Send in the Clowns - Clown Fish Breeding

[Ross]

Without further ado. I present a clown that has survived the metamorphosis from a larvae into a fish.
Note the first white stripe behind his eyes and the slight orange color.




All but that one are still larvae. Slightly larger, but defiantly faster and hungrier.




There have been about 6-10 die in the last few days.
My guess is that they just couldn't survive the changes.
My phyto is being used up at an alarming rate and as a result the rotifers are not as gut loaded as they could be.

My brine shrimp are not hatching anywhere near 90-100%. As a result it is difficult to collect them without getting eggs/empty eggs in the mix.
I think that the cooler basement that I have them in is the main contributing factor to this. The next batch will be upstairs where it's warmer.

[kien]

very cool! Also, that sounds like a lot of work Still cool though!

[Ross]

I'm a few days behind in posting...
This entry is based on Oct. 14, 2013.

Its been another week of watching the clowns larvae slowly turn into clown fish.
Some are still very much larval in appearance.
Most are getting there middle stripe.
Not a fast process, but they are progressing.

In my last post, I started feeding baby brine shrimp (BBS).
The extreme difficulty in separating the live shrimp from the egg casings and the unhatched eggs is very apparent in this next photo.
Some of the fish are smart enough to reject the eggs in their shells. Some others not so much.
They have been chowing down on the stray eggs that have made it into the tank.
This is not good.
I imagine that these fish are destine to die as a result of an obstruction of their intestines.

[Ross]

Post for Tuesday Oct. 15, 2013

I have been observing the babies rather closely after photographing them last night.
The bloated stomachs of some are diminishing in size. Hopefully this is due to to them digesting or at least expelling the unhatched eggs. I witnessed one fry squeeze one out.
It didn't look all that friendly of a process.
Dart and stop.
Wiggle, dart, wiggle, stop.
Drop an egg and victory lap.

Come to think of it my parents dog would do the same thing when he ate too many dog biscuits.


The last few nights I have been feeding powdered flake in addition to the rotifers. They are starting to accept flake more and more. Still not as much as the rotifers that they go spastic for, but its a start.

There have only been a few more die offs. Mostly tiny larvae that haven't morphed yet.

I had the guys at Concept make up a simple 15 gallon tank to move the current batch into in the next week or so.
It's a good thing that I did because, my mated pair laid more eggs last night.
So I have about 8 days to get it all set up.

[IanWR]

Thank you so much for documenting this! I look forward to this far more than the disappointing new fall tv shows.

What are your plans for your ever growing hoard of clownfish?

- Ian

[Ross]

Thanks for the feedback everyone!

Originally Posted by IanWR

What are your plans for your ever growing hoard of clownfish?

Despite my daughters desire to keep every one of them, I will have to sell most of them off.
I will keep a couple through to adult hood to see how they color up over the long haul.

I've talked to one store in about the potential of buying batches of them.
They were not all that interested in "mixed clowns".

A few of the other stores are already well stocked by other local breeders.
There are enough stores around I don't think it will be a concern.

Canreef members will get the first go at them.

[SpateD]

Hybrid clowns are going to be tough to sell! On a side note, I have raised Mocha (Black O x Orange O) clowns... With some DaVinci grades (also known as Gladiator/Fancy White), and they are proving difficult also.

Stores in Calgary are not keen on getting back to us breeders about these things. It's likely I'll have to look towards selling to a wholesaler.