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Baby pics (1 Viewer)

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KarenB

Baby update: At four weeks old all the clowns are doing well, and they are starting to get the black edging around their white head and mid-body stripes. The tail stripes are beginning to fill in, and most have the black edging on their pectoral fins enough to see from a distance. I'd say right now they average approximately 9/16 of an inch in length, including tails. I've already kind of picked out my favorites, but they are all so cute. :D

I'm looking forward to tomorrow's new hatch and starting the cycle all over again. I am hoping I'll be less anxious this time around, and I'll try and duplicate every step. I have been making detailed notes along the way of what I did and when and each change the clowns have gone through on which days, so I'll be able to look back on that and compare hatches. Anyway, wish me luck!
 
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Karen

It is so cool that you are able to raise the babies....... keep up the great work and keep us informed. I love reading how your little ones are doing
 
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KarenB

I now have a new batch that hatched today. There are so many, but I expect I'll have some losses overnight, as I think it is nature's way. However, so far they look good and are practicing their hunting skills. It's hard to believe, now looking at the older babies, that they were once this small, too.
 
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KarenB

I wasn't going to be home on Wednesday evening, the night of this last hatch, so I tried to force hatch the eggs earlier in the day. I put the eggs in total darkness around 2:30 in the afternoon, and by 3:30 they started to hatch........well, a few did. I then worried about the vigorous bubbles harming the hatched larvae, so then I moved the rock with the unhatched eggs into a second tank using the same parent tank water to finish the hatch. Long story short, it took until 1:00 a.m. Thursday morning for all the eggs to hatch. Every 30 minutes I checked on them, and when more had hatched I uncovered the tank to see and then moved the larvae into the other tank as they hatched, scooping them out with a small bowl. I ended up not going anywhere on Wednesday evening to keep an eye on the eggs. I think because of the long hatch time and then the many transfers of larvae I made, it was hard on them. This morning I checked on them, and I have very few left. Lesson learned: don't force nature, and leave well enough alone; larvae are VERY delicate! Next time I will just have to wait until their normal hatch time and hopefully get most to hatch at once, making my job and the hatch experience for the larvae much smoother.
 
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MarkieB

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I certainley would not be down about that. I bet Les has more eggs on the way! It is really amazing you are doing this. A lot of time and committment goes into it. So is the plan to sell the babies to members then a store? Just curious what you do with 76 clownfish.
 
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Rick

Sorry to hear about that... I'm sure you'll have better luck next time. Your rught about letting nature take its own course. Mother Nature know best. Keep us posted on this batch also, how many were left?
 
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KarenB

Well, originally I had planned to just sell them through MARSH. I now have a waiting list going of those folks, and I plan to keep a pair for myself. Since I have so many babies, though, I talked to an LFS about buying the extras. They are wanting to buy them, but only if I sell exclusively to them for any future hatches. I can understand that, since they don't want to compete with me selling them on my own and then they are trying to also sell them. I figure that most of the LFS's business for these fish will probably come from other than MARSH members, anyway, so the LFS won't be losing out, in my opinion. However, I will still abide by their request. Like you said, what am I going to do with 76 clowns?
 
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KarenB

There are only six left of the new hatch. :( Time will tell if they make it. I'm not too sad, though, because I'm grateful to have had this as a learning experience, and I know there will be future batches.......well, God and the parent clowns willing, of course. :)
 
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Guest

i think that's stupid what that store is trying to do. Up here in lubbock, there is a guy that raises clowns too. He sells his clowns to 2 different stores here. Then, he also sells what he doesnt sell to the fish stores to board members. The local stores sell them for 17 here, and he sells it to our club members for 850 a piece. That way everyone is happy. The lfs get cheap clowns, board members get cheap clowns and the average fish person is none the wiser. i wouldnt limit yourself to 1 exact place to sell. you will have WAY to many fishies swimmin around.
 
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KarenB

I won't be limiting myself to one place. I'd already decided that. Besides, I figure I can flood the market on different sides of town for each batch, and then start all over again at the beginning :D

For this batch that just hatched, I have one lone and lonely survivor. Poor little thing. Not exactly flooding the market, huh?
 
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MarkieB

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You are really doing a great job.

When I see tank raised clowns they are ususally drab. Yours are beautiful. Look at what a difference having a real mom makes.
It's obvious you are doing all of the right things here.

Congrats again!

And as mentioned before, poop on the store that wants an exclusive. Thats rediculous!

My guess is you walk into any store in town with a bag of tank raised clowns at 7.00 a piece, and you would sell them all on the spot.
 
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KarenB

Good question. The little buggers won't be still long enough for me to get the tape measure next to them, but using my fingers open to the length I think they are, then putting that to the tape measure, I'd say anywhere from 9/16 to 5/8 inch long, with about four runts almost half that size. In other words, they're growing SLOWLY, but they are filling out in all areas of their bodies right now and not just in length. They do look bigger to me every week, but it's hard to compare the pics and see a difference. I took some this morning, and they don't look much different than last week's pics except maybe the white band on the tails of some of them have filled in a bit more.
 
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KarenB

Just took this one.
clownsfiveweeks005.jpg
 
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KarenB

This one shows the band on the tail pretty well. Tomorrow they will be five weeks old.

clownsfiveweeks002.jpg
 
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Guest

How long until they are large enough for new homes? I would love to get a pair
 
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KarenB

I would think they are marketable around 1 inch in length. It depends on your setup, though. If they are the only ones in a little 5 or 10 gallon tank, they are ready now, and you could transfer them later. You just have to give them size-appropriate foods. They are eating anything they can get into their mouths, including full-size frozen brine (which is comical to watch, by the way.) I have a HOT filter going on their tank, and they are doing fine with it. I just wrapped some poly filter stuff around the intake with a rubberband so they wouldn't get sucked up. Even at an inch long, it would depend on what other fish are in the tank. Anything large enough to eat them, probably will.
 
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