Is anyone on the forum breeding clowns? I know Steamman was but he left this forum a while back. I have a trio that regularly spawn every few weeks. This latest batch is pretty large but I have no rotifers to try and breed them myself. If anyone that is close to central jersey would like to raise them I'm more then happy to drop them off. Only ask that once you raise them I would like a few back to see how they turn out. Thanks.
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Breeding clowns?
- Thread starter Flare1185
- Start date
Phil ( Hawkeye ) has quite a bit of experience raising clowns. Not sure if he's currently active in it but he's a great source of info if you want to give it a try yourself.
Do a search on his posts. He's documented his pretty well.
Good luck!
Do a search on his posts. He's documented his pretty well.
Good luck!
Thanks George!!!
Flare - If you have the time and the money, breeding clowns is relatively straightforward. They will lay eggs every 2 weeks so if you plan on dropping eggs off all over central jersey - you're going to be one very busy person....lol. The reality is that I've had several people offer me their nests/eggs but my efforts in breeding weren't to try and corner the market on it, but really a self-learning discovery on the process and wonder of it all. Marine fish are incredibly intelligent and fun to keep and being able to breed them was probably one of the most rewarding experiences I had in this hobby. Bringing juveniles to meetings to give away/raffle/sell was how I met several people in the club. I probably spent several hundred bucks on equipment etc and I want to say I recovered $200 total. What's the old saying...oh yes if you want to make $1 million dollars in aquaculture, it's simple, start with $2 million and you will end up with $1. LOL.
If you are serious about possibly raising them yourself, I would be happy to offer you suggestions/methods/ideas. I have lost count how many egg batches come and gone so far this year from my pair. She feeds like a maniac, lays eggs like a maniac and everyone in the tank gets free fry every week like clockwork.
Anyways - some pics to perhaps prompt you into trying yourself! I've posted a ton on this forum but more than happy to re-post..
This was before they had an anemone...they defied the myth that clowns require an anemone to be happy or to breed:
After a sleepless night of scooping the fish from the surface. Fry when first hatched are attracted to light and will systematically hatch 6~10 days depending on temp. I can't say if that is true for other species - but for false percs it is. The AA battery is there for scale...
After metamorphosis, you can try weaning them to Otohime instead of baby brine shrimp (bbs). Back when Joyce Wilkerson did it she only had BBS and really pioneered this field. Definitely grab the book at the library or borrow it from someone in the club.
The sample pack is probably the best bang for the buck unless you are commercial breeder:
Otohime helps them to grow but I noticed a lack of coloration in my clowns:
Adding cyclopeeze to the mix really helped:
If all goes well the end product is beautiful:
Flare - If you have the time and the money, breeding clowns is relatively straightforward. They will lay eggs every 2 weeks so if you plan on dropping eggs off all over central jersey - you're going to be one very busy person....lol. The reality is that I've had several people offer me their nests/eggs but my efforts in breeding weren't to try and corner the market on it, but really a self-learning discovery on the process and wonder of it all. Marine fish are incredibly intelligent and fun to keep and being able to breed them was probably one of the most rewarding experiences I had in this hobby. Bringing juveniles to meetings to give away/raffle/sell was how I met several people in the club. I probably spent several hundred bucks on equipment etc and I want to say I recovered $200 total. What's the old saying...oh yes if you want to make $1 million dollars in aquaculture, it's simple, start with $2 million and you will end up with $1. LOL.
If you are serious about possibly raising them yourself, I would be happy to offer you suggestions/methods/ideas. I have lost count how many egg batches come and gone so far this year from my pair. She feeds like a maniac, lays eggs like a maniac and everyone in the tank gets free fry every week like clockwork.
Anyways - some pics to perhaps prompt you into trying yourself! I've posted a ton on this forum but more than happy to re-post..
This was before they had an anemone...they defied the myth that clowns require an anemone to be happy or to breed:
After a sleepless night of scooping the fish from the surface. Fry when first hatched are attracted to light and will systematically hatch 6~10 days depending on temp. I can't say if that is true for other species - but for false percs it is. The AA battery is there for scale...
After metamorphosis, you can try weaning them to Otohime instead of baby brine shrimp (bbs). Back when Joyce Wilkerson did it she only had BBS and really pioneered this field. Definitely grab the book at the library or borrow it from someone in the club.
The sample pack is probably the best bang for the buck unless you are commercial breeder:
Otohime helps them to grow but I noticed a lack of coloration in my clowns:
Adding cyclopeeze to the mix really helped:
If all goes well the end product is beautiful:
I forget if this was the batch I had on display at Liberty science Center that one night...if not then this was the batch that we gave away to the NJ Academy for Aquatic Sciences at the Adventure Aquarium. I had too many different batches going on and really did not want to re-pack them back for the ride home. Mike B. met up with NJAAS and was able to get them to accept the donation. I believe 3 of them are still downstairs in the lab at Adventure Aquarium.
just for kicks - the above pic of the 4 was in the same container I just used to hold my fireshrimp (below)...so you can imagine they'd be dinner in most tanks. This segues to another issue I had which was as they grew bigger - where to house them. I had to add larger tank, filter, etc. I think my biggest weak spot was i started to grow attached to them - because I knew how difficult it was to raise each and every one of them!
just for kicks - the above pic of the 4 was in the same container I just used to hold my fireshrimp (below)...so you can imagine they'd be dinner in most tanks. This segues to another issue I had which was as they grew bigger - where to house them. I had to add larger tank, filter, etc. I think my biggest weak spot was i started to grow attached to them - because I knew how difficult it was to raise each and every one of them!
The problem is with actively breeding is that you have to be able get rid of the fry or you will get back logged. Some breeders skips clutches of eggs because of this.
If you want to raise baby clowns you need space. Lots of tank and times. You need to give them proper grow out so they dont get stunted.
If you want to raise baby clowns you need space. Lots of tank and times. You need to give them proper grow out so they dont get stunted.
Correct, if anyone remember or have ever been to Steamman's house you can tell he was very dedicated and have about 20 or 30 tanks running at the same time for all his clutches. If I was to do I would probably raise one batch at a time and wait for awhile before considering selling them. The issue I have trouble most is the rotifer culture. If they crash on you, your pretty much out because there's really no way you can get them in fast enough to recover. Anyway I was just seeing if there was anyone actively breeding in our club that was close to consider trying.
I have breed Ocellaris Percula, Maroons, Orange Skunks, Akinydnos, Pink Skunks and am now working on Chrysogaster clowns.
If your really serious you can grow your own rotifers and keep two colonies in case one goes. If you get in a pinch you can also order live cultures from Reed Mariculture. There are other places that sell them too.
If your really serious you can grow your own rotifers and keep two colonies in case one goes. If you get in a pinch you can also order live cultures from Reed Mariculture. There are other places that sell them too.
I (knock on wood) never had a rotifer crash though I read about them. The key is not to overfeed and to change out the water with some frequency. they don't need fancy saltwater so I used to order separate salt buckets (io) just for breeding. This also applies to the fry. The idea of two buckets is a sound one and I agree wholeheartedly with barry on that. Rotifers seem challenging but after I listened to a talk by Randy Reed (of reed Mariculture) it seemed so easy and frankly if you can get over that intimidation factor - it will help.
First on rotifers.
#1...get a good source. Either from Reed or from a fellow reefer. At one point I was going to try again and was hoping to get a starter culture but the other reefer (shall not be named) tried to charge me for it. I politely declined. Read the book from joyce wilkerson - it talks a lot on rotifers also. But what i learned is that once you hit that groove - they are almost impossible to mess with. I once cross-contaminated buckets and in my rotifer bucket were dozens of full grown artemia (brine shrimp).
#2...do not use an airstone. I just use a rigid tube and the bubbles should be a slow steady type...not rapid. Enough to break the surface but not a boil. You boil it randy said at macna that you are basically stripping the female rotifers of their eggs and they will not reproduce successfully.
#3. Feed enough so that they eat but not enough to spoil the tank. Obvious I know but the life cycle of a rotifer is that they can eat something and everything in it's gut will be out in 4 hrs. In essence they are feeding machines and if you do not feed them or have enough in the bucket, they will lose nutritional value quickly or not reproduce. They reproduce explosively if done correctly.
#4. Change the water. I change the water like this...set up second bucket with brand new IO water. Temp is room temp. No heater in my buckets. If you keep the heat at 78 that will help but I never bothered. Use a sieve and scoop out as many rotifers as possible without disturbing the nasty muck at the bottom. Transfer them to new bucket. Add food to new bucket, rigid tubing etc. and off you go.
I no longer breed clowns. Never say never but with summer around the corner I have no faith in my sitter to also keep track of rotifers and fry raising. Fall may be the best time to try again for me.
As it is my main goal is to keep the sps tank and right now I would say some sps are great (montis and such) and others (acroporas) are a work in progress.
greg at i think ultimate corals (it was known as reef 2 reptiles) is breeding clowns...if you are in the monmouth county area you can see the fry in the store.
First on rotifers.
#1...get a good source. Either from Reed or from a fellow reefer. At one point I was going to try again and was hoping to get a starter culture but the other reefer (shall not be named) tried to charge me for it. I politely declined. Read the book from joyce wilkerson - it talks a lot on rotifers also. But what i learned is that once you hit that groove - they are almost impossible to mess with. I once cross-contaminated buckets and in my rotifer bucket were dozens of full grown artemia (brine shrimp).
#2...do not use an airstone. I just use a rigid tube and the bubbles should be a slow steady type...not rapid. Enough to break the surface but not a boil. You boil it randy said at macna that you are basically stripping the female rotifers of their eggs and they will not reproduce successfully.
#3. Feed enough so that they eat but not enough to spoil the tank. Obvious I know but the life cycle of a rotifer is that they can eat something and everything in it's gut will be out in 4 hrs. In essence they are feeding machines and if you do not feed them or have enough in the bucket, they will lose nutritional value quickly or not reproduce. They reproduce explosively if done correctly.
#4. Change the water. I change the water like this...set up second bucket with brand new IO water. Temp is room temp. No heater in my buckets. If you keep the heat at 78 that will help but I never bothered. Use a sieve and scoop out as many rotifers as possible without disturbing the nasty muck at the bottom. Transfer them to new bucket. Add food to new bucket, rigid tubing etc. and off you go.
I no longer breed clowns. Never say never but with summer around the corner I have no faith in my sitter to also keep track of rotifers and fry raising. Fall may be the best time to try again for me.
As it is my main goal is to keep the sps tank and right now I would say some sps are great (montis and such) and others (acroporas) are a work in progress.
greg at i think ultimate corals (it was known as reef 2 reptiles) is breeding clowns...if you are in the monmouth county area you can see the fry in the store.
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Heres' the big thread I wrote on clownfish breeding....enjoy if you have the time!!! lol
http://www.njreefers.org/showthread.php?71076-Clownfish-Log&daysprune=-1
http://www.njreefers.org/showthread.php?71076-Clownfish-Log&daysprune=-1
Hawkeyes fish are prime examples of good breeding. Lots of full Bars and good coloring.
I worked with a company that make frag plugs to develop a breeding tile/plug. If you are serious i can give you one to try out.
I worked with a company that make frag plugs to develop a breeding tile/plug. If you are serious i can give you one to try out.