Breeding setup

[Justinnn]

I want to start my breeding exp. with clownfish cause theres is a ton of info on the mand they arent too difficult. I just want some feed back on my set up.

I have a 75 gallon tank with crushed coral, to maintain ph, and a 20 gallon long set up to a 55 gallon sump with liverock and bio filter media. I was planning on putting the mated pair in the 75 gal and letting them acclimate there and spawn in that tank. I then planned on hatching the eggs in the original tank and rearing the larvae in the same tank. Now i figured I'd put up a micron screen around the over flow box so no guys get sucked up, will this set up work? Or should i set up another tank for rearing? and should the egss be hatched in a tank with crushed coral or what? I guess Ill just have to reed that book on clownfish.

[Fishboy42]

Definitely check out Wilkerson's and Hoff's books on clownfish rearing, very interesting reads as well. There's also a wealth of information here if you search for it; there are many experienced breeders who frequent the boards and can help you when you have more specific questions.

Just to give you some info. other than the standard "buy & read wilkerson" line...

The spawning tank sounds fine, but for most species, it doesn't need to be that large; many breeders use 20g for broodstock.

You'll need to separate the young from the adults, as they have very different needs. I wouldn't use any substrate in the larval tank. The young won't tolerate strong water movement, and they need small live foods (rotifers) that would be filtered out by most filters. Not difficult to do though, rotifers and larvae can be accommodated in affordable 10 gallon aquariums with airstones, and for the clowns, a heater.

As far as getting the babies out of the spawning tank, you can either pull the eggs out before they hatch, or let the eggs hatch in the adult tank and then pull the larvae out on the night of hatching (labor intensive!).

Hope this helps,

-Matt

[RCS]

No substrate also aids in cleaning the tank of any dead food organisms or fish waste, and trust me, you WILL need to doa lot of siphoning!

[Justinnn]

So then i should move the eggs after they hatch from the 75 to the 20 long and keep the parents in the 75? the 20 long will have no substrate and I can rear the larvae in that tank. I should keep the larvae in the 20 gal until they undergo metamorphasis then could i transfer them back to the 75 gal for more room to grow out?. also the whole time im rearing the larvae, should there be no pump movement, only wanter changes, both? Or should i turn the valve back on to that tank and continue filtration?

[Atticus]

Originally posted by Justinnn
I want to start my breeding exp. with clownfish cause theres is a ton of info on the mand they arent too difficult. I just want some feed back on my set up.

I have a 75 gallon tank with crushed coral, to maintain ph, and a 20 gallon long set up to a 55 gallon sump with liverock and bio filter media. I was planning on putting the mated pair in the 75 gal and letting them acclimate there and spawn in that tank. I then planned on hatching the eggs in the original tank and rearing the larvae in the same tank. Now i figured I'd put up a micron screen around the over flow box so no guys get sucked up, will this set up work? Or should i set up another tank for rearing? and should the egss be hatched in a tank with crushed coral or what? I guess Ill just have to reed that book on clownfish.

Clowns are not easy to get paired and spawning, but they are not extremely difficult either. Unfortunatly, spawning is the easy part of breeding clowns... Your 75 gallon tank would be a fine place to hold the pair if you wanted them in a display, but they only need a ten gallon for smaller species and a 20-30 for bigger species.

All eggs need to be removed BEFORE hatching to a seperate tank.

Fry will not fair well with the parents nor in a large display. They need to be fed often and kept in dense populations to be successful. This is also the point when vacation time goes away as you will need to care for your fry daily or suffer large losses.

You can expect a 1-2 year wait for your pair to begin spawning. Anything earlier is a blessing.

BTW crushed coral only has a buffering capacity below a ph of 6.5, at this level everthing in your tank would be dead and there would be no need for buffer...

I would venture to guess you have not done much research in this area to this point and at this time would suggest Wilkerson's book as it will give you a great base to start from. Good Luck

[Justinnn]

well i have time to research and i plan on reading it. crushed coral i used for my tank before it buffered the lvl to a constant 8.2 Ph so im not worried about that, the reason we are using a 75 gal is because thats what we have, the 20 long is where we plan on hatching and frowing the larvae. I just know about timing, how long to keep the filtration off, im willing to do 25 percent water changes everyday with the sump turned off. But i dont know how long i need to keep it going, all tutorials I read are not lab report specific, and its cheaper( since i have a ton of time until anything happens) to post online and get info before buying a book. Im not interested in clownfish, im only breeding them to get exp. with breeding saltwater fish. My reel task at hand is to someday succesfully breed clown triggers.

[Justinnn]

wow, sry about that last post i just re-read it and it makes no sense, ill post reply when less drunk. :/