400 gallon project

[untamed]

Originally Posted by SeaSerpant

Ok i just spent the few last nights sifting through this thread. it looks awesome. Right now what kind of livestock do you have. In that one picture with the clowns i can't see the eggs (i don't know what they look like really). It looks like it took a lot of time and effort to finish this project off. What are the conditions of your tank right now? I was wondering if i could get the site for your web cam? since i only read portions of your thread i probably missed it. Thanks

The New One
SeaSerpant

Maroon clowns seem to lay maroon coloured eggs. There are so many that you probably don't realize what you are seeing. It is that reddish purple mass directly above the lighter clown's nose.

They are working on their 2nd brood now. We were expecting to see a hatching this evening, but we've given up waiting around in the dark! I can tell the eggs are fertilized and very close to hatch because they are no longer maroon in colour...now they are darker, silvery and have shiny eyes...

As for the tank in general....I don't think it has changed too much since the tank photo on pg. 41. Everything seems stable enough. Corals are growing...fish are healthy...

I took some coral growth photos today. My corals have a LOT of room to grow. It will take several years for this tank to achieve what I have envisioned.

Webcam is: http://brads-aquarium.viewnetcam.com:50000 (lights are on from about 1PM to 10PM PST)

[SeaSerpant]

Well now i know why the one guy said he couldn't see it. you had to click on the single at the top to look at it. Ok i have a small question, what kind of water did you use to fill it. did you use just distilled water and salt and the dechlorinator because i don't know what kind of water i can use because it is not like a freshwater system where i can take tap water and dechlorinate it and it's fine.
thanks!
SeaSerpant

[untamed]

A bit of excitement this evening...

The clownfish fan their eggs constantly. I was watching this behaviour tonight and saw one of the eggs become dislodged and start floating around the tank.

Quick action with the turkey baster and I had the egg on the dissecting microscope to take a better look. While trying to manuever the egg around on the slide, the egg broke open and the tiny fry came out wigglin'. There's no doubt now that I have successful partnership going on there.

The fry had what appeared to be pigment patches starting to form on it's skin. We could see his beating heart, fins, tail, and yolk sack. Of course, the eyes occupy 2/3 of the head.

Based on that, I assume that tonight is hatching time. Cool stuff, but kind of sad also because I can't provide them with any hope of survival at this point.

[robzilla]

Originally Posted by untamed

A bit of excitement this evening...


Based on that, I assume that tonight is hatching time. Cool stuff, but kind of sad also because I can't provide them with any hope of survival at this point.

there was an article in one of last year's Coral mags about rearing clown fish. not sure if these mags are on line but it looked do-able if you had the tanks and the time.

let me know if you want me to dig up the month.

[groan]

um, Wow, i just finished, after 3 days of reading and skimming, completed all 43 pages of this.

What a fantastic tale of tragedy and happiness.

With the size of the rocks this is probably not possible, but what about a large fry box, the kind of thing you would hang on the side fo a 'normal' tank and put babies, or a new fish into. could you not fasion something at least to keep the larger critters away from the babies and keep mommy and daddy in?

[untamed]

Originally Posted by robzilla

there was an article in one of last year's Coral mags about rearing clown fish. not sure if these mags are on line but it looked do-able if you had the tanks and the time.

let me know if you want me to dig up the month.

Originally Posted by groan

...

With the size of the rocks this is probably not possible, but what about a large fry box, the kind of thing you would hang on the side fo a 'normal' tank and put babies, or a new fish into. could you not fasion something at least to keep the larger critters away from the babies and keep mommy and daddy in?

No need to supply info on breeding of clowns, thanks. I've read enough to know that I'm not prepared to do it right now. While the fry could possibly be protected from predation in the main tank, they would certainly starve. I've not found anyone successful at raising clownfish in a mixed reef tank. They have to be separated and I'm not ready for additional tanks at this time.

BTW...I was correct. All the eggs hatched sometime after lights-out last night. No trace of fry that I can see. It is possible they are all hiding somewhere under the anemone...or they have all been swept away in the current.

[Delphinus]

I'd say swept away. I've never seen a fry the next morning. If you think about it, if you think about how many potential offspring a pair can produce over a lifetime; and yet, for the population to remain stable, theoretically/on-average only 2 need to survive into adulthood and reproduce (to replace their parents) - that's a lot of mortality.

In the many years I've had a breeding pair or another of clowns - I haven't actually witnessed a hatching yet. However, I have witnessed on a couple of occasions a shrimp hatching (peppermints and cleaners) - and - I can tell you the tank inhabitants go into a berserk feeding frenzy once they realize what's going on. I imagine it's a similar thing here. I know it's sad but I suspect the fry really don't last much longer than a few minutes or a few hours tops.