PICS! clown Rearing log

[Texreefer]

well, my clowns have a new clutch of eggs! only problem is i don't know the day they spawned.. they look to be 5-6 days old, i will keep an eye on these and try to determine when they hatch.. i need to get an idea of the days and times before i start the whole process of trying to raise them

[cpreefguy]

Good luck!

[ClownReef®]

Tex,

What kind of clowns are they?.. Post some pics if you get a chance. Im completely nuts about clowns. Im always reading something about clowns in class instead of my psych books, LOL

[blueboy]

shouldn't your avatar be a clown? rather than an angler?

[ClownReef®]

See, its tricky..

I love clowns probably as much as i do frogfish.. I cant choose..sorry..LOL

[Texreefer]

they are Ocellaris,, i had a young male and i was given a full grown female,, they immediately paired up.. quite unusual. i will try to get picks

[Texreefer]

Update! had a clutch of eggs hatch last night! :D while i was at work :( . so here is what i know.
they spawned somewhere around the 24th and they hatched on 7/01/07.. that is roughly the eight day mark depending on the actual spawn date..IF they spawn every two weeks then the next spawn will be on or around 07/07/07. and eggs will hatch somewhere on or around the weekend of the 14th.

I notice that a great indicator the the eggs are going to hatch is that about 1/2 the clutch get a silvery tint (which is the eyes) once this occures they will hatch the next night like clockwork.
I can easily tell what my clowns are doing now just at a glance. so next step is to see how close to these dates i can actually get,, once i can pinpoint a spawn date and a hatch date i will start culturing some greenwater and rotifers,, and then the fun begins

more up dates later OH and the female is actually a true Perc and the male is an ocellaris

[Texreefer]

not the best pic but here you go
http://i122.photobucket.com/albums/o258/itili/DSC01061.jpg

[erikharrison]

Yeah, I'd love some, but my eel Houdini would do a magic trick. Now you see them, now you don't. Best of luck on this batch!

[ClownReef®]

Tex,

Your clowns will mate regularly now, maybe every 2 weeks or so. They will hatch between 6 to 12 days after they were laid. If you are in no rush you can always set up a small 10 gal. tank in the future to raise them. Raising clowns is not THAT hard at all. It just requires a bit of dedication. You need some rot's to feed the fish..Ive heard DTs works as well. The first week or so is the hardest time..if you can get them past the 10 day barrier, everything else should be a walk in the park.

[oceancube]

my pair lays eggs evry 2 weeks, im barely in the process of trying to raise them here soon after i move in to my new home, it seems to be a litle hard but im going to tryit and see, i really dont understand the rotifer culture thing but ill soon learn,,maybe with help from fellow masst members.. here are pics of my clowns with their babys!!!! their onyx clowns
http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c349/oceancube/umm-1.jpg

[erikharrison]

sweet clowns ocean!

[JimD]

How do you get the eggs to actualy hatch? My Tomatoes lay every twelve days religiously, then they disappear. Im guessing the male eats them for some reason, theyre in a 20 tall by themselvs with two lta's.

[Texreefer]

Jim,, are you sure they are not hatching and then disappearing?.. it is possible they will eat them if they are not fertilized correctly or if their diet is not just right.. if they are in a place where you can watch their development they should darken and then develope eyes and then turn silver with a hint of the parent color,, roughly eight days later they will hatch and then be gone as food or whatever.. i setting up my rearing system and getting ready to order some greenwater, rotifers and brine shrimp

[oceancube]

sweet clowns ocean!yeah they've actually gotten all black, that was an older pic, now they are covered in black and look nice, thats why i want to try and raise the babys to see if i get more onyx clowns!!! as far as the baby's go i dont know i think they just drift away and get sucked in by the overflow or get eaten by the cleaner shrimp and or other fish!!! just my thought

[oceancube]

Jim,, are you sure they are not hatching and then disappearing?.. it is possible they will eat them if they are not fertilized correctly or if their diet is not just right.. if they are in a place where you can watch their development they should darken and then develope eyes and then turn silver with a hint of the parent color,, roughly eight days later they will hatch and then be gone as food or whatever.. i setting up my rearing system and getting ready to order some greenwater, rotifers and brine shrimpcan you let us know how much it is going to cost to order the rots???? thanks

[ClownReef®]

Yep. some clowns are egg eaters. When that happens, i would suggest putting a clay pot or a clay tile right next to where they lay their eggs so they can lay them on the tile or the pot, then remove the whole clutch on the tile/pot and into the nursery tank. If anybody ever needs any help, just let me know.

[Texreefer]

Oceancube_ probably $30-40 for whole order.. i'm going to order cysts and they are only about $15

[JimD]

Will the fry take frozen rots?

[Texreefer]

The larvae wont.. you night have some luck with pulverized flake and larvae but you will have to feed two to three times a day and siphon tank a couple times a day

[erikharrison]

When you guys set up your hatcheries do yall use filters? I would figure maybe an airstone, no filter and some LR. That way nothing to kill them???

[Texreefer]

not even live rock,, nothing but an airhose, heater and amonia detector

[Texreefer]

Ok, I have most of the supplies needed and i'm in the process of setting up the culturing station in the laundry room. i have bought the Nanocloropsis,rotifers, micro algae grow, etc. at Florida Aqua farms.. in addition i'm going to try and culture rotifers in the back yard in 5 gallon buckets to see if i can develope a more sustainable, less labor intensive culture.. i will keep everyone updated on that progress as well.. the first spawn i will try and raise should hatch around the 22nd or 23rd of this month, while i'm on vacation.. the current clutch should hatch on the 11th or 12th in a couple of days and i will try and collect those to see what the process will be like.. more updates to come

[Texreefer]

ok I'm expecting a hatch tonight,, if they do i will practice collecting a few and see how it goes. if they do hatch tonight i will have their exact cycle down and can predict exactly when they will spawn and hatch

[ClownReef®]

GOOD LUCK!!

[ShaneV]

they are Ocellaris,, i had a young male and i was given a full grown female,, they immediately paired up.. quite unusual. i will try to get picks

Looks to me like your female is a true percula and hard to tell from the pic but the male does appear to be an ocellaris.

[Texreefer]

that is correct shane.


more up dates later OH and the female is actually a true Perc and the male is an ocellaris

and bad news.. found a bright red lesion on my female. if it gets any worse i will try and quaranteen her.

[ShaneV]

If shes still breeding odds are shell be ok, they tend to breed only when things are right :D

[Texreefer]

Well, I knew they would hatch tonight and they did :D i collected about 50-60 and there is twice that many still swimming around in tank.. the coolest part is i have a moonlight dead center in tank and they all migrate right to the light and i can scoop them right out,, man this was cool to watch too bad i'm not set up to raise this batch :(

[ShaneV]

Another option I've found was to use Joyce Wilkerson's larval snagger. I wish I had started with this method in the first place, it has maid it so much easier. Cut-off the end of a 2 liter bottle of soda and silicon it (Aquarium grade silicon) to a Permanent coffee filter. Put a small pump (40-100 gph) with a line running out of it the filter. Place the entire assembly inside a small tank. (I use a clear Rubbermaid container). Attach a "J tube. (I use two eheim return tubes) to the box and set the whole thing in the tank there the larvae will be hatching. Remove the air from the siphon tubes and start the pump up. You will now have a siphon on the J tubes that's pulling water in from the main tank. Shine a light on the end of the tube and sit back and relax! The larvae will be attracted to the light and get sucked up in the siphon. The permanent coffee filter will keep them safely in the hold. Let it go for a while and you'll have a container full of larvae!


Heres someone elese example of a snagger:
http://www.rasoc.org/forums/showthread.php?t=392

[Texreefer]

i have her book, and it looks easy to make,,, my problem now is, i have all the phytoplankton going, i have rotifers hatched and growing and my female has decided to move from their corner home to the anemone that she has ignored for months,, the male likes his old home and wont' follow her. so now they are not spawning anymore :angry.. they should have spawed yesterday and nothing..

[Texreefer]

Ok,, update they did spawn today so the race is on to get enough rotifers cultured by the time the larvae hatch!! they should hatch on the 27th or 28th

[Texreefer]

Well, I have everything i need now to raise my first batch except enough Rotifers.. I need about 100-200 per ml. it will be another 15 days before i can culture that many, so i will do an overnight shipment for a quart of rotifers on wednesday of this week.. i have plenty of Phyto. i have about 5- 2 liter cultures going along with one outdoor experimental culture. when they hatch on thursday or friday I will give an update

[Texreefer]

Ok, clowns hatched tonight and most all of them were transfered to the Larval rearing tank,, i would guestimate close to 200 little larvae swimming around...so we will call tomorrow, 07/28 /07 day 1

[apedroza]

Awesome job Mike!!!! Put me in line for any freaky looking ones with weird stripes!!!!!

[Texreefer]

Day 1 AM-- close to 50% loses this morning,, not sure why,, it could have been adjusting sg too quick or temp being too low overnight.. got down to 76 overnght.. anyway, there are LOTS left and most seem to be eating from what i can tell

[urban79]

LOL sounds like you have your hands full. Just like real kids.. LOL

[Texreefer]

down to about 30 this afternoon :( they seem to be eating so we will wait and watch

[Texreefer]

babies

[Texreefer]

Day 2 AM - i have 20 to 30 still alive and seem to be eating well, they have silver stomachs which is a sign they are eating the rotifers. still having trouble getting my heater to stabalize water temp

[Texreefer]

Day 3 AM - no losses this morning,, all seem to be doing well.. about 25 left

[erikharrison]

Awesome, hope your luck continues!! Gonna have to start calling you "Orareefer" lol!

[Texreefer]

Day 4 am - have a couple swimming a little funny but no additional losses.. they are starting to turn a more brownish color from the almost transparent that they used to be. on another note.. when they say to start 7 phyto cultures to feed the Rotifers,, they mean it!!.. once those little machines start eating they will go through a two liter bottle a day.. i'm going to decapsulate some brine today and will start feeding baby brine on thursday. doing 10% waterchanges daily right now and so far no amonia buildup.. siphoning botton once or twice a day as well to keep clean..

[Texreefer]

Day 5 am - 1 loss but nothing else major happening,, they are growing a bit and getting wider bodies.. one of my Rotifer cultures crashed so i will try and get it up an restarted tonight

[ShaneV]

How are you transfering them? What is the lighting and how are you filtering the light?

IME first night loses is usually 2 things.
1) Transfer damage
2) Light too intense, if you see them swimming on the bottom with there tails up the light is too bright for them. I usually put a paper towel over the tank to fileter the light to help diffuse it.

[RayAllen]

wow you are determined. Very cool thread to follow

[Texreefer]

Shane,, It was exactly that IMO... I beleive i was too rough when scooping them out,, instead of shining a light into a bowl. i just gently scooped like you would a bucket of water and i think that was too rough.. also we had full lighting on in the room when putting them in rearing tank. plus i started a drip right away to lower salinity ,, all of these i think contributed to the initial losses... the 30 that i have left are very active and have fat little bellies

[ShaneV]

Glad to here all is going well. I kept loosing 50-60% on the first noght of my first batches to that and the light for a while until I figured it out. The larval snagger made it a lot easier on them, and me to catch them!

[Texreefer]

Day 6, no losses.. will start brine tonight and feed sparingly tomorrow to see how it goes.. the brine eggs i had may be old. when trying to decapsulate they turned to mush and would not stay in suspension so i will seperate carefully before using

[Texreefer]

some encouraging signs tonight, some of my darker larvae have started to show tail curling, which is a sign that they will reach metamorphosis soon.. as soon as they morph and, hopfully they will survive, I will try and bribe Ace into taking some pics to try out that new tripod

[Richard]

You can get decapsulated small strain brine from seahorsesource...
http://www.seahorsesource.com/cgi-bin/shop/search.cgi?&category=Foods-Live


As well as other aquaculture things rots, pods, phyto etc.

[Richard]

Theirs aren't pre decapsulated but Jehmco also offers some high quality brine eggs, GSL and a miniature strain.
http://www.jehmco.com/PRODUCTS_/FISH_FOODS_/Brine_Shrimp_Eggs/brine_shrimp_eggs.html

If you plan to keep doing this they have alot of things that would probably be useful to you, so you might want to just spend some time looking at the various things they offer. Their service has been perfect in all my dealings with them.

Great job BTW!

[Texreefer]

Thanks Richard

[Texreefer]

Day 7 AM - 1 loss this morning but i think i still have over 30,, hard to count.. the one loss was a very thin one that i don't think got the hang of eating,, since metamorphosis seems not far off i'm going to stop water changes and just keep tank clean for next few days untill i see the change

[Bill S]

Looks like we have a batch of eggs from a black/regular pair...

[Texreefer]

yeah, my pair just spawned again this afternoon so i will have another group in 9 days

[JimD]

Excellent! Very cool!

[Texreefer]

Day 8 and no change.. no losses .. did a good tank vaccum and fed them. they don't seem to be eating the brine,, i will make a new batch and try again tomorrow,, there are some that are obviously outgrowing the others and starting to look like clownfish but no coloration yet. so still waiting on the morph

[scubaryan]

What type of food worked best to feed your larvae. Also, did you happen to try any type of cyclop-eeze in place of rotifers?

[Texreefer]

Day 9 no losses.. they won't eat anything but rotifers right now.. one ore two seem to be stalking brine shrimp but not much luck getting them to eat,, right now all look healthy

Edit: had a couple die this afternoon,, most likely starvation as they were very small ones

[Texreefer]

Day 10 - Several losses overnight.. most likely cause at this stage is poor water quality but i KNOW that is not the case as i have been VERY diligent about keeping water clean,, i must attribute it to starvation.. i didn't feed much yesterday due to work and such and they still wont take newly hatched brine,, i fed them really good this morning and it looks like i might loose a few more today,, hopefully they will morph soon and the hardest part will be over

[ShaneV]

I tend to not feed newly hatched brine shrimp until after metamorphisis. IMO they expened too much energy and the BBS grow too large too fast for them to eat well at this stage. If you have problems keeping up the feeding of rotifers theres three ways to make it a little easier.

1) Co-culture - You can grow some rotifers in the tank with the clowns. Basically add some phyto to that tank so the non eaten rotifers will multiple.
2) Drip rotifers in via a drip line so a contstant slow supply gets added.
3) A combination of the 2 above.


Also are you decapsulating the brine shrimp? If not are you making sure the shells dont get in the water? The clowns can choke on the shells.

[Texreefer]

Shane, I had thought about waiting as well but there was so much written about getting them to eat as early as day 5. i was going to add some phyto today a have a newly started culture that i was waiting on.. i have plenty of rotifers and the brine are not decapsulated but i have taken great care to seperate them first

thanks for your help

[erikharrison]

Gonna have to change your name Mike..... Texbreeder. lol. This has been interesting to follow, we wish you the best!

[Texreefer]

how about stressreefer, the farther along i go the more stress,, sooo much work that i am constantly stressed about loosing them so far along,,, i just want to get a few through metamophysis without killing all of them.. i will not be able to rear this next batch of eggs because i have to work the night they hatch

[Texreefer]

well, this evening it looks like I have two that have completed their morph into juveniles.. i would say by tomorrow or wed they should start showing some signs of a head stripe,, as for the others, most appear healthy but are Much smaller,, i will have to come up with another feeding plan next time,, i was worried about overfeeding and as a result they have not grown like they should, i have started feeding heavier and will hopfully see some growth and morphing soon

[Texreefer]

Day 11 update.. looks like i need a water change today,, i think i will only change around 10%, to try and keep ammonia down.. everyone looks good, i'm guessing around 20 left right now.. still waiting to see some good color on the new juveniles

[Texreefer]

double post

[Texreefer]

Day 12 - the only good news this morning is that none have died, STILL no more morphs and still no color development or stripes on the couple that have,, i will go tomorrow and buy some Iodine, it is supposed to help with color and stripe development

[Texreefer]

Expired 12 day old larvae
http://i122.photobucket.com/albums/o258/itili/DSC01083-1.jpg

you can see the silver stomach full of rotifers and you can see the black and orange pigments starting to develope. this one is one that was small at about 5 mm which is 3 times bigger than when hatched and about 3 mm smaller than my biggest ones[/img]

[Texreefer]

Day 13- well, no change but i am about to run into an issue,, i am working too much to be able to keep fresh hatched brine shrimp available. they have been without for two days now,, i have been sustaining them with rotifers and trying to get them to eat pulverized cylopeze.. they seem to pick at it but not enough to keep them interested.. it seems that most of the few that are left have gone through metamorphosis,, thought i would be seeing some color by the two week mark but nothing yet

[ismvel]

In a perfect situation...about how long after hatching would you be able to move these guys (sell, trade, etc)?

[Texreefer]

4-5 months

[Texreefer]

two more died to day, presumably to starvation,, i think that leaves me with about 12, and i'm starting to fight amonia now.

[Texreefer]

from talking to karen at marsh and doing more research,, it looks like none have actually morphed yet,, although many may be in the process right now.. this is why i'm not seeing any color development..

[Texreefer]

Day 15 update,, well i have some good news and bad news,, good news is I actually now have several Juvenile clownfish,, starting to show the white head stripe :D and doing the clownfish waggle :lol .. now for the bad news, i came home from work today and one of my airpumps had stopped,, my airline to my tank and to my two brine shrimp hatcheries had stopped, tank seems to be ok for now but i am EXTREEMLY low on food now and trying to get more brineshrimp up and running.... stay tunned.. when they color up real good i will see if maybe Ace will take some pics for me :shades

[erikharrison]

how many are left?

[Texreefer]

I think there are 14

[dabudkrew]

any updated pics?

[Texreefer]

well, it doesn't take long.. i have 2 Juveniles fightning aleady :roll .. they both want the same corner

[jaustiniv]

I have to say that this is one of the most interesting threads to read. Keep it up!! And Good Luck!

[mathias]

yea great thread... just want more pics :)

[Texreefer]

Ace is coming over tonight to collect my second batch of larvae, i will post the results in the morning,, it will be too late at night to get good pics,, so maybe in a few days when the stripes are better developed.. this first batch is very slow in developing because of my inexperiance, but i think i have a handle on it.. only after tonight i will have two tanks of fish and have to do everything twice,,,hmmm what did i get myself into

[Texreefer]

Well, we missed the hatch last night, i'm not sure if they hatched way later than normal or maybe a day early, but i thought i swq them still in tank when i left for work,, oh well there will be more hatches..
Day 17 - all 14 doing really well. all are showing head stripes this morning and seem to be eating brine and growing

[Texreefer]

Day 18 - RIP #14.. only 13 left. i think due to water change and addition of sponge filter.. ammonia is a little high

[ShaneV]

Whats your PH at? The lower you can keep your PH the less toxic the ammonia is.

Also what temp are you keeping the tank?

[Texreefer]

Shane,, yes Ph is on the high side.. 8.2-8.3 because the parent tank is a reef at about 8.4 i usually areate with a stone before using.. i am switching to freshly mixed IO for replacement and tank temp is around 79-80. I have about 8 that are really growing good and developing stripes and about 4 -5 that are reeaallly small still,,

[ShaneV]

Id recommend a minimum of 80 degrees for the tank, even 81-82 is fine. Anything thing lower then 80 really delays metamorphisis. Ive had mine get as high as 85 with no ill effects

[Texreefer]

Day 19 all is well,, second stripes coming in on some and they are fighting like little kids.. i have about 6 that just go at it all the time

[Bill S]

Time for some pix...

[apedroza]

HAve you tride maybe dividing the tank and separating the lager ones?

[Jynxgirl]

I have enjoyed this thread very much. Best of luck on getting the rest of these little guys to big little fish!

Jill

[ismvel]

You don't have any pictures for us Texreefer?

[Texreefer]

I have tried and tried and cant get anything but a little orange blur

Day 20 lost one of the smallest ones today,, i have i think 10 nicely developing juveniles,, i don't expect any more loses at this stage

[ismvel]

That is great....so are they spoken for already? Not that I have a tank or anything...just wondering the interest in your clowns, I know many are watching this cool thread.

[Texreefer]

I have one each promised to a couple of guys that gave me stuff,, i'm donating a pair to Ace's school system, a pair to a future MAAST raffle, I'm keeping a couple and then we will see how it goes,, i plan on raising another batch soon and hopefully the success rate will be much greater

[Texreefer]

siphoning tank today and didn't see one of the clowns,, it got stuck sideways in the end of the siphon tube.. i quickly put my finger over the other end to stop the siphon but could not shake him loose,, i let go of my finger and he got sucked all the way down to the collection container.. i scooped him out with a teaspoon and put him back in the tank... he appears to be unaffected by the adventure,, guess they are a little hardier now than i expected

[KarenB]

Wooo hooo!! Great job. I've been over here in Houston holding my breath for you. :sick I know how I felt during my first couple of batches. I spent, oh, 23 hours a day sitting in front of the tank hoping nobody would kick the bucket and was so sad when they did. And they do. But after a while it gets easier both to raise them and to let them go.

Anyway, congrats!

KarenB

[beareef19]

The one that got sucked up in the tube is OFFICIALLY named

:roll :roll NEMO
:lol :lol


Barry

[Texreefer]

thanks for all your help in answering Questions Karen :)

[Texreefer]

Three Weeks Old Today :D clowns spawned yesterday so i should have a hatch on friday or sat of next week

[blueboy]

wow, awesome thread mike! you really have some dedication. this sounds like about a full time job! i can't believe it took me this long to check out this thread. one question though, and maybe it's a dumb one, but i didn't think it was possible for two different species of clown to breed. and your male really looks more like a perc to me. occelaris ussualy have a more pure orange color and very little black.

[Texreefer]

it is very common for clowns in captivity to cross breed, especially true and false percs... the cool thing is that the offspring will have the qualities of both parents and will be fertile adults,,, the analogy was made in Joyces book to a horse and a donkey breeding and you get a mule.. only difference is a Mule cannot breed they are infertile,, clownfish can keep going and going and going and going :blink :D

[Texreefer]

this was the absolute best pic i could get with my camera but you can see the head stripe and if you look hard you can see the start of the second stripe along the back
http://i122.photobucket.com/albums/o258/itili/DSC01155.jpg

[ismvel]

Man that is awesome....so the mortailty rate was rather high...but this is your first time...so in future attempts about how many do you think you will be able to successfully breed and raise? I know you can't predict, but I don't know anyone who has ever bred anything, so if you have found what the average number of survival, that would work.

[blueboy]

it is very common for clowns in captivity to cross breed, especially true and false percs... the cool thing is that the offspring will have the qualities of both parents and will be fertile adults,,, the analogy was made in Joyces book to a horse and a donkey breeding and you get a mule.. only difference is a Mule cannot breed they are infertile,, clownfish can keep going and going and going and going :blink :D
okay, that's very interesting, i didn't know that any hybrids were fertile. clownfish really keep their options open when it comes to procreation! :wacko

[Texreefer]

i would say that once i get a handle on what i'm doing i could raise up to 50-60 at a time

[ismvel]

Inspiring, I wanna try....LOL...oh wait, I guess I should set up a tank first....LOL.....

[Texreefer]

One last hurdle now,,, i am having a little trouble getting them to take dry food,, they will chase it down but not eat it.. i am not going to feed brine shrimp tomorrow and see if they will get hungry enough to eat the pulverized flake.. once they are doing this, the hard part is over. time to sit back and watch them grow

[Texreefer]

the best pics i could get using a home made macro lens
this one shows the second stripe developing
http://i122.photobucket.com/albums/o258/itili/DSC01170.jpg

this is two playing around
http://i122.photobucket.com/albums/o258/itili/DSC01163.jpg

this is a full side shot at just over 1/4",, all 11 are healthy and doing great!
http://i122.photobucket.com/albums/o258/itili/DSC01162.jpg

[RayAllen]

WOW! Great job. Im very impressed with your determination. These little guys have a great dad.

[Jynxgirl]

Ah they are so cute! I think you did pretty dang good for your first attempt. I will be following along with everyone else. This thread is the awesome! Jill

[mathias]

that is so cool... great pics..

[erikharrison]

I'd like to bet that you have alot more the second time around, since in hindsight EVERYTHING is 20/20!!! I bet you have learned so much from this!

[jaustiniv]

Great Job!!!!! I am sure that you will be happy with the results. All that hard work paying off.

[Texreefer]

I'm practically an expert now..............NOT! actually could loose even more or all of them the second time around just because i think i can do things different and better. That is likely not the case, but it could happen,,, i will have a second batch this weekend and will be transfering the others to a 10 gal growout tank

[dfowlks]

There is a great log like this on the Marsh website. You should check it out
http://www.marshreef.com/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&t=16592&sta rt=0

[Texreefer]

should have a hatch tonight or tomorrow but i don't have any rotifers,, my cultures crashed so i'm not sure i will even collect this batch

[Texreefer]

well, all eleven of my baby clowns are safely in their 10 gal growout tank and eating all sorts of foods, i have two trips coming up in the next 2 months so the clown rearing will be put on hold,,, late october and early november i will start back up and hopefully have much more success than just eleven,, i will post sometime in December when i am ready to get rid of these.

[Texreefer]

Well, they are finally developing the third stripe on the tail,, they are about 3/8" long and doing great! I will get some pics up soon

[Texreefer]

Ok, this is weird!.. i have one baby clown that swims completely upside down 100% of the time. he looks completely healthy and normal otherwise.. the funniest thing you ever saw.

[Texreefer]

just a quick update, all Eleven are still doing great. one or two are still small but most are at least 1/2" long now.. hopefully in december they will be ready for new homes

[Mr Cob]

Congratulations on your success with breeding your clowns.

They Rock!

Very interesting/Fascinating journal to read. Thanks for documenting this for all of us who will find this very useful should we begin to breed. :)

Classic about the talented swimmer, he's just showing off!

[dabudkrew]

any updated pics?

[hobogato]

darnit, i was just there this week and forgot to take pics of the clown babies for him.

[dabudkrew]

anything new happening?

[Texreefer]

No , they are slowly growing,, they would grow quicker if i had them in a 20 gal, but i don't have the room to set it up right now.. i have several close to selling size and the rest are still about 1/2" - 3/4" long ,,, they are little pigs though,, you just walk near their tank and they all crowd around looking for a hand out

[Fishmom]

Texreefer, I've enjoyed reading along from the beginning to now, raising these little guys and you've inspired me, I've decided I WANT to breed my clown! How do you determine the sex? Do you count the stripes? LOL Also, do I need an anemone for the eggs? I have 2 tangs and a damsel, would they eat the eggs? oh and a decorative crab also. This is exciting!

[Texreefer]

thank you .. either buy them as a pair. or buy one that is obviously juvenile and one that is larger,, not recomended.. easiest way is to buy two juveniles and they will sort it out,, you do not need an anemone but it helps.. the female will always be the larger

[RayAllen]

Thats what I did, I got a drop pair of True percs from Ed at Phenominal and they have paired up. Female is larger as stated and occasionally bullies the smaller male but nothing bad. Whats funny is the male host a large ball of red zoas, lol. Better than my hydor koralia that he was.

[erikharrison]

lol Mine love being next to the Koralia as well. All three of them. I guess it's because its probably the lowest flow point in my aquarium?

[loans_n_fishes]

Hey Tex! Congrats on the little guys! Let me know when you are ready to sell and what you will ask. I plan to buy one from you and one from another place so they don't inbreed down the line. Not really looking to breed clownfish though. I'm up to my eyeballs in seahorses right now!

[erebus]

Here's the first baby to leave...

http://www.codereddesign.com/clown.jpg

Thanks Mike!

[MissT]

Very cute! Congratulations.
Mike, how are the rest of the babies doing?

[Texreefer]

Thanks everyone,, i will probably sell them soon and , i know its asking a lot but they will probably be $15 each,, I will only have about 7 to sell.. i will let everyone know when

[MissT]

That's not much considering the amount of work you've put in to bring them up! Keep us posted!

[copperband]

thats not mutch at all i might be interested when you sell i have a female and i want to breed clowns

[Texreefer]

Wow, I didn't realize these guys were almost a year and a half old already.. most of these guys were sold and I kept one that is doing great!.. I will start up this process again soon. hopefully more full scale this time.