Clowns cleaning rock: Is it a sign?

revhtree · Apr 22, 2012

My clowns are cleaning a certain spot on a rock near the anemone/oral they host. is that a good sign of things to come? :clap2:

Trex · Apr 23, 2012

A very good sign. Would think that in the next couple of weeks or so you have a good chance of seeing some eggs -- watching them spawn is very neat, even after 10+ years of watching it, I still am fascinated by it.

revhtree · Apr 23, 2012

This pair is about 4-5 years old. I am excited!

Trex · Apr 23, 2012

Excited for you. Years ago I was able to record my pink skunks spawning.

BarbH · Apr 23, 2012

Congrats, my fw angel pair will start cleaning an area of the tank when getting ready to spawn. It is neat to watch her lay the eggs and him try to fertilize them.

revhtree · Apr 23, 2012

Sweet more cleaning today! WOOT!

Chelle's Ocean · Apr 23, 2012

congrats.....take pics

very cool to watch the whole process, then go back and see what you may have missed

revhtree · Apr 23, 2012

Hopefully I will catch them in the act! I will have my live camera ready just in case and we can all watch!

k2parkstar · Apr 23, 2012

revhtree said:
Hopefully I will catch them in the act! I will have my live camera ready just in case and we can all watch!

Man that would be cool, you'll have to post a banner letting us all know to watch.

pumarjr · Apr 23, 2012

very cool!

phil519 · Apr 24, 2012

congrats! that is a very positive sign. Also look for the 'dance' that the male and female sometimes do together. If you are serious about it - start a rotifer colony and go get some otohime and a small tank for the fry....

I went from this:

to this (double AA battery for scale...)

to this:

and finally:

and i'm a newbie at this stuff...some guy (was in) our club has thousands of fry in his basement...crazy guy. Otohime doesn't bring out the colors in my fry...cyclopeeze did wonders though.

_sludgefactory · Apr 24, 2012

So u only feed the fry cyclopese?

Tank thread: https://www.reef2reef.com/forums/showthread.php?t=81000

LG P999 EaglesBlood 2.8, Trinity ELPmax

phil519 · Apr 24, 2012

btw if you don't want to spend all that money on otohime -the sample pack is perfect...especially if you are just doing a few hatches and not a professional breeder.

revhtree · Apr 24, 2012

I honestly would like to try my hand at raising some clowns.

phil519 · Apr 24, 2012

dkerns06 said:
So u only feed the fry cyclopese?

Tank thread: New shots of my 54 corner.

LG P999 EaglesBlood 2.8, Trinity ELPmax

no...sorry...the fry won't go for "dead" food initially...they are programmed to eat stuff that moves...hence Rotifers. You could mix in some Oto A, but watch the stuff as uneaten it will foul the water. What i mean is once you wean the fry off live rotifers to otohime, I found the fry to be rather dull in color. So I mixed in some cyclopeeze and the color just popped.

phil519 · Apr 24, 2012

revhtree said:
I honestly would like to try my hand at raising some clowns.

I started after hearing a lecture by Randy Reed at Macna in Atlantic City. he made the rotifers part seem like a shoo-in, childs play, easy stuff. I thought it was so intimidating but the rotifier colony turned out to be almost bullet proof (like he said). Of course I had to buy the rotifer food from Reed Mariculture (hahah). Workshop = new customer.

revhtree · Apr 24, 2012

Why don't you list everything I need right here to get going from scratch?

I know the info is all over the net but it doesn't hurt to keep it fresh!

phil519 · Apr 24, 2012

revhtree said:
Why don't you list everything I need right here to get going from scratch?

I know the info is all over the net but it doesn't hurt to keep it fresh!

LOL the list is endless...

I covered the food -the only twist is some people like to use Baby Brine Shrimp. I found that my fry commit suicide from eating too much of the stuff. They think that if they ate 8 rotifers, then they need to eat 8 BBS. the problem is that a single BBS is supposedly 5x more nutritious than a rotifer...it was like my fry were on drugs. Very bad losses. Otohime, cyclops were safest. BBS (decap'd) as a treat worked well.

Rotifers - two old salt buckets work well. One is probably enough, the second is a backup in case your first one crashes.
Something to feed the rotifers (live phyto or a similar product) I used rotifer plus...or something or other from Reed.
Air pump. I prefer a rigid pipe rather than airline hose. The air pumped should be enough to move the surface but not boil it. Rotifers may get stripped of their eggs if you boil it too much and then you have no colony since they cannot reproduce.
Something to sieve the rotifers when it's time to feed them. I used something from brine shrimp direct...but i'm sure someone here sells something. If you are DIY-coffee filter works.

5g or 10g tank to hold the fry. Either place the eggs and have an air pump on it, or pick up a contraption that siphons the fry out at night so you dont' have to stay up. I chose to stay up, a flashlight and a small cup and turn off all pumps/lights (on hatch night). After 8~10 days from first day of eggs being laid, the fry will hatch and swim to the surface...scoop/siphon and gently release into your tank for grow-out.

In the grow-out tank, again rigid tube is my preference...air pump. some people cover the tank (dark on the sides, bottom is white to reflect over head light). Others don't bother. I like to feed the fry tank with rotifers AND phyto/rotifier food. This way any rotifers not immediately eaten will still be able to stay nutritious in the fry tank.

After meta as the fry get bigger you can add a sponge filter for assistance in managing the ammonia and eventually you could add LR/pump to help manage it further - especially if you have a large batch. If you are really gung-ho you could set up a separate sump and chain a series of fry tanks to it. You could add a sponge filter right off but you may find that the rotifers are sucked into the sponge/and or the fry are too dumb and also get stuck.

i'm sure there's more but the head must get to the pillow...lol.

shred5 · Apr 24, 2012

revhtree said:
I honestly would like to try my hand at raising some clowns.

Don't do it it's addicting, messy, expensive and takes up allot of room. Honestly I don't miss it much at least not the mess.
Several rotifer tanks, several copepod tanks(not really needed for clowns but can help allot) several bbs hatchers, green water or algae paste, larvae tanks, growout tanks.