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(Wyoming White x Gladiator) Clownfish Breeding (1 Viewer)

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Johnniebt

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Wow that’s awesome! Can’t wait to see pictures! Please add me to the list on getting two if possible. Wish you all the best!
 
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ITreefer

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Wow that’s awesome! Can’t wait to see pictures! Please add me to the list on getting two if possible. Wish you all the best!
I appreciate the support! This hobby is awesome.
Ok, you've been added to the list (y)
They're going to be laying eggs every 2 weeks, so I will have plenty of chances to get it right.
 
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ITreefer

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I just ordered a second rotifer culture so I can make sure I'm keeping up with feeding.
I might have to setup a second fry tank as well.

I messed up several days ago and left the oyster feast I've been feeding the rotifers out of the fridge.
Since then I've been using reef roids to feed the culture.
I checked density of the culture today expecting to find it crashed. To my surprise, it is doing very well.

My phytoplankton cultures are coming along nicely as well. Hopefully within a couple weeks ill be feeding phyto to the rotifers.
 
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ITreefer

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Just received delivery from reed mariculture for what was SUPPOSED to be a rotifer culture and some other items. Unfortunately, they forgot to include the freaking rotifer culture. Ugh!
Just got off the phone with customer service, they will be making the situation right, but it won't get here until Tuesday.
I did receive the RGcomplete rotifer feed, so hopefully my existing rotifer culture will rebound in time for the new clownfish hatches. (should be Monday-Wednesday)

Also received some Apex pods, and will be trying to culture them almost the same way as the rotifers.
 
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ITreefer

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I'm convinced now that the 100+ things I caught were not clownfish babies. They look very similar in body shape, but no idea what they actually were.
They all died within a few days, from lack of appropriate food no doubt.

Last night I caught 3 babies from the newest clutch of eggs. They are much bigger than whatever I caught previously.
I Will start feeding them rotifers when I get home from work. (and try to get a picture)
Pretty much all the other eggs are still intact and should probably hatch tonight.
 
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ITreefer

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That begs the question though... what in the world were those other things?
Yeah I spent some time thinking about ut and my best guess is emerald crab larvae.
Awesome you got three! All of mine hatched while I was asleep. I may put something in to see if I can get them to lay eggs on it.
Yeah I don't know why the hatching is so erratic. Maybe light pollution
I know I didn't miss many because most of the eggs are still there, the eyes are bright and they look viable.
We shall see what happens tonight.
 
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ITreefer

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Caught two more fry last night for a grand total of 5.
Still tons of eggs on the glass, might be able to get a few more tonight.

Also caught about 20 of what appears to be peppermint shrimp babies. I thought they were clownfish at first glance.
Not sure if I will be able to accommodate these guys. Might just dump in a fishless tank and hope for the best.
20200627_105505.jpg 20200627_013130.jpg
 
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ITreefer

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Managed to catch 7 more last night. That brings the total to 12 babies! :D
I just tinted the tank and put rotifers in. The majority seem to be hunting them. A few of the newly hatched fry are hanging around the perimeter of the tank, hopefully they'll catch on soon
Wish me luck getting these guys through meta, after that it should be easy.
 
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ITreefer

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Unfortunately, 3 babies have died since Sunday. It's pretty normal for small amounts to die from what I have read. Hurts when you start with only 12 though. I'm assuming it was the few that were hanging around the perimeter and not hunting rotifers.
I've been tinting the fry tank water with RGcomplete on a pretty regular basis, even more since the casualties. The rotifer population inside the fry tank is pretty impressive. You can scoop out a sample of water and hit it with a flashlight to reveal hundreds of rotifers swimming around.
9 survivors born over 3 days are still alive and well.
I wonder how odd it is to have clownfish babies born over 3 days. I'm pretty sure light pollution is the cause of that. Even dim light is enough to disturb their birth cycles, apparently.
On the next clutch I will go back to trying the vossen larval trap instead of the flashlight and scoop method. It didn't work the first time, but the light was pretty close to the eggs.
 
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ITreefer

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The remaining fry are all alive and well as of this morning.

After doing more research, I should have kept the lights on 24/7 for the first 4 days.
I was doing the 12/12 schedule initially, and it appears that the deaths were caused by the fry not being able to hunt & eat at night.

I'm having to tint the water about 5 times per day because the rotifers burn through it like crazy. The rotifers are definitely spawning in the fry tank, the population has exploded.
I'm also going through RGcomplete like crazy between the tank tinting, rotifer cultures, and the 3 copepod cultures I have.
I have been building up stocks of phytoplankton so I can eventually switch to that from RGcomplete.

I will attempt a water change today on the fry tank. There is a nice layer of green on the walls/floor from the RGcomplete.
 
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