eggs or what?

[wrasser]

i was looking at the tank and saw this stuff next to the sea anemone. i dont know if they are eggs or what.

[redpaulhus]

Hard to tell without zooming in, but it looks like it might be clownfish eggs - do you have a pair in there ?

If the original pic was higher res (and you had to make it smaller to put online) I might be able to make a better guess from the original.

But the color and the shape of the mass looks right to me.

I think Oldsalt worked at a clownfish breeder, he might know.

[wrasser]

yea i have a pair of maroone, what action do i need to take if they are eggs? i have a yellow tang, yellow-eye kole tang, six line wrasse, yellow watchman golby, 3 red spoted carnials and a sea horse. what should i take out if any?

[redpaulhus]

To raise them you'll either need to move the eggs to the tank you'll be raising the fry in, or carefully catch them when they hatch. Otherwise you'll probably loose them all to predation (plus it would be impossible to feed them well enough in such a big tank).

In fact feeding will probably be the biggest hurdle - they will be far to small to eat baby brine shimp.
Freshly cultured rotifers are probably the best way to go, although frozen rotifers may work better than nothing (Hikari just started selling these in the states).

Check out Joyce Wilkerson's Clowfish book, or Hoff's book on Plankton Culture, or Martin Moe's books (his Marine Aquarium Handbook: Beginner to Breeder has an excellent chapter on breeding clowns that includes what is generally considered the classic rotifer culture diagram, and The Marine Aquarium Reference has a more in depth section on rotifer culture)

In a nutshell - you need to culture phytoplankton to feed to the rotifers, and then culture the rotifers. Feed the plankton to the rotifers, then feed the rotifers to the larvae.
Never ever let rotifers into the algae culture vessels - they will wipe out your whole culture in no time.

oh - and in a pinch, you can feed V8 veggie juice to rotifers, but its not as nutritious as feeding them phyto and you'll probably loose more clownfish fry that way.


Its tricky but not impossible - we even cultured phyto and rotifers in class in college.

[wrasser]

how long will the incubation be for the eggs to hatch.

[TheOldSalt]

I don't see a picture anywhere, or even a link to one, so I can't say for sure. However, if you suddenly have a mysterious mass of orange stuff at the base of your anemone, then clownfish eggs would be my first guess.

At 80F, the eggs typically hatch in 7 or 8 days. You should start to be able to see the eyes on around day 4. The day before they hatch, the eggs swell up a little and take on a purplish color, well, more of a sheen, really.

I say the day before they hatch because the eggs hatch at night. About 2 or 3 hours after dark they will start.

I haven't tried the Hikari frozen rotifers, but these would be fantastic if they work. Grinding up some Cyclop-eze to even smaller size might work as a supplement, but I haven't tried that, either.
Can you get oyster trochophores? Oyster eggs are hard to get and pricey, but they work.

Live rotifers and other marine infusoria are the best choice, though. You can order a Roti-Rich culture kit from Florida Aqua Farms which MIGHT get you a harvest before your eggs hatch if you hurry.

If not, then don't worry. They'll spawn again and again and again until you get it right. Clowns are spawning machines once they get started, and apparently you've already done the hard part of getting them started.

[wrasser]

what about the other fish in the tank old salt

[TheOldSalt]

Oh, well, I thought it would go without saying that you can't possibly hope to raise the fry in the main tank, but I guess I was wrong. You'll have to move the larvae to another tank.

[wrasser]

no i wasnt worried about raising them in the tank i am worried about my six-line wrasse eating the eggs. and should i move them after they hatch? how many gallons would be enough to raise them in. LOL do i need sand, rock or just a tank? do i put an anemone in with the frys, you know alot of stupid question like that.
i guess should buy a book, huh?
thanks again

[TheOldSalt]

The other fish will eat the eggs if the adults let down their guard.

A bare tank is needed for the fry, and a small one like a 5 gallon is just perfect.
You have to wrap black plastic around the tank to make sure the only light in the tank comes from above. Otherwise they can't see the food very well.

By the way, the larvae are not what you would normally call fry. They are hardly recognizable as even being fish. It'll take a few weeks of pelagic drifting before they metamorphose into juveniles which actually look like baby fish, and if you can get them that far, you're home free. This is typical among the marine fishes, and one of the main reasons they are so much harder to raise than freshwater ones.

No anemones! No rock, no snails, no anything.

Yes, a book or three would be very handy. Since you seem to be a natural at it, it might pay to learn the details.

[wrasser]

hey oldsalt my girlfriend and i thank you for everything you have done. i honestly dont think im am going to get this batch of eggs because of the time frame is so short. i will keep you posted.
thanks again.