Here goes nothing

TvanB1 · Mar 23, 2019

I’ve decided to dive into the world of clownfish breeding. I have wanted to do this for a long time and with the breakdown of my frag tank I had an excuse. I am taking things slow and have been doing a ton of reading. Some members recommend that I start a build thread and I thought it would be a good way to track progress so here we go;

Quarantine:
Here is what I am planning for any fish that make it to the rack. All of the clowns are in a holding tank until I get the QT set up. Im using this time to fatten them up and get them ready for treatment. Thanks to the members in the disease treatment forum that helped me put this together.

10-20 gallon tank per pair. All of the tanks will include a clay plot, airstones, and an ammonia badge. Waterchanges will be done as necessary. I will be testing copper with a HR Hanna Colorimeter.

Treatment;

Metronidazole (Fish Zole) and Copper power (1.75ppm) for 14 days (ramp up over a couple days)
Transfer fish to sterile 10 gallon
2x rounds of Praziquantel (PraziPro)
Feed metronidazole/praziquantel laced food for intestinal parasites/worms
Transfer to sterile observation tank (minimum 14 days)

I ordered all of the meds and they should arrive sometime this week. Ill get more pictures going as soon as they go into QT.

Rack:
The rack will hold x4 20 gallon tanks and x5 10 gallon tanks. The filtration will consist of an external 20g fuge, 30g sump, skimmer, 3 gallons of marinepure, 40w UV, and filter socks. Water changes will be done as necessary to keep levels stable. Will add phosphate reactor if necessary. I will go more in depth on the plumbing once I have all the parts together. Basic idea is 3/4” drains that lead to a 1.5” overflowrunner and 3/4” returns for all the tanks.

Broodstock:
Current pairings;
Nebula Picasso x Bali Picasso
Snowflake x Frostbite
Regular occy x Regular occy
Bali Picasso x Doni’s lineage Snowcasso - (These two are going into my display)

Feeding;

I feed all of my pairs a variety of different foods. They get fed 5x per day. Any uneaten food is siphoned out with airline tubing every couple of days.

Broodstock diet;
LRS Fertility Frenzy
Reef Nutrition Arctipods
Reef Nutrition Fish egg
TDO Chroma Boost
PE Mysis
Live Blackworms
Live BBS
Golden Pearls reef diet

Im always looking for new foods to throw into the mix and have been thinking about trying live mysids.
I am just getting started so there is way more to come.

hdsoftail1065 · Mar 24, 2019

It's nice your doing a build thread! I doubt that I will ever try breeding but I'm following along to learn as you learn.

Reef Nutrition · Mar 25, 2019

We strongly recommend that you become good at culturing rotifers. They are the backbone to larval rearing and must be available when you need them. This is how all breeders get started when they are looking to tackle larval rearing. You can find our Compact Culture System to be useful for this purpose. We actually have everything you need to culture rotifers.

Here is a link to our CCS: https://reefnutrition.com/product_compact_culture_system.php. There is a great "How to" video further down on this page. We have rotifers: https://reefnutrition.com/product_live_rotifers.php, and the food/enrichment (RGcomplete) for them: https://reefnutrition.com/product_rgcomplete.php.

If you have any questions along the way, don't hesitate to message me here, email me, or give me a call 877-732-3276.

We look forward to supplying you with the things you need to make this a reality.

Best,
Chad & Team Reef Nutrition
[email protected]

TvanB1 · Mar 25, 2019

Reef Nutrition said:
We strongly recommend that you become good at culturing rotifers. They are the backbone to larval rearing and must be available when you need them. This is how all breeders get started when they are looking to tackle larval rearing. You can find our Compact Culture System to be useful for this purpose. We actually have everything you need to culture rotifers.

Here is a link to our CCS: https://reefnutrition.com/product_compact_culture_system.php. There is a great "How to" video further down on this page. We have rotifers: https://reefnutrition.com/product_live_rotifers.php, and the food/enrichment (RGcomplete) for them: https://reefnutrition.com/product_rgcomplete.php.

If you have any questions along the way, don't hesitate to message me here, email me, or give me a call 877-732-3276.

We look forward to supplying you with the things you need to make this a reality.

Best,
Chad & Team Reef Nutrition
[email protected]

Once the rack and tanks are in place, ill start ordering everything for the rotifers. Ill definitely have to get one of your culturing systems. Ive used RGcomplete in the past and its good stuff.

Off topic - I feed RN Roe and Arcti Pods to all of my fish. Color and girth have both improved since adding them to the menu. They are both great for wrasses, anthias, and other fish that need constant feeding. I highly recommend!

I am always impressed with your presence on the forum and willingness to help. I will definitely reach out to you once I am ready to get everything set up.
Thanks!

TvanB1 · Mar 25, 2019

hdsoftail1065 said:
It's nice your doing a build thread! I doubt that I will ever try breeding but I'm following along to learn as you learn.

Ive been doing so much reading lately everytime I close my eyes I see clownfish.

hdsoftail1065 · Mar 25, 2019

MMacro said:
Ive been doing so much reading lately everytime I close my eyes I see clownfish.

Lol! I bet!

TvanB1 · Mar 28, 2019

Moved them all into quarantine last night. 10 gallon tanks each with an air driven filter, pvc pipes, and ammonia badge. I started the copper treatment with the first dose of copper power (.75ml) last night. Added another .75ml this morning and will continue to do so twice a day until a concentration of 1.75ppm has been achieved. I also wanted to start dosing the metronidazole but found that my scale was no longer working and had to order a new one which will arrive this Saturday. They are all doing well so far and I haven’t noticed any adverse reactions to the copper.

Ramping schedule for metro (dosed every 48hrs)
Dose 1 - 125mg
Dose 2 - 150mg
Dose 3 - 200mg
Dose 4 - 250mg
Dose 5 - 250mg
Dose 6 - 250mg
Dose 7 - 250mg