Breeding Journal, Species: Amphiprion ocellaris (Darwin)

I was busy messing around in the fish room today right in front of the Darwin tank, about an hour in I glance at the Darwins thinking I might feed them again, and they are busy spawning the biggest nest they've made.  Silly fish...can't disturb them!  A late spawn for them - they are usually midday - and they switched back to the 45 degree tile rather than the vertical tile.

Don't let fear and common sense stop you! =]

I culled all misbars in the June 14 & 27 batches.  The June 14 batch has just one fish with good white bars, and the June 27 batch has 13 with good white bars.  The lone June 14th guy will be 60 dps on Aug 13th and is currently 53 dps and 3/4" long.  Go little guy go! 

Don't let fear and common sense stop you! =]

60 DPS photo (he's about 7/8"):

Don't let fear and common sense stop you! =]

Sadly, these little guys were subject to Negligence Causing Death.  When plumbing my growout system I used Gutter Guard for the drain pipes without thinking it through.  Many of these fish still fit through the Gutter Guard.  After 3 days of running I noticed fewer numbers of juvies in the tanks and sudden realization of where the missing fish were dawned on me!  Unfortunately, I lost about 25 of the little guys, but managed to save at least a dozen still alive in the filter sock. 
 
Sad story aside, here is a pic of the little guys a couple days ago when I first started up the sump and transferred the older ones to the 10-gallon on the system.  They are 2.5 months old in the pic and 1-1.25" for the most part (a few younger ones jumped the fence haha).

Don't let fear and common sense stop you! =]

This spawn is 03/30/13.  762 eggs!  Not bad for Darwins. 

 

Don't let fear and common sense stop you! =]

looking good.... Shouldn't they be black by this time already??? Nice to see your updates!

Mine take about 3.5 to 4 months to achieve good, solid blackness.  At that point, about 50% have black noses.  I was surprised it took so long.  I now have auto feeders on my growout tanks so they are getting fed more often than before, so maybe future batches will be black sooner.

Don't let fear and common sense stop you! =]

When I came back from Cozumel I was out of homemade mash and all my broodstock were fed only frozen Mysis and Plankton for 3 weeks.  Most of my broodstock have been on a breeding hiatus since.  I made more homemade mash last weekend and have been pumping the fish full of food.  Hopefully things will start percolating in there soon!

Don't let fear and common sense stop you! =]