Delay clownfish hatch?

[Waters]

My clownfish eggs look like they are ready to hatch.....I moved them into a separate tank today. Unfortuantely my rotifers got delayed in shipment (as does every important shipment lately it seems). Could I delay their hatching by a day if I left the lights on all night? WIll that harm the eggs or the hatching? Only food I will have available at hatching is Reef Nutrition roti-feast which I assume will not work. My three options are to try and delay the hatching by one day, feed roti-feast on day one, or not feed at all until later in the day (of the hatching) when the rotifers arrive....they are due here tomorrow afternoon.

 

[Rocks reef]

I would continue on as planned and feed a small amount of roti-feast until the live rotifers arrive. Personally, I wouldn't risk "delaying" the hatch, leaving the lights on could potentially harm the eggs and/or fry. Mother nature will still do her thing.

 

[Waters]

I would continue on as planned and feed a small amount of roti-feast until the live rotifers arrive. Personally, I wouldn't risk "delaying" the hatch, leaving the lights on could potentially harm the eggs and/or fry. Mother nature will still do her thing.

Thanks......I didn't think they would feed on the roti-feast at all. I just need to get by from hatch time overnight until the following afternoon.

 

[Anna K]

@Waters since you posted this yesterday, did they hatch overnight?

 

[Rocks reef]

I'm curious as well!

 

[Waters]

They actually did not :-) Looks like everything will work out......rotifers are out for delivery and they will most definitely hatch tonight.

 

[Anna K]

@Waters I'm invested in your fry! Did they hatch last night? :D

Do the babies eat a lot at first? Like would they destroy a bottle of rotifers in one day?

 

[Waters]

@Waters I'm invested in your fry! Did they hatch last night? :D

Do the babies eat a lot at first? Like would they destroy a bottle of rotifers in one day?

They actually did hatch ...at least half of them lol. Not sure what that means since the lights are supposed to remain on once they hatch to allow them to keep eating (the remaining eggs will not hatch with the lights on). I am very new to this but my understanding is they start eating as soon as they are born (which is why the rotifers are supposed to be in the tank before they hatch) and keep eating until around day 15 where they can then be weened onto slightly larger foods. A 10 gallon tank is supposed to have around 350k rotifers to start.....I am not sure how fast they move through those. Most recommend having a culture of live rotifers that they can keep pulling from.......almost seems like a necessity since I am going to blow through my 2 million rotifers pretty quickly I think.

 

[Waters]

Well out of the 20+ eggs that did hatch, I managed to keep 8 which are still alive and doing very well. They have moved on to eating brine shrimp and have quadrupled in size, actively swimming around. I will try and grab some pics if anyone is interested.

 

[Anna K]

Definitely interested in seeing! I'm sorry you lost quite a few, but if this is your first time, I think you're doing fantastic with the eight you still have!

 

[Waters]

Well, I have learned that it is very difficult to take a picture of rice sized fish swimming around in dim lighting lol. This is the best I can do.....one of the seven. Strange that they have so much orange. The parents are both black/mocha storms with almost no orange at all. Wonder if they darken with age?

 

[Waters]

Some new pictures.....growing quick. Looks like there will be some interesting patterns as they start to mature.

 

[Anna K]

Look at those cute little faces :3

 

[Waters]

Anybody have any idea why 6 week old clownfish would huddle together near the top against the glass? I know when they are first born they will do that if the lighting is too bright. I have tried different levels of lighting but I cannot get them to leave the side of the glass?

 

[MnFish1]

Anybody have any idea why 6 week old clownfish would huddle together near the top against the glass? I know when they are first born they will do that if the lighting is too bright. I have tried different levels of lighting but I cannot get them to leave the side of the glass?

Do you have hiding places in the tank - is there a lot of flow?

 

[Waters]

Do you have hiding places in the tank - is there a lot of flow?

I do not have hiding places....wasn't sure at what age I should introduce them. Very little flow....just a sponge filter in the tank as of right now.

 

[Waters]

Turns out it was related to the lighting after all. The babies were still on 24 hours of light.....I slowly acclimated them to following a normal lighting schedule and they are starting to swim all over the tank.

 

[Anna K]

@Waters how are the babies doing now? Any new photos to share

 

[Waters]

@Waters how are the babies doing now? Any new photos to share

Hey Anna....snapped a quick pic of a few of them. They have graduated to a live rock/filter setup and are eating normal foods. Impossible to take a good pic because they NEVER stop moving lol. I am still amazed at the difference in color from one to the next. I have one that is almost pure white while a couple of others are almost all black/brown.

 

[BigDaddyHouseboater]

Wondering how your little family is doing. Did you ever introduce them into the main display tank?