clownfish breeding

[Reef_Geek]

you'll never be able to rear larval fish in a tank with other fish, adult omnivorous inverts.

also, most filters are good at eating larvae.

If your parent pair are in good spawning condition, they'll spawn again in as early as 2 weeks. If you're interested in getting serious on rearing, time to start culturing phytoplankton and rotifers... you might be ready in 2 to 3 spawnings from now. Good luck.

Time to check this out: http://www.fao.org/docrep/003/W3732E/W3732E00.HTM

[BlueWorldAquatic]

Actually, with new spawing clownfish it is good to leave the first few batches. They will be larger everytime.

Try to put a tile or clay pot near where they spawned last time. If they are going to spawn again, it should be withing 4-5 day from now.

The female is capable of laying eggs every 14 days or so, but sometimes they take a break for a month or two also.

[Enigma]

BWA's advice is very solid.

Their spawning wasn't a fluke. The conditions in your system have contributed to it. As long as you don't radically change anything, they should keep spawning.

Take some time to get your cultures up and running, and then once you've got everything in order try to rear the fry. Go slow, and set your breeding system up a bit at a time as you have the funds/time/inclination.

Don't stress yourself out. Don't expect great results at first, either. It is a learning process, and you're going to make mistakes.

[monocus]

i've been supplying rotifers to j&l for a while now.if you need phyto cultures i sell them out of my home.if you need any help with setups or ideas i can give you a hand

[mohammadali]

okay thanks
i do need help with everything ill send u pm

[Reef_Geek]

There's a very important piece to all this. Ask yourself, what will you do with the clowns you'll raise, and how much will it cost in effort and money. If you're trying to do this for an experience to self-pay for itself, then a very important question is to ask your local fish store(s), how much they are willing to pay for a clown from you, and at what size. Then you can do your personal economical assessment and research, how long will it take to grow-out to sellable size, costs/efforts, required number of fish to sell to break even.

[Reef_Geek]

here's a simple breakeven example, hypothetically:

if each fish can be sold to your LFS at $5 each, and it costs you $4 to produce each fish (feed, salt, your time, electricity), then your margin per fish is $1.

sales quantity required to breakeven = total fixed costs / margin per unit

Thus, if margin earned per fish is $1, and if your set up (start up equipment, grow out tanks, algae/rotifer culturing tanks, lighting, heaters, filters, tools) costs are... say $400.

Then, sales quantity required to breakeven = $400 / $1 per fish = 400 fish sold before project is broken even.

[Reef_Geek]

from: FAO Manual on the Production and Use of Live Food for Aquaculture
http://www.fao.org/docrep/003/W3732E/W3732E00.HTM

culturing algae (phytoplankton) needs care as cultures are prone to crashing. Cultures crash due to contamination with other organisms, inappropriate conditions, age/crowding.

TO manage crashes, culture phytoplankton from small containers in continuous production, upgrading to larger containers (but restarting smaller seed cultures along the way).

algae culture set up:


Use the phytoplankton to sustain rotifer cultures, it's what they eat, and it's what gives them nutritional value for larval fish.