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Thread: Clown Fish Clutch! All's well....

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    Clown Fish Clutch! All's well....

    Hey TR - I've been watching my clown fish for two years now, waiting for them to finally start breeding. They were super tiny little things when I bought them 2 1/2 years ago. I'm almost positive that they have laid clutches of eggs before, since I've often seen the female completely fat and then a couple of days later normal size again; however, I was never lucky enough to actually see the eggs. They have hosted in my Euphyllia divisa now for the past two years. Since this coral now has about 16 heads on it (!!), it's quite difficult to see anything underneath it when the coral is fully expanded. Well, last night I was doing the old "sneaking around the tank in the dark with my flashlight" thing, I was lucky enough to glimpse something moving about at the base of the Euphyllia stalk. Since the coral was completely closed, and I just happened to sweep over that area with my flashlight, I noticed the eggs. There's about 50-60 eggs stuck to the coral and I can already see the eyes! I was pretty excited, needless to say!

    Unfortunately, this lot will probably serve to feed others in the tank, since I have no way of removing them and trying to get them to survive. But, now that I know they're breeding and they're not eating the clutches, I'm looking forward to trying it out when I've moved into the new system and have more space to try out things like this.

    Do you guys know if there's any chance of rotifer production in a well-established tank?
    Christi

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    Site Owner Rob's Avatar
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    congrats chisti.. i know its an exciting time..

    regarding the rotifers, you can live and reproduce in your tank, but not at a density that is needed for clown larvae. Larvae that catch in the tank will starve or more likely become food
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    yeah, I was thinking that they would most likely be eaten up, but if you were able to make a netted cage (I've seen these breeding baskets that are covered in netting), then you could at least protect them from getting eaten.
    I was just curious as to what the production in reef tanks of endogenous rotifers would be. If you're feeding phytoplankton on a regular basis, could that help to support the natural rotifer population or do you think it's just senseless to try?
    Christi

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    Site Owner Rob's Avatar
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    yes, it really is..
    the density to keep clowns fed is insanely high.
    look at it this way. A clown fish, when born, cant see well and cant swim very well either.. one of the first things they learn is this tail flick maneuver. basically they curl up there tail, then release it quickly, this jets them forward, they do this with there mouth open hoping something goes it. its your job to keep the rotifer density so high that they can do this all day and get enough food to survive. as they get older they learn to hunt and in turn "aim" there darting action, but in the beginning its all luck..
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    Thanks Rob! You're the clown dude!

    well...it's all null and void now anyway. They hatched from the eggs last night after the lights went out. I saw them floating around the tank for awhile, but I'm sure they either got filtered out rather quickly, as well as getting eaten up. Once I've got my new set-up in place, I'll take some time to get another little breeding tank set up. It seems such a waste to let these little critters just die....
    Christi

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    Well - they did it again! I noticed the eggs again on the same spot on the Euphyllia coral last night.

    So, I guess I can expect to feel guilty for the loss of life every 16 days or so?! Great....just one more cross to bear!

    here's an interesting article I found when searching for the frequency of spawning.
    Christi

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