Windy
Active Member
I raise clowns occasionally. I have a small set up that allows me to raise a clutch or two when it is convenient for me to stay home for a month. I have feeders on all of my tanks and I leave for up to two weeks on occasion.
My system utilizes a BRT that is hooked to the system and water circulates through it at a very slow rate. It has a central drain and that’s protected by a foam filter. The eggs are allowed to hatch in the BRT and then it is fed rotifers and green water. The turnover is so slow that the BRT needs to be heated. \
So on November 7th I put a pot with Darwin eggs into the BRT and they failed to hatch by day 10. Four days later I introduced a pot of skunk clown eggs and they too failed to hatch. I knew I was going out of town for two weeks at Christmas and there wasn’t enough time to try another clutch so I put my rotifers in the fridge, turned off the heater in the BRT and pulled the foam filter. The circulation continues but the temperature drops to about 70 F. I have since discovered that the timer on the light over the BRT wasn’t working and the light had been staying on 24/7 and was the probable cause of the no hatches.
So yesterday I was getting the BRT ready again. I was checking the air flow and wiping it down when I saw a baby clown. It is fully striped, but I am not sure what it is. It has been living and growing in the BRT with very little circulation and no heat. There were rotifers and green water left in the BRT when I pulled the filter in November, knowing that they would eventually die or go into the sump.
The mystery is how the fry got into the BRT and how it survived with no care for 60 days, at 69 – 70 F.
I was going to start another clutch of skunk clowns yesterday, but I had to get the BRT up to temp first. I was thinking the small survivor would have trouble with the rapid change in temp. I raised the temp slowly and passed on the skunk eggs. This morning I fed the little guy TDO B1 and he loaded up. My best guess is that it is a small Darwin based on the striping, but with the BRT full of green water it’s hard to tell. I also have Ocellaris clowns in the system that are breeding, but haven’t tried to raise any lately.
My system utilizes a BRT that is hooked to the system and water circulates through it at a very slow rate. It has a central drain and that’s protected by a foam filter. The eggs are allowed to hatch in the BRT and then it is fed rotifers and green water. The turnover is so slow that the BRT needs to be heated. \
So on November 7th I put a pot with Darwin eggs into the BRT and they failed to hatch by day 10. Four days later I introduced a pot of skunk clown eggs and they too failed to hatch. I knew I was going out of town for two weeks at Christmas and there wasn’t enough time to try another clutch so I put my rotifers in the fridge, turned off the heater in the BRT and pulled the foam filter. The circulation continues but the temperature drops to about 70 F. I have since discovered that the timer on the light over the BRT wasn’t working and the light had been staying on 24/7 and was the probable cause of the no hatches.
So yesterday I was getting the BRT ready again. I was checking the air flow and wiping it down when I saw a baby clown. It is fully striped, but I am not sure what it is. It has been living and growing in the BRT with very little circulation and no heat. There were rotifers and green water left in the BRT when I pulled the filter in November, knowing that they would eventually die or go into the sump.
The mystery is how the fry got into the BRT and how it survived with no care for 60 days, at 69 – 70 F.
I was going to start another clutch of skunk clowns yesterday, but I had to get the BRT up to temp first. I was thinking the small survivor would have trouble with the rapid change in temp. I raised the temp slowly and passed on the skunk eggs. This morning I fed the little guy TDO B1 and he loaded up. My best guess is that it is a small Darwin based on the striping, but with the BRT full of green water it’s hard to tell. I also have Ocellaris clowns in the system that are breeding, but haven’t tried to raise any lately.
