Clarkii Larval Rearing (no rotifers?)

[jnowell]

Steve, it's about 2" from the anenome, if you look in the lower left hand corner, you can see the tentacles. Look at the pic about 4 posts up of the female cleaning the site, it shows the location pretty well. The anenome shifts around a lot, he's a little further away than normal in the last pic.

Jason

 

[jnowell]

Got some better pics today of the 21 day olds. In the group shot, you can see the black marking on the tail of the one farthest to the right, and a little of it in the single closeup. No-one ever answered as to whether this was normal, or if I have mutants

Day 21, with 11 surviving. WAY better than I thought I could do. Thanks for all the help.

 

[jnowell]

Here's a good video clip of the 21-22 day olds. Finally got off my rear and captired it, it looks tons better, and is a smaller file than my last cruddy video.

http://www.wfrs.org/rc/fish.wmv

 

[Kathy55g]

THEY ARE SO CUTE!

 

[Worldwithin]

I will attempt to post some picts of my 25 day olds... I will wait until they are "asleep" before I can capture them on film. They tend to be a bit less active when they are kicking it at the bottom at night. That and hopefully it will allow me a more accurate count.

:fish1::hammer:

 

[Worldwithin]

As promised, I have a picture of one of my 20-ish kids. Not the best picture in the world, but he just woke up, so he still has that sleepy look.

:fish1::hammer:

 

[jnowell]

Cool! I'm glad to see that he has a dark spot on his tail too, I was wondering if that was normal.

What are you feeding them these days, mine are eating Formula One and baby brine shrimp. I'm considering grating up some frozen mysis or something.

Jason

 

[Worldwithin]

Mine are still on BBS for the most part as I have been having some difficulty getting the flake food to the right size. I did notice that today they seemed more interested in the flake foods than before though. Hopefully I can change them over to that soon.

Quick question for ya... I am noticing that your water is a rather funky yellow color in your pictures... Anything particular that is causing that, or is it just your lighting?

:fish1::hammer:

 

[jnowell]

It's a combination of the lighting, co-culturing (phyto in the tank), and the mass amounts of reddish orange Formula One I'm feeding them. I syphon the uneaten food off the bottom at least once a day, usually twice, and top off with water from the parent tank, which usually has a slight yellow ting to it, it's a 2 year old tank. Mostly green phyto in the water, and lighting.

I wish it looked as clear as everyone elses I see, but it doesn't. In the video, I had just fed BBS and Form ula One (powdered) so it isn't indicative of the color all of the time. It's also shot lengthwise through the tank, so there is about 15" of water between the camera and fish (the underwater shots anyways).

Jason

 

[jnowell]

Actually, after looking at it again, it's mostly just the pics. There is a yellow/tan towel under the tank, and brown cardboard blocking out all of the sides. The water is pretty clear, you are mostly seeing the colors on the other side of the glass.

 

[Worldwithin]

Ahhh.. I was wondering about that. I figured it was something along those lines.

:fish1::hammer:

 

[jaybro]

I use a mortar and pestle to get the flake to the right size. I grind grind grind until I think it's the right size, and then I grind some more (it's invariably to large the first go around!)

I use a mixture of otihime, cyclops-eez flake and spirulina flake. Mostly, I skip over artemia all together but have a period where I'm feeding both rots, and dry foods (I always have some stragglers in accepting dry foods, the daily rot feedings give them time to catch on.)

 

[jnowell]

Jay,

Interesting that you skip artemia all together. Seems like the more I talk to people, the less I think I need to use them. I've heard good things about Otihime, do you know of its nutritional profile really that much better than Formula One? Mine are getting a Formula One and Two / Brine Shrimp Formula.

I've found that a good zip lock bag full of flakes, hammered into submission makes perfect sized food. I still seive it through a brine shrimp net to make sure, but there is usually very little that won't fall through.

Jason

 

[jaybro]

I don't know if otihime is that much better of a food. I tried it based on some recommendations I've seen here on reefcentral. It has worked well for me so far with juveniles, but the larva seem to prefer the crushed cyclops flake. I've only been using it about a month.

A little more detail on the growout feeding schedule...

Once the fish are fully morphed, I stop using cyclops eez flake and use less spirulina flake. So the feedings look like :

Morning - Otihime/spriulina mix (about 3/4 1/4 respectively)
Mid Day - Otihime/spriulina mix (about 3/4 1/4 respectively)
*Late afternoon - Otihime/spriulina mix (about 3/4 1/4 respectively)
Evening - frozen cyclops eez

After I've fully reared several clutches on this mix, I'll post back and let you know what I think of the otihime. For now I can tell you that it's very easy to feed, and the youngins absolutely love it. I also 'really' like that they learn to pick it up off the bottom (it stays in suspsension fairly well, but eventually settles out to the bottom and is eaten from there, as opposed to most of the other foods I'm using which wash over the overflow fairly quickly).

* -- I sometimes miss the late afternoon feedings, probably about half the time in fact.

 

[jnowell]

Thanks Jay.....yeah, that eating off the bottom thing would be real nice. I'm just about to start my third hatch, so I'm still very green (mostly cause I'm covered in Phyto all the time). I have 10 of 50 from my first hatch that "look" like they are done with metamorphasis, but they never settled to the bottom like I hear they will. How exactly does one know? Have you watched the video from a few posts back, I'm wondering if these guys are considered juveniles yet? I keep waiting for them to look "tired" and they are all busy dancing in the bubbles from the hang on filter outflow. :sigh:

I think I'll go look for some Otihime and see if mine will eat off the bottom too.

 

[Kathy55g]

My first batch did not go to ground. They metamorphosed while hosting the back wall of the tank, still their favorite hang out spot.

 

[jnowell]

OK, that's good to hear Kathy. Mine have hosted with the swirling water under the hang on filter...I was worried about having too much flow, and they jumped right in the middle of it, and seem to enjoy themselves there. They only come out of it to eat....hmm, another video might be in order

In your opinion, have they metamorphosed?

Jason

 

[Worldwithin]

Just to let you know, mine are post meta, and they cruise around the top and mid water when awake, and only kick it on the bottom when the lights are out. So long as they are swimming around and eating, I would assume they are just fine.

:fish1::hammer:

 

[Kathy55g]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6460738#post6460738 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by jnowell
OK, that's good to hear Kathy. Mine have hosted with the swirling water under the hang on filter...I was worried about having too much flow, and they jumped right in the middle of it, and seem to enjoy themselves there. They only come out of it to eat....hmm, another video might be in order

In your opinion, have they metamorphosed?

Jason

Hi Jason,
Are you talking about the ones in the picture, or another hatch? If they have a head band, they have started metamorphosis. For Ocellaris, if they have a head band and have changed color (ocellaris go orange, not sure with yours) they are done with metamorphosis.

Picture?

Cheers,
Kathy

 

[jnowell]

I'll post some pictures tonight, they actually have all settled now so I'm a little more confident. They are doing very well, still eating the dry food (and whatever BBS I happen to give them). Looks like the new nest will hatch tonight, hopefully they will come out healthier than the last batch.

For reference, the Clarkii's had head stripes at day 9, both stripes were solid white by about day 15, and they finally settled about day 22. Even at day 22 they don't have any color (slight yellow ting to their fins). They have no orange on their bodies at all yet, but my parents are pretty dark too.

They were more active on the bottom this morning, and a few surfaced to eat, but they generally still stay low in the tank. New hatch and new thread tonight probably...lots of silver eyes looking at me this morning.

Jason