clownfish fry
 

is anyone in the Vancouver area breeding marine fish, specifically clown fish?

My two Ocellaris Clowns deposited their (very) first batch of eggs against the rock, two days ago. I am thinking about raising them.

Would love to hear if anyone has any experiences to share.
Especially if its possible to feed the fry with dry food.

I am also happy to catch the fry if you have the patience to raise them.
Alternatively, is anyone willing to split a rotifer culture with me?


Thanks and happy reefing.

sorry, this was meant to appear in the General/Marine Fish forum.

Is there any chance to move it?

Not quite that easy. There is a ton of information on the web on how to raise clownfish.

You might want to first start trying to collect the fry once they hatch first. It will likely take you at least 10 attempts before you are able to scoop up any fry.

It take about 7 to 8 days to hatch and they hatch out at about 2 hours after dark. Turn of the pumps and get a bowl or something to scoop them up with and use a flash flight they are attracted to the light. It will likely take you about 10 tries before you can even catch any.

Once you have learned how to collect them then the real fun starts. Now it gets really difficult and time consuming. If you still want to raise fry after all this work then you will need to get a set up and food. Getting them to live through metamorphosis is extremely difficult. This is where most people hit the wall.

You might want to try something a little easier like saltwater mollies or bangai cardinals first.

Thanks for your quick response Frogger.

I ve been practicing with peppermint shrimp before and managed to get one single anemone shrimp all the way through to adulthood.
Catching them won’t be the issue (I hope). I built a larvae snatcher with a light to attract them. With the shrimp I was successful just siphoning them out. So that is my plan-B for the clowns.

The shrimp ate bbs from day one, but I read clown fry will need something smaller like rotifers for the first 10 days. Or do you know if there is a way using dry food? I was thinking about trying reef-roids they seem pretty small, since I don’t have any rotifers.

It’s great to know that people have actually done it before.

You need to use rotifers and you have to keep the population up in the water so that the fry don't have to spend too much energy to find food. Biggest issue will be keeping the tank clean. If you can get them past metamorphosis (I believe it is about 10 days) you are halfway home. I have not gotten past metamorphosis, although it has been over 20 years since I tried.

Dry food and BBS will not work for clownfish. BBS too big and not nutritious enough. Dry food does not move like prey so they won't take it and it pollutes the water way too fast.

Rotifers are easy to culture and nowadays with phytoplankton in a bottle you don't have to culture phytoplankton (which is a real pain). It is doable but not going to be easy.

I have a culture of rotifers/copepods if you are looking for a local source. Been keeping them for coral food for several years.

Those are great news.

I love to give it a try, I have a little 5 gal tank that is plumbed into my main system. That should stay ammonia free.
I also have a 5 gal bucket and airpump I could use to keep the rotifers, might even keep them outside in those temperatures...

I am planning to come out to Burnaby this weekend, maybe we can catch up then and I get more phyto from J&L.

I am happy to buy some rotifers off you or trade you for some corals, or a promise of the first batch of surviving clowns.

Feel free to contact me on 604 764 51twotwo

Thanks for your help and encouragement

Texted you about the rotifers