Raising clownfish step-by-step (1 Viewer)

[KarenB]

Since many of you have been asking, I will try and cover the basics to get you started. This is what has worked for me.

What you will need:

2 1/2 to 10 gallon tanks
small heaters
air pumps (one for larvae tanks and one for cultures)
gang valves (one for larvae tanks and one for cultures)
airline tubing
Ammonia Alert Badges
thermometers
phytoplankton cultures (Nanochloropsis preferred), at least one per day of the week
rotifers and containers for at least four cultures
light strips for brine hatching and for larvae tanks
decapsulated brine shrimp and hatcheries
simple sponge filters and poly filter media
HOT filters and media
algae scraper
ammonia test kit
pH test kit

*First get your phyto cultures going. You need enough that you can harvest one culture per day to feed to your rotifers. That means seven or eight cultures going at a time at least. Another option is to use Instant Algae from Reed Mariculture:

*Order your rotifers. Set up about four or five plastic or glass flat bottomed 1 gallon jars and seed each with rotifers. Put an airline in each with one bubble per second to just keep the culture slightly stirred. Feed the rotifers the greenwater as needed. The water should be slightly green, and when it clears, add more greenwater. If the rotifers are not harvested daily for the larvae, they will multiply quickly and you will have to thin them out, which means dumping them down the drain or feeding your main tank with them.

*Day of hatch. This is usually the eighth day. If the rock the eggs are on is removable, remove it for hatching and place it into the larvae tank before the lights go out on the parent's tank. You want to wait as long as possible to transfer the eggs, since the male clownfish is best at tending the eggs. Keep the lights on until you are sure that you have enough air flow on the eggs. Then cover the tank completely, and wait 30 minutes before checking on them.

If you cannot remove the rock, have a flashlight or some other small light ready to lure the hatching larvae after the lights go out on the parent's tank, as well as a clear bowl to scoop out the larvae with and for transfer to the larvae tank. If you are trying to catch hatching larvae in the parent's tank, make sure all power heads and pumps are turned off prior to lights out. Larvae will start hatching within 30 minutes to 2 hours of lights going out.

You will have set up your little larvae tank with heater, water from the parent's tank, a thermometer and airline. If hatching the eggs in the larvae tank, make sure the tank is completely dark, and the air flow is directly on the eggs to keep them all moving. Use the air flow straight from the tube; an air stone is not necessary. The temp of the water should be the same as the parent's tank initially. If it is lower than 80 degrees at the time of hatch, that's fine, but the temp should be slowly increased to at least 80 thereafter and remain constant. This is important.

 

[KarenB]

Once the larvae hatch out, you can remove the rock from the rearing tank. Sometimes there are a few stragglers that haven't hatched and may hatch the next night or later on that night. It is hard on the larvae to have the vigorous bubbles needed to hatch the eggs, so you have to decide when and if you need to transfer the rock to a second hatching tank. If possible, keep the rock with the vigorous air on one side of the tank so that the newly hatched larvae may go to the other side away from the air bubbles. Once all the larvae have hatched turn down the air to one bubble per second. Note: Newly hatched larvae are very delicate, so whether transferring them as they hatch out in the parent's tank or using the above method, be GENTLE with them.

Keep your rotifer culture's salinity within 7 points of the larvae tank water. I keep my rotifers at 1.018 and the larvae tank at 1.025. Any difference higher than that and the rotifers will go into osmotic shock upon being placed into the larvae tank. Dead rotifers are not appealing to larvae.

Once hatching is complete and you've removed the rock and turned down the air, or transferred them from the parent tank, add greenwater and rotifers to the larvae tank. The rotifer quantity should be dense so that a larvae can run into them at every opportunity. This is why I start off with a 2 1/2 g tank. The greenwater will keep the rotifers well fed until a larva can consume it.

The light above the tank initially should be very dim but enough light so that the larvae can find food. Too bright and the larvae will try and swim to the bottom to get away from the light, which will eventually killl them. Newly hatched larvae's eyes are very sensitive to light, and they cannot see beyond about half an inch. Use a towel to diffuse the light if needed. The light can be left on 24/7 for the first four days to give the larvae ample feeding opportunities. Once they've become proficient at hunting rotifers, you can then decrease the rotifer density and use full strength lighting.

Larva at day 6 just before metamorphosis.

 

[KarenB]

You will need to make daily or twice daily water changes in the rearing tank to keep ammonia levels in check. I use an Ammonia Alert Badge on the side of the tank to keep an eye on this, but I also test twice daily with an ammonia test.

Try keeping the ammonia below 3 ppm. That seems high for a reef tank or a fish only tank, but it is within a safe level for larvae as long as the pH remains low, as well. I generally keep my ammonia level around 1 ppm at a pH of 7.8. Larvae do well with this.

Once every couple of days I scrape the bottom of the tank. The tank bottom is bare, and I use a white towel or white table to sit the tank on so that I can see what's on the bottom. I have fashioned a siphon made simply from airline tubing and a drinking straw, taping the straw to the siphon end to make it stiffer.

I siphon the water into a clear gallon container so that if any larvae get accidentally sucked up, I can retrieve them by gently scooping them out into a small bowl and then transferring them back into their tank.

The tank water should remain at a constant 80 to 84 degrees. For each degree below 80, it will delay morph for up to two days. I have accidently heated the water to 86 with no ill effects, but I slowly returned it back down to 80.

Once the larvae have increased in size to about 5 mm, you can increase the air flow to 3 or 4 bubbles per second and introduce newly hatched decapsulated brine shrimp. At this point you stop feeding the tank and feed the larvae. Each larva only needs about 25 brine per day. When you introduce the brine, you will still be feeding the rotifers until all the larvae are eating the brine well. You will notice the stomachs of the larvae go from silver to pink. Then you know they are eating the brine well. I usually discontinue the rotifers about three days after introducing the brine.

As the larvae grow, you can then feed them larger and older brine. Somewhere along the way, the larvae have started to morph. Once their body shape changes from tapered to oval, you know morph is underway. Then when you see the first head stripes develop, morph is completed and now they just need to grow larger. At this point you can start introducing powdered flakes. Once they are eating these well, you can discontinue the brine and then offer flakes and cyclop-eeze or anything else they can get into their mouths.

Larva just post-metamorphosis:

 

[KarenB]

Here are a few details and tips in review:

*Place the larvae tank on a white base or cover the bottom with white paper so you can easily see the bottom for cleaning.

*Put the air flow underneath the heater so that the heat will be evenly dispersed throughout the tank.

*Cover the heater light with electrical tape so that the larvae are not attracted to it. You don't want them to fry.

*You can lay the heater sideways so you don't have to use as much water in the tank.

*Starting off with a 2 1/2 or 5 g tank means less rotifers needed and less water needed for the frequent water changes.

*The top of the larvae tank should be open for air exchange and viewing. The sides should be covered for at least four or five days. On the fifth day, you can open the front so you can see in.

*Make sure the light is not too strong at first. If the larvae go to the bottom and swim in frantic circles, the light is too bright. Either diffuse the light or raise it up until larvae swim normally, until around day 4 or 5.

*Make sure the light is not too dim. If the larvae cannot see their food, they will starve. Keep an eye on their stomachs to make sure they are getting plenty of food.

*The stomachs should be round and silver. A skinny larvae is in danger of starvation. After you introduce the brine, the stomachs should change to pink/orange.

*Do not put rotifer culture water into larvae tank water. Filter the rotifers using a paper coffee filter, and then rinse the rotifers off the filter and into the larvae tank with the tank water. For the first three days stock rotifers densely so that the larvae can easily find them using their poor eyesight. After the third day, when larvae are adept at hunting, you may then decrease rotifer density by half.

*Add enough greenwater to the larvae tank to keep the rotifers well fed until the larvae can eat them. The greenwater actually also helps the larvae to better see their food.

*Do not introduce baby brine too early. Wait until larvae have attained at least 5 mm in size, whether they've morphed or not.

*Keep the temperature constant and at least 80 degrees. For each degree less than 80, morph will be delayed up to two days. The larvae will not tire of being in this state, but you probably will.

*Siphon the tank at least once daily. Replace water with parent tank water until after morph. After larvae have morphed, they are more hardy and will be more able to tolerate newly mixed saltwater with a higher pH.

*Keep ammonia below 3 ppm and at a pH of no higher than 8.0. The lower the pH is, the less toxic the ammonia will be. Do not hesitate to test the water daily or twice daily. Do not use buffers in the water. You want a low pH, anyway.

*After the now juveniles have weaned off of brine, you can introduce a sponge filter with moderate air flow and transfer them to a 5 gallon or larger tank. If using a 10 g, you don't have to fill it all the way up. You will still need to do weekly water changes.

Any other questions, just ask.

 

[Guest]

I didn't know baby clown fish swam in beer, did anybody else know?

 

[BrianPlankis]

I vote that this becomes a sticky in Fish only forum! People ask about this info a lot. Good job Karen!

 

[KarenB]

I didn't know baby clown fish swam in beer, did anybody else know?

Never heard of them swimming in beer, but they can swim in algae water (greenwater) until weaned onto prepared foods.

 

[KarenB]

A few other points I thought to address:

Once the juveniles are weaned onto prepared foods, you may introduce a simple sponge filter. I wait until the babies are weaned, otherwise their food just gets sucked up into the filter. This is about the same time that I transfer them to the next larger tank size, for me a 5 gallon. At this point they are about two weeks old.

As soon as they can handle it, I add a HOT filter. They have to be able to handle the extra current that a HOT creates, and be able to surface feed within the current. Around four weeks old is probably a good time.

As clownfish are excellent time keepers, your 2 1/2 gallon that you just transferred the juveniles from is now ready for another batch, so make sure you're keeping an eye on the rotifer cultures that you haven't needed for a couple of weeks.

When the next hatch is ready for its 5 gallon tank, then is a good time to transfer the ones in the 5 gallon into the 10 gallon and so on.

 

[KarenB]

Juvenile at 12 days old. Note orange stomach full of baby brine shrimp.

Front-on view:

 

[KarenB]

This is the entire setup, basically, squeezed between two other tanks. I have another 5 g and 10 g tank(s) that will go on the right side of the 135 g when needed. The cultures are in the kitchen around the corner.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v391/karenszoo/Fishfarm2008.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v391/karenszoo/Fishfarm2007.jpg

 

[Guest]

set up

Karen, this is awsome. I am off the get some small tanks to set up and try to copy what you have done. I can not wait. I am sure that I will mess up lots before I am successful, but you have certainly helped me to avoid many of the pitfalls.
thanks
Jen

 

[KarenB]

Jen, are you still coming over today?

 

[BrianPlankis]

Karen,

Where did you get your baby brine shrimp hatcheries?

B.

 

[KarenB]

I ordered them from brineshrimpdirect.com or whatever the address is, I believe. I have also made some from Coke bottles, which work just fine, as well.