Clownfish breeding questions. Need help

[MnFish1]

I drew you a diagram of what I suggested. You want something easily removable. My guess is you will not be raising clowns enough to change your sump

EDIT - IF you decide to stop breeding - even temporarily - you might want the system away from your main display tank.

 

[MnFish1]

Sorry I dont have an app to draw it up. What I was thinking is basically the same concept as running a growout rack on a mini scale. My sump pump would fill both tanks and they would both return into the same sump chamber. My sump pump currently only pumps water into my display. It uses vinyl tubing. I was thinking of using a "T" splitter to direct some of the sump pump water into a 10 gallon tank positioned beside my display tank. I would use a reducer and/or valve to control the flow into the 10g. The 10g would be drilled with an overflow that returns into the sump chamber where display tank water enters. It would be the same water flowing thru the whole system. I would have a second overflow pipe on the 10g to prevent overfilling should the return pipe on my display get blocked somehow. I currently only run my sump pump at level 3 of 10 so it's not gonna overwork my pump if I ramp up the flow. I'm thinking this wouldnt require me needing to run another return pump and HOB overflow. Seems easy to remove as well. Just pull the 10 and splice the return tubing back together ( or replace it). Sorry if this still doesnt make sense.Your way makes me nervous about what would happen if the 10 gallon return pump died and the display overflow overflowed the 10g. Maybe I missed something?

the ten gallon cannot overflow. You se the overflow in your display tank so that it just barely overflows
the 10 gallon on the bottom does not have to be completely full

 

[Ntimm]

I drew you a diagram of what I suggested. You want something easily removable. My guess is you will not be raising clowns enough to change your sump

Can I ask why you say I wont be raising clowns long enough? I've spent months researching breeding and raising fry and spent 2 years waiting for the clowns to mature. I've already talked to 2 lfs that are interested in buying the juveniles and have fish suppliers lined up to buy bulk, should I end up overstocked. The purpose of attaching a 10g to my system, instead of a seperate system, is to cut down my initial expense and have stability. I have an extra room that wil become a hatchery/growout should things work out, but no point in starting out big during the learning curve.

 

[MnFish1]

Can I ask why you say I wont be raising clowns long enough? I've spent months researching breeding and raising fry and spent 2 years waiting for the clowns to mature. I've already talked to 2 lfs that are interested in buying the juveniles and have fish suppliers lined up to buy bulk, should I end up overstocked. The purpose of attaching a 10g to my system, instead of a seperate system, is to cut down my initial expense and have stability. I have an extra room that wil become a hatchery/growout should things work out, but no point in starting out big during the learning curve.

The only reasons might be 1) it can be extremely frustrating (as you've seen - with egg eating, etc) 2). You will need a huge amount of tank space to raise the Fry 3) Since they can spawn every 2 weeks - you will very quickly find yourself with too many fish (if you're successful) - and then what? But - it sounds like you have a good system/ideas in place for this. My main point was 'if' you want to stop - you can easily remove the extra stuff from your tank. I didn't mean to necessarily suggest you would stop. I just think my idea is better.... But I wasn't trying to quash your dream. I hope you have good luck. When you succeed - it would be great for you to start a build thread showing how you connected everything, and the process of breeding, etc. I'm not sure that I have seen an article here about that

 

[DJF]

Fwiw- I did just that- separated a spawning pair in a 10g on the same system with the intent to grab the fry and put them in a separated tank. I did this after an entire clutch was poached by mysis... the trap works great for fish fry and mysis! You’re adding 10g of water volume and not really adding any additional nutrients assuming you’re feeding the same. In my opinion it’s much safer to add 10g to a larger system than keeping it separate and not getting the same filtration.

I posed the question about adding the fry tank to the same system to tech support at reefnutriton. The answer was that there is some benefit because of the bacteria population but more drawbacks (some mentioned above) so ultimately I am keeping the fry tank off the system and keeping up with daily maintenance.

 

[Greenreef75]

I agree with DJF on adding the brood stock tank to your main system would defiantly work. I believe the reason to separate the two is not to foul your main display because if you want them to spawn more frequently you have to feed a lot, but it seems like you have a plan. I would love to follow your breeding thread if you start one. I'm doing the same right now and have a clutch hatching tonight in my main display. I will be using the vossen trap. This will be the first real attempt at it. I'm with you of research, I bought all the books and watched all the youtube vids and threads here. Good luck.

How many days after the eggs were layed did they disappear?

 

[DJF]

I agree with DJF on adding the brood stock tank to your main system would defiantly work. I believe the reason to separate the two is not to foul your main display because if you want them to spawn more frequently you have to feed a lot, but it seems like you have a plan. I would love to follow your breeding thread if you start one. I'm doing the same right now and have a clutch hatching tonight in my main display. I will be using the vossen trap. This will be the first real attempt at it. I'm with you of research, I bought all the books and watched all the youtube vids and threads here. Good luck.

How many days after the eggs were layed did they disappear?

Good luck! One heads up with the vossen trap that it could attract and capture shrimp as well & they can potentially eat the clown larvae. (That’s what happened to me on my first attempt) Also be prepared to siphon some fry into the fry tank from the water column. You need to do this all with minimal lighting. A dim red flashlight can help.

 

[MnFish1]

Good luck! One heads up with the vossen trap that it could attract and capture shrimp as well & they can potentially eat the clown larvae. (That’s what happened to me on my first attempt) Also be prepared to siphon some fry into the fry tank from the water column. You need to do this all with minimal lighting. A dim red flashlight can help.

I used a bright white flashlight - which attracted hundreds of Fry - I used a small airline tubing to siphon them into small containers (with little 'friction') - which I then combined. Feeding was the problem.

 

[DJF]

I used a bright white flashlight - which attracted hundreds of Fry - I used a small airline tubing to siphon them into small containers (with little 'friction') - which I then combined. Feeding was the problem.

Good to know.... I was so afraid to turn on any bright light as I had heard it would stall the hatching

 

[MnFish1]

Good to know.... I was so afraid to turn on any bright light as I had heard it would stall the hatching

So they hatch just like cichlids. You can see their tails moving. They become free swimming when it becomes completely dark. On that day when they turn silver I would shut off the pump about 15 minutes before dark. Then wait. I used my iPhone flashlight. And they all swam up to the light

 

[Greenreef75]

Used the vossen trap last night with pretty good success.

 

[Uncle99]

We use separate tanks, simple and with clay pot.
The tank is divided in half, horizontally by a plastic wall with hundreds of 1/4” holes, which allow fry to pass, but not parents.
On spawn night, a small light is turned on opposite side of parents two hours after dark
Spawn will run from eggs to the light.
In the morning, move parents to new tank, remove divided, and start your rotifers.

 

[15aleo]

My clownfish started spawning and I'm hoping some clownfish breeders can answer a few questions for me.

1. Is it ok to attach a 10 gallon tank to my display sump, for the purpose of housing the breeding pair? I understand that feeding a breeding pair risks fouling the water, but I already feed them pretty heavy and my nitrate stays at 5 or below, with phosphate hovering around .03. My skimmer is rated for 90 gallons and running about 50 gallons total water volune. The breeding tank would be bare bottom with uneaten food being siphoned out.

2. If adding a 10 gallon breeder tank to my system doesnt cause any nutrient issues, would I use only display tank water for the larval and growout tank?

3. Can i use display tank water when performing water changes on the larval and growout tank (provided theres no elevated nitrates).

Thanks for your time and I look forward to your input!

Following this post, I’m hoping to start breeding 2 snow storm clownfish.

 

[Pete Luna]

If they breed and lay in your main display why change that? I have 14 pairs my best pair are in my main display I use a clay pot pull the eggs on hatch day put into 10gal take with fresh water, I never use parent water,

 

[MnFish1]

Following this post, I’m hoping to start breeding 2 snow storm clownfish.

As you alluded to - the problem here is feeding the fry. My clowns would routinely spawn on exactly the same place - and the idea of a clay pot - which can be removed just before hatching is a good one.

My tendency (if you have room to add a separate tank to your sump) would be to let the fish breed in your main tank - and then move the eggs before hatching (shortly before) to the attached tank. I'm not sure how you will be able to (easily) avoid the fry being sucked up against any filtration media etc - but it will make feeding less difficult with regards to fouling water and water changes - and will avoid any changes in water chemistry etc. The amount of phytoplankton added to the 'baby tank' should not 'foul' the larger tank. Good luck with your attempt. I tried putting the fry in a 'breeding trap' in my sump - but the flow was still to high such that they got washed away. On the other hand - I have also had people breed clowns in their display - and find babies in their sump - so there may be enough food for at least some of them to live without you needing to do much of anything,