Clownfish fry hatching at different times

[swill]

Is it normal for a few clown fish fry to hatch one night as the rest remain eggs on the rock they are attached to?

This happened last night. Its day 9 of the cycle and last night I waited about half an hour to an hour after the lights went out to shine the light in on the tank. I saw one little fry so we siphoned it out into a clean bucket. About 10 minutes later there was another and then another. I had 3 clown fish fry in my bucket which was half full of the same aquarium water and waited about another hour but no other egg hatched. I took the bucket and gently poured it into a clean dry 10 gallon with an air stone and small heater and turned on the light to see 2 of the 3 already dead. The third was still alive when I went to bed but it was already nose diving so I knew he wouldn't last long. I can't find the third one this morning but I assume he also didn't make it.

Do you think maybe these 3 were born premature and died because of that or do you think I did something wrong? Is siphoning fry too much for them? Has this ever happened to anyone else?

I assume the rest will hatch tonight but I obviously don't want to make the same mistake, if I even made one.

Thanks for the help.

[mike31154]

I've not tried to raise any of my Maroon pair's offspring, but my experience with hatching is that almost all the time most hatch on about the 7th evening after spawn. Perhaps 10-20% of the eggs remain on the rock & hatch the following evening. On initial hatch, the critters are actually considered larvae, not yet fry. They are very fragile at this stage. If they survive the first week, they go through a metamorphosis phase & the ones that survive this are considered true fry & will have the colour & beginnings of stripes typical of the species.

How long has your pair been spawning? I've read that the first few spawns are unlikely to be sufficiently robust to attempt transferring & trying to raise them. If you can get your hands on Joyce Wilkerson's book Clownfishes, it's a good start as a resource to raise Clowns. Other than that, there's plenty of info on the web, including specific fish breeding forums & threads. You'll need to have a phyto culture as well as rotifers going before trying to raise the larvae/fry. The phyto is food for the rotifers, which are the first food for the larvae.

[mohammadali]

does ur clown eggs white like sponges ? mine laid eggs last month and the 85% of the eggs were white like the tiny sponges grow in the tank , and after 7 days they were all gone idk if they hatched or ate etc

[Reef Puffer]

Mine do this. Like day 9 and10. I pulled the whole shell with the eggs when I first tried. The next day there was still 30% of the eggs unhatched. I returned them to the mother tank, I think it helped the parents not get too stressed. I can't tell you how siphoning well affect them? Mine lay eggs every couple weeks and have been for like 8 months now. They don't all always hatch the same night.

[swill]

Thanks Reef Puffer. It's day 9 and so far 1 has hatched. There are about 20 more in there so I am patiently waiting. I hope the rest hatch tonight.

[Myka]

Looking at them with a flashlight can disturb their hatching. I wouldn't say it is "normal" for eggs to hatch over two days, but it is common.

[Reef Puffer]

I run on average about 300 eggs or so I think. Is actually only about 50 left by the second night. Or vise versa, sometimes some hatch early. You can tell by the colour of them which ones are slower.

[swill]

There were only 20-30 eggs to begin with. 1 hatched last night before I went to bed at 11pm and when I woke this morning all the eggs were gone. The 1 that hatched didn't make it through the night in the fry tank :( oh well...hopefully they will have more in the next batch. The odds are against me when only a total of 4 hatch and are caught before being eaten.