Black Occ. Female x Orange Occ. Male . . . Fry worth trying to raise?

[Enigma]

I have a black occ. female and an orange occ. male pair. They are engaging in a fare amount of "pre-spawning" behaviour. The sandstorms they're creating in my display tank are enough to make me want to flush them, but I won't.

Having done a fare amount of reading, it appears that "mocha" fry are understood to be the result of this pairing. Some people quite like the mocha occ., others don't. To complicate things a little more . . . I think my orange occ. male could actually be a mocha: given his darker orange colour and extensive black markings.

I haven't placed a tile or pot in the system for them (yet). I do have tubs and two 30 gallon tanks (with tops, lights, heaters, etc.) the fry could be raised in. I have the supplies required for culturing plankton, rotifers, and brine shrimp (minus the plankton and rotifer starting cultures).

Are the potential offspring from this paring worth the effort of trying to raise the fry? In the event I was eventually successful, I wouldn't want to be stuck with a bunch of oddball fish that I couldn't rehome.

[reefwars]

i think you could re-home them, clowns of any type especiall TB clowns


even if not the learning experience has got to worth the price youd want for the couple clownfish

congrats, so whens the fishy shower??

[Enigma]

No fishy shower yet.

In the event they do spawn, I won't do anything for the first round. I'll just check to make sure they actually know what they're doing: that the little guy actually figures out how to fertilize the eggs. Who knows . . . he might miss and try to fertilize the capelin roe in the tank instead.

I'll order the starting cultures I need when the first batch of eggs shows up: so I have the cultures I need for when the second batch of eggs shows up.

Edit: The learning experience would be great. I'm just waiting to hear back from a place in the US to see if they'll ship the starting cultures that I'd require up here.

[Enigma]

I wonder . . . if I do give them a tile or clay pot . . . will they stop sweeping the sand? I've got sugar sand in this system, and the sandstorms they're generating are really significant. I could hardly see to the back of the tank last night, and the tank is only 18" deep.

[BlueWorldAquatic]

Key thing is, you need to remove the eggs after 8 days on avarage, some a day earlier, some a day later. Look for the fry to turn shiny silver.

You need a good supply of rotifers ready to go, as for the first 4 days (min) they are too small to eat Baby Brine shrimp.

If they make it past day 7 (metamorph), you are good to go, as the mortality rate is lower after that

Ken