Ilham, sorry but Im stumped

[snafu38]

Hi Ilham & all,

Ive asked for your help with my A. Ocellaris before. I got them as a breeding pair & they did so successfully several times (though I wasnt so good with the fry but should have fixed that if infusoria grow in salt water), then they stopped for numerous months.

They have had 3 more lots of eggs lately, the eggs seem to develop OK. Once I see the eyes, I carefully place the pot into a plastic bowl & move them to a hatching tank. I am very careful not to let any come out of the water. The hatching tank is only filled with the adults water JUST before I move the pot, so its not the water change.

A quick recap, my current problem is that the eggs dont hatch & they very quickly change colour from black to a pale tan colour, though the eyes remain visible, but change to black.

I did as you advised a month or so ago & sterilised the tank with bleach, let it soak for a week, then rinsed it out properly again.

2 matings ago I did as you also advised & put Meth Blue in the hatching tank. I did as per the instructions. I did about a 5% change after 2 days, then daily. I could hardly see the pot even though they are only in about 15-20 litres.

Gradually as the Meth Blue diluted out, I could see they hadnt hatched again, BUT, some of the eggs (with fry inside) had come loose & were on the bottom of the tank about 7 inches from the pot. Only circulation is a small airstone going slow. The eggs still in the pot looked the same, as if they had been trying to hatch but couldnt get out.

The next batch I moved last night. I only used about 6 drops of Meth Blue so I could actually see inside the tank. Id say about 2 or 3 hours later when I checked, it appeared they had changed to the tan colour again, & none have hatched as yet today. A very small % of them, mostly on the outside of the bunch, dont seem to have changed, but havent hatched. They do look like they may have been trying to get out.

Now, I have no idea whats going on. In the adults tank the inlet from the sump is a spraybar running the length of the tank about 1 inch off the bottom. When the sump gets low, it can suck air & the tank is filled with a cloud of tiny bubbles. Could this be a problem ?

I really have no idea whats wrong. Here in Australia we are having a VERY bad drought, the dam my water comes from is down to 13% & its not good. It is filled with chlorine & who knows what else, though I do mix up about 100 litres in a spare tank, treat it & let it sit for a week. Could this be a problem. I had an idea that maybe something in the water is making the eggs too hard for them to hatch out of. Do you think this could be it & what should I be testing for ? I have been trying to get filtered ocean water but no luck as yet.

I only have 2 other suggestions. 1. is that I could move the adult male with the pot & hope he does his job.

2. is leaving the pot & eggs in the adult tank & try to keep them from the rest of the tank. Its easy enough to stop the filter, problem is 1. finding the fry, 2. getting to them before the Blue Tang & Royal Dottyback do. I know its not a great idea having other fish in the tank, but they were getting killed in the top tank by other, cheap fish (its a 2 tank system) & the clowns have absolutely no problem with them, even letting the Tang into the pot, even with eggs & whilst mating.

I would have to come up with some way of isolating the pot, or that 1/4 of the tank. I have flyscreen that could do it, just have to work out a design.

Sorry to be a pain, but Im just lost on this now. Any suggestions would be great. Thanks,

Stan
[email protected]

 

[Elmo18]

Hi there.

Here are some suggestions, as per your information:

1. If you are not already doing so, age your water and let it sit/aerate for a week prior to using it. Are you using an RO/DI or did I miss that.

2. Timing - this is important. You want to leave the eggs with the parents for as long as possible, as to avoid what you are seeing.

3. Aeration - another key thing. Sometimes you have to fiddle and experiment. Too little, and the eggs will die, or not hatch, no matter if you put Meth Blue, etc for anti-fungal. Too much, and they die inside, eggs turn grayish, and fall off the rock/tile/pot.

Keep trying. It is still not "easy" for me, and I know I learn new things with each batch I raise. However, once you have it down, it is just like learning to type on the keyboard...etc...(maybe a bad analogy). Still, rearing saltwater tropical fish is not easy to begin with and can be stressful...

Best,
Ilham

 

[Juanfer]

Good Luck

 

[Elmo18]

Hi Stan.

One other thing.

Newly-hatched clownfish fry are 'phototrophic', and all attracted to light. This solves your problem of 'finding your fry'.

Best,
Ilham

 

[snafu38]

Update on Clown Fry

HI again Ilham,

yes I treat my tap water to remove chlorine etc, & I mix it up in a spare tank, leaving it sit for no less than 48hrs, but usually its mixed for a week before I use it.

I dont have access to RO or DI water at the moment, I am still desperately trying to get hold of the filtered/sterilised ocean water. I am going to get onto our water provider & see if they can give me a chemical analysis of whats coming out of our taps.

The adults are still very keen to breed & I have another lot of eggs that should be ready to hatch in the next 48hrs.

To my surprise, 5 fry managed to hatch from the last lot that I wrote to you about. They seemed to be exhausted & only survived for between 12 & 48 hrs.

I do leave the eggs with the adults up until the last minute, only when the greater majority have very silver eyes do I move them, usually another 24hrs after I first notice a colour change.

The pot they are laid in has a hole at the base/back. I put the air stone behind this hole, theory being that it will provide some form of current past the eggs, though obviously its not a lot.

I did notice on the last lot that failed before I removed the pot to return to the adults, that there were a lot of air bubbles on the eggs. As I suggested in the earlier post, I am positive this comes from when the sump gets low & blows billions of tiny bubbles throughout the tank. Do you think this could be the problem ?

None of the eggs have fallen of the pot as yet, & I believe the ones that did hatch were from a small group that was laid on the other side of the pot, away from where all the bubbles were.

I expect to be moving the pot to the hatching tank tonight & will go through the same proceedure I did last time, with only a few drops of Meth Blue.

My next problem is feeding the fry. They get BBS. I know thats too big for most. What do you think about liquid fry food ? I have tried it in the past.

How about boiled egg yolk mixed into a paste ?

Last question,, I have read about producing infusoria by placing crushed lettuce leaves in water. This was always in reference to fresh water. Does this also work in salt water ? I have both fresh & salt set up, for about a week or more now. The cloudiness appeared as the articles said, so I guess its working.

Thanks yet again,

Stan