about to pull the eggs first time need help

[frezel]

So finally my pair have left me with enough eggs to pull and hatch after a year. So I have read so much stuff just would like some support during this next phase and practical experience help
I currently will be ordering my rootifers and rg complete as well as the othimine from the internet. Once that comes I should be ready. I have a 10 gallon tank I'm gonna use a hatch tank , I have a heater and air pump as well.


Any tips tricks to growing rootifers? Should I keep two batches etc?

Any tips on transferring pot, temps in grow out tank, sg?

As you can see I am very excited but also have no experience doing it if anyone feels comfortable giving me a phone Number to text if I get into trouble feel free to pm me

 

[RacinRevo0818]

Just dont be in a rush!! The nice thing is they should lay again.. I would work on getting the rotifer culture up and being able to keep them alive before even thinking about raising fry. They have a new rotifer culture system that looks pretty cool. Hardest part with rotifers is feeding, cleaning and basically removing at least a third of your rotifers a day. Shouldn't take more then 10 min a day but its something you have to stay on top of. Definitely a good idea going with rg complete much easier then using your own phyto culture. Ive never raised fry but sounds fun.

What kind of clownfish are they? Have any pictures of them? Have fun

 

[frezel]

With each lay the male gets better now that I know I have a few hundred eggs vs he 20 or so I had before unwashed going to get my rotifers going and start raising them and maybe pull he next if not the 3 rd lay from now. Hurry lol its been a years wait I'm excited but I know I'm gonna go slow but its finally happening yeay!!!!!

 

[Midway]

Get ready, a lot of work is coming your way. Not trying to scare ya but you gonna have to stay on top of things to be able to be successful at this. I found from my own experience raising fry is that you have to stay on top of your rotifers culture. I found this is one of the MOST important things in doing this. Learn how to keep your rotifers culture(s) alive. Then just keep your lavae tanks with a high density of rotifers at all times and checking your water parms as well to keep things in check.

 

[sassAwrasse]

We have 4 cultures of rotifers going. It's definitely a good idea to have a back up in case one crashes.

We bought our rotifers and Rotigrow Plus from Reeds Mariculture. (We tried the RG Complete, but didn't seem to do well with it. So we just dose an ammonia/nitrate/nitrite remover as needed)

1 recommendation I would make is to split up your phytoblend (whichever you get from them) either into small 8oz water bottles (don't fill to top, just 1/2 way) or in ice cube trays...and freeze them. A little bit of their phytos go a long way and you don't want the rest to go bad.

We bought 2 different size sieves from florida aqua farms (1 to capture the detritus and 1 to capture the rotifers).
(Go to lowes/home depot and get some of the plastic buckets that have the measurements on the side (we utilize the ounces alot)....just a tip. This allows you to measure how much you're removing each day)

We used a 5 gallon bucket and followed the directions that came with the rotifers. Once our water volume was about 4 gallons in that bucket, we let it go for a couple days.

Once the culture was dense enough, we started getting rid of about 100oz a day and replacing with newly mixed (and sterilized) salt water.
After a few weeks, we split the culture in 2...then eventually 2 again.

It isn't necessary to split more than twice, we just have alot of clownfish pairs. Like I said, good to have a backup.
You can also bottle up your rotifers with a couple drops of your phyto and keep in the fridge for 2-3 weeks as a backup if you don't have the space for another culture.

Rotifers don't need light, so using a white 5gallon bucket is best, IMO. Allows you to see how clear/dirty the water/bucket gets.

We feed the rotifers we cull everyday to our display tanks, and alot of the corals open up almost instantly. Neat to see.

Some people are intimidated by the amount of work. Once you get into a routine, it is pretty easy.

Just make sure not to cross contaminate your rotifer cultures with each other or with other tanks in your home.

Once a week, I pour each culture through the sieve that collects detritus to remove all detritus from the culture. I then wipe down the original bucket (as detritus collects on the sides) and transfer the culture back in.

As for heating the culture, I don't but that's because of my conditions. We have a separate bedroom in our house that is the "fish room" and the temperature is always very warm in there. So our rotifers are ok at room temperature. Depending on your situation, you may need a heater.

Stability in parameters is key though.

Good luck.
If you have any questions, feel free to PM me as I don't check this part of the forum often.

 

[dustinhhv]

I actually just started doin this as well. The above info is great, but how do you know if your cultures have been contaminated/crashed? Is a Microscope the only way to check? Thanks!

 

[ChrisKey]

When you strain them through the sieve you will see white, clear, brown, or green specks everywhere. My sieve actually gets clogged up after running about 2 cups through it. So I know to put 2 cups in my sieve and then use it to feed the fry. If you don't have anything in the sieve, you may have crashed. There may be other ways to tell as well but this is the only way I check mine.

 

[Midway]

I got one of those Loupes from Ebay that magnifies up to 30x times. That's what I use to see how my rotifers cultures are doing. I suck 1 milliliter of water with a syringe from the cultures, I put it in ones of those testing glass tubes that you use to test nitrate or whatever, I place the tube on top of the flashlight, to illuminate the tube from the bottom up so I can see the rots with the loupe, then I count the number of rotifers that I see through the loupe.

That's how I see how my cultures are doing. If I can see a number of females carrying eggs, that's a healthy culture, if I only see males that's not good, that means they have a lot of ammonia in the culture water and they're getting a lot of stress that only males are being produce and if that keeps going, the culture its gonna crash eventually. So to maintain the culture healthy, water changes in a daily basis and some kind of ammonia neutralizer needs to be added to the culture water to keep them going.

 

[dustinhhv]

trying both of these right now. thank you!

 

[frezel]

ok so im gonna place an order from reeds marine and goes as follows tell me what i should save on or bulk up on.

1. rg complete RG Complete 20 oz. 20.00
2. Live Rotifers: Brachionus plicatilis (L-type rotifer) 20.00 for 1 million.
3. Hobbyist Breeder Pack: 1 of each small size of TDO (SMALL, MEDIUM, LARGE, A, B1, B2 and C1)
Food for every size fish in your tank! Save almost 15% over individual retail price! 55.00
this i am not sure of i already have a brand new 3 oz container of tdo A, which seems like plenty and about the right size for baby fish not sure of the other sizes like the small, medium and large extruded pellets im sure there even smaller. if you have experience with them plase suggest which ones to order. and which ones i could do without and when its time just to switch to regular food..

ill probally order the filter floss and a filter for rotifers as well.

 

[sassAwrasse]

Skip the breeder pack. Not worth getting a lot of extra food unless you know you'll have fry to feed.

 

[frezel]

Skip the breeder pack. Not worth getting a lot of extra food unless you know you'll have fry to feed.

thats the thing i will have fry soon, but i find all these sizes are silly and dont think i need them all, if i could focus on a few sizes then switch to regular food you can get at lfs. but im not sure which, like i mentioned i have otohime A maybe get a B and call it a day. let me know what you guys think

 

[Midway]

What I do here is I keep fry on rots until meta, around 8 to 9 days, then I start them on B1 overlapping rots for the next 4 days or so then switch them on B1 only. I keep then on B1 until around 25 days or so then I start giving them B2 and flakes after that overlapping B1 for the next 3 to 5 days, then completely switch them to B2 and flakes after 1 month or so. After that, I keep them on C1, C2 and flakes.

 

[Clownfish Depot]

What I do here is I keep fry on rots until meta, around 8 to 9 days, then I start them on B1 overlapping rots for the next 4 days or so then switch them on B1 only. I keep then on B1 until around 25 days or so then I start giving them B2 and flakes after that overlapping B1 for the next 3 to 5 days, then completely switch them to B2 and flakes after 1 month or so. After that, I keep them on C1, C2 and flakes.

Great advice! We do the same thing

 

[frezel]

of course i get my stuff from reeds and then clowns decide to lay crappy nest, after laying so many good ones. so now i am babysitting rotifers with a handful of baby clowns potentially to raise. ughh i hate this ....

 

[frezel]

So my first hatch made it past meta, I.had about a 10% loss . When.can I take the black sides off the tank? Clowns already.at.day 15 have markings so.awesome , and eating othimie a for me.

 

[cobraz]

Any Pics... sounds very cool to see.

 

[frezel]

I'll try they so small lol

 

[frezel]

 

[frezel]