1st attempt Clownfish fry day 1-30

joekidwell · Jun 19, 2023

Hatch night was last night. Lights went completely out at 10:45, I cut off all flow and turned off all lights in the room. I installed the Vossen larval trap then waited an hour to turn on the little LED light. When the light came on I was surprised how many there were, 150 to 200 fry swimming around in my display, I was able to capture around 90% of them. I then transferred them to the 10 gallon tank with five gallons of display water in it. Tinted the water with rotifers then went to bed.

Wake up this morning and most of them seem to have survived the night, there a few hanging out at the bottom of the tank and possibly a few that have died on the bottom of the tank.

I will head home on my lunch break to tint the water without rotifers and just check on things

Rocktron1 · Jun 19, 2023

Following this. Very interested
Keep updating please with photos including your setup, waht the next stage will be etc

C4ctus99 · Jun 19, 2023

Following, good luck!

joekidwell · Jun 19, 2023

Sorry no pics on my lunchbreak but it looks like I'm down to 50 in 13 hours. It's just a 10 gallon tank half full, all sides painted black with a white bottom, heater and airstone set to low/medium flow. It's hard to tell with the water tinted and dim light, there may be more. I decided to add more rotifers just to get a good supply ready for them as they learn to hunt and eat. Checking how many i had per mil came to about 10 to 15 in 5 gallons of water. I'm keeping the water temp at 82 degrees. The ones I did see did seem to be healthy and active.

joekidwell · Jun 19, 2023

Just got home from work. Almost 20 hours in, no noticeable difference from this morning excep they seem to be more active. Here is a short video to show the fry. I just fed more rotifers and tinted the water again. Day three on Wednesday I'll do my first water change. I'm going to stop by sustainable aquatics first after work Wednesday to pick up some first food and some brine shrimp to hatch for day 7.

These are just run of the mill Tomato Clowns, my son picked out the juvenile male from sustainable aquatics 10 years ago when he was 3, run of the mill but a part of our family none the less, the kids are excited to see her babies.

littlefoxx · Jun 19, 2023

Following! I would love to get some tips as when mine lay eggs I want to try to raise the fry!

joekidwell · Jun 19, 2023

This is where the magic happens.

joekidwell · Jun 19, 2023

A good visual of my rotifer density through my peep hole in the larval tank. Yeah I'm using a seachem ammonia alert, I know they aren't the best but it just seemed easier for this application.

MoshJosh · Jun 19, 2023

Following! I am working on fry myself so I am excited to follow along!

joekidwell · Jun 19, 2023

littlefoxx said:
Following! I would love to get some tips as when mine lay eggs I want to try to raise the fry!

If at all possible place a pot or tile for the clownfish to lay their eggs on. Due to the location my female picked and the Anemone, I didn't have any room to place either for collection. I used the vossen larval trap, it worked great but I'm sure the stress of that merry go round causes some casualties.

joekidwell · Jun 21, 2023

Update....day three I was down to only about 15 fry yesterday, today I woke up to my clamp light flashing on and off really fast, didn't see anymore swimmers. She will lay again tonight, this time I cut a pot to fit the area I needed, hopefully she lays there instead of the glass.

Things I will do differently.

I'm scraping the paint off the front glass and will replace it with a black curtain. This will make vacuuming the bottom tinted way easier.
Water changes daily. I had read to leave them alone the first three days, that was a mistake on my part with the dead fry the first 24 hours. I did a water change on day two but I belive the damage was done. My ammonia level yesterday evening before the water change was .02

I will buy a better quality light.

I will use fresh saltwater at 1.022 instead of my tank water at 1.026 if she lays on the pot.

I will warm the phyto before tinting the water.
I will also try for a more dense culture as to not have to add as much.

Rocktron1 · Jun 22, 2023

Sorry to hear, but great you've got a plan for the next batch of eggs
My old clowns used to lay new aggs about every 12-15 days, but I did nothing and next morning after hatch they were all gone, either into the filter or eaten I presume

joekidwell · Jul 15, 2023

New clutch of eggs in the fry tank

joekidwell · Jul 21, 2023

As of today I have 3 going on day 8. A little progress, still having to use the vossen larval trap because my clown will not lay in the pots.

Next batch I will empty the larval trap every 5 minutes so they don't spin for so long. I'm going to try tinting the water but not feeding rotifers till the next day. I'm also going to use less light. One of my major problems is loosing 90% by day 2. It's a combination I believe of not tinting enough and too much light, I've seen fry on the edges of the glass and hanging out at the bottom the first 24 hours.

I have a fry tank vaccume it's hard as all get out not sucking those little guys up.

Rocktron1 · Jul 21, 2023

Hang in there mate. Trial and error until you work out a process that works. At least you only have to wait a few weeks between attempts. Imagine if they only layed eggs once a year!

Fyi- 3 alive at this point is more than I ever achieved so your on the right path, hopefully the little guys make it

Send a pic of the 3 if you get a chance

BitReef · Jul 23, 2023

My clownfish laid eggs for the first time tonight. Trying to learn as much as I can. I appreciate your posts!

joekidwell · Jul 24, 2023

Yesterday was day 9, I stopped tinting the water. Today day 10 all are gone. New clutch coming Friday night.

Max Ohm · Jul 27, 2023

joekidwell said:
As of today I have 3 going on day 8. A little progress, still having to use the vossen larval trap because my clown will not lay in the pots.

Next batch I will empty the larval trap every 5 minutes so they don't spin for so long. I'm going to try tinting the water but not feeding rotifers till the next day. I'm also going to use less light. One of my major problems is loosing 90% by day 2. It's a combination I believe of not tinting enough and too much light, I've seen fry on the edges of the glass and hanging out at the bottom the first 24 hours.

I have a fry tank vaccume it's hard as all get out not sucking those little guys up.

I collect my fry with a tube lol. I just siphon them right into their 5 gallon nursery tank. Works like a charm every time.

Here's a recent vid of a very small clutch I captured at about 60-70 DPH. Got 3 more going as well at the moment with a total of about 90 fish. So far at 90 days I have lost 1 fish total from 4 clutches.

joekidwell · Aug 13, 2023

New hatch tonight. I changed things up a bit to combat my 24 hour death syndrome, so far its a big difference.

I added less tint, less rotofers, less light and more air. All of the fry are swimming around happily.

I believe I was smothering them with food and tint previously. As soon as I would add them to the fry tank a large majority would immediately lay on the bottom and be dead by morning. By cutting the light intensity it allowed for less tint. As for the rotifers I'm using a cuvette to accurately measure them by mililiter now, I must've had 30 or more per mililiter in past hatches because to make the 15 rotifers per mililiter this time, I used way less.

I hope this clutch is the one but I know to not get my hopes up. My last hatch two fry made it to day 10, must've been some troopers considered my rookie mistakes.