've used plastic dividers and have attached plastic cross stitch material. It's a hard plastic that keeps everyone in their own place. You can see on the left is the separate tank I have the babies in.  Here is an above view of the babies separate tank. - It's an acclimitization box that elite aquatics made that has slits on the side. I got some fine material and covered the slits. It allows a touch of flow and I add water into it to flush any bad water out through the cloth. I use that same cloth to catch my rotifers so I know it's very tightly woven, and as you can see I added the bubbler.  With the babies I have left I think I've made it over the first hurdle - I can see they have full bellies from all the rotifers they have been chowing down on.
------------- 210 Reef with loads of LEDS Large Fishey Room Located Near Jordan Landing in West Jordan. |
Posted By: ptronsp
Date Posted: September 11 2011 at 10:58pm
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This is awesome! Yep, their cute little bellies are nice and silver when they are full of rotifers :). You should be very proud. Russ and Kathy had a crash and lost a lot of babies. They since have been so busy I don't believe they have been raising larvae lately. I was able to raise 8 baby maroons :). I know that sounds lame , but these little buggers were hard for me compared to my Mochas. I can't wait until my clowns start laying again. Pam ------------- The only clowns I like are in my tank! |
Posted By: davser
Date Posted: September 11 2011 at 11:10pm
After so many tries I think 8 is a good number pam, im pretty sure mine are laying but I just cant see them I tried looking for the through the window outside my house but the glass is covered with coraline i cant see anything through the glass, but once I can get scrape it off or the star laying on a spot where I can see ill let you know pam ------------- It's not about what you know but about who you know |
ptronsp wrote:Posted By: ptronsp
Date Posted: September 12 2011 at 3:57pm
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I LOVE it! ------------- The only clowns I like are in my tank! |
Posted By: Jeffatpm
Date Posted: September 13 2011 at 12:08pm
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Hmmm well I'm now down to two and I still have rotifers in there and I really only found one dead guy on the bottom as I was cleaning the bottom the their tank. I've looked over everything and can't find anywhere they could get out. I have gotten what appears to be dead rotifers on the bottom layer of their tank - could this be causing a problem? ------------- 210 Reef with loads of LEDS Large Fishey Room Located Near Jordan Landing in West Jordan. |
Posted By: ptronsp
Date Posted: September 13 2011 at 1:15pm
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Mark is going to be much more equipped to help you with your set up. From what I have seen of yours and his, they are very close to the same kind of set up. I raise my clowns in 10 gallon, bare bottom tanks. If I have a problem with the rotifers I can just vacuum the bottom of the tank to clear them. I can clearly see the free swimming rotifers and I keep my water much greener then yours. My basic set up is a sponge filter, heater, cheato and bubbler.. that's it. I don't use sand, rock or anything else. Once the babies get a little larger and go through meta I add a clay pot and maybe a piece of LR. Remember one they go through meta it is very difficult for them. You will also have loss there. I have found depending on the species it usually is between day 7 to 12. They will get kinked tales and mine usually are less active and hover on the bottom. As I have said before, the first few batches were very hard for me and a learning experience. In my first batch, I was only able to keep 1 alive. After time I was able to find what worked for me and tweaked things which in turn I had better success. What kind of filtration do you have? Pam ------------- The only clowns I like are in my tank! |
Posted By: Jeffatpm
Date Posted: September 13 2011 at 2:37pm
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I do vacuum out the bottom of their tank daily. I have a sump running on the tank that has a skimmer, refugium, macro, and lr. In the larva tank I have just an airstone for oxygen and circulation in that tank. The bubbles aren't foaming at the top so I feel the water is clean in there. I can see the free swimming rotifers as well but you are right the greenwater dissipates into the larger tank. I agree I'm bound to lose quite a few the first few times, I just am scratching my head trying to think what I can improve upon. I already have new eggs laid from my maroon's so I want to make sure I take different action next time to ensure their survival. ------------- 210 Reef with loads of LEDS Large Fishey Room Located Near Jordan Landing in West Jordan. |
Posted By: ptronsp
Date Posted: September 13 2011 at 2:55pm
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How do you clean the sand? Pam ------------- The only clowns I like are in my tank! |
Posted By: Jeffatpm
Date Posted: September 13 2011 at 3:20pm
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They are in the suspended tank that doesn't have sand. It's an acrylic box. That's why I'm scratching my head I can't even find the dead ones but maybe a couple, but I don't see anywhere for them to escape the acrylic box. ------------- 210 Reef with loads of LEDS Large Fishey Room Located Near Jordan Landing in West Jordan. |
Posted By: ptronsp
Date Posted: September 13 2011 at 5:27pm
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Ahhhh ok. What about the lighting? Is it directly over the acclimation box? When mine first hatch I use a paper towel under my light so the light is not too bright, but bright enough for them to search for rotifers. What kind of lighting? Pam ------------- The only clowns I like are in my tank! |
Posted By: Jeffatpm
Date Posted: September 13 2011 at 6:05pm
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I have a led par 38 bulb from home depot, and it is not directly above them, it's to the side of their box. ------------- 210 Reef with loads of LEDS Large Fishey Room Located Near Jordan Landing in West Jordan. |
Posted By: Mark Peterson
Date Posted: September 13 2011 at 6:11pm
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In my tank the larvae just kind of dissolved soon after they died. Maroon larvae are so much smaller than Percula/Ocellaris, If it were me, I'd just focus on the Percula larvae. They are much more popular than Maroons anyway. I also noticed that bright light right over the larvae. I can see from the pic that it's much closer to the larvae than I would do. My larvae tank had very little light over it. Have you seen the pics? Before I left, did you see my Clownfish Nursery? I'm wondering if we might start at the beginning to evaluate your setup? Would that be okay? What size is this tank and why is it divided into 6 sections? ------------- Reefkeeping Tips, & quick, easy setup tricks: www.utahreefs.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=9244 Pay it forward - become a paid WMAS member
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Posted By: ptronsp
Date Posted: September 13 2011 at 6:16pm
Wow, I actually agree with Mark  . The maroon Larvae are much smaller and in my experience, much harder to raise. I too would concentrate on getting the percs down first. High five Mark.. we actually agree... .Pam ------------- The only clowns I like are in my tank! |
Posted By: Jeffatpm
Date Posted: September 13 2011 at 10:55pm
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Mark, if you look at the second pic you'll see the light is to the side of the larva tank, not right above it. Yeah I'm game to evaluate the entire process and setup, that's why I started this post. I divided the 120 gallon (4x2) into the six sections to keep each set of parents in their own section(the overflow sections) and then can put their babies on each side as they grow older. The section in the middle is unused at this time and I was thinking another species like cardinals or dragonetts, but one species at a time. I did see pictures of your setup. I want to somehow keep the larva in this tank so that there is so much water flow I don't have to worry about ammonia spikes or similar that could cause them all to die - hence the modified acclimatization box. The larger larva most definitely would be easier to start, the maroon's are the ones that get busy every week, this last week was the perc's first clutch of eggs. ------------- 210 Reef with loads of LEDS Large Fishey Room Located Near Jordan Landing in West Jordan. |
Posted By: Jeffatpm
Date Posted: October 29 2011 at 5:21pm
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Gosh I'm getting a bit frustrated with this whole process - Still no sucess. I had a couple other batches and added a small amount of algea paste into the babie container and by morning babies were all dead. The rotifer buckets keep going from full and doing well to dead so fast. Frustrating because I hear people say you have to change out half the bucket daily, but Mark you've indicated that you changed out the water when it gets foamy on top from the amonia.
I think I may try the separate tank soon and figure out something to work a bit better. - Is it essentially you pull the eggs out and use a bubbler or you have them hatch with the parents and then pull the parents out after the babies hatch?
Thanks for everyones support and motivation. ------------- 210 Reef with loads of LEDS Large Fishey Room Located Near Jordan Landing in West Jordan. |
Posted By: ptronsp
Date Posted: October 30 2011 at 10:52pm
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I can understand your frustration, I did the same thing. It took me about 5 hatches before I got it down. I would definitely stick with your percs rather then maroons, they are far more difficult. I guess I didn't do what is normal with my rotifers. I filtered out my rots like once a month  .. Do you have rigid tubing in the rotifer buckets with a bubbler running bubbles? I typically run a bubble per second. You will get it down. I find raising them in a 10 gallon the easiest. I collect the larvae after they hatch from their parents and put them in the 10 gallon to raise. If you would like me to come over one day I would be more then happy too. Pam ------------- The only clowns I like are in my tank! |
Posted By: Jeffatpm
Date Posted: October 31 2011 at 9:20pm
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Pam, Sure if your in the area, I'm at like 39th and 9th. I'll be around most the day tomorrow and am usually here in the mornings. I work wed-sat PM sun AM. Text so I know to be home. 801.358.1353 ------------- 210 Reef with loads of LEDS Large Fishey Room Located Near Jordan Landing in West Jordan. |
Posted By: ptronsp
Date Posted: October 31 2011 at 9:24pm
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The weekends work best for me, but I would be more then happy to come over :). We can get all excited over our fish nerdism.. lol. I will text you when I get a better idea..:) Pam ------------- The only clowns I like are in my tank! |