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Breeding Journal, Species: A. Ocellaris
Tuesday, November 3, 2009 6:37 AM
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Breeding Journal DataSheet This first post should be updated regularly to include new information as events take place or changes are made to your system General Species: A. Ocellaris Social Structure: Size of Individuals: 3.5 inch female 3 inch male Age of Individuals: Approximately 3 years Date added to Tank: Approx. may 2007 Broodstock Tank Details Size of Tank: 10 gallon section (system approximately 200 Gallons) Substrate Details: 2 inch aragonite sandbed Filtration Details: Berlin sumps and refugium, miscelaneous macro algaes, EV180 skimmer, supplemental UV Water Changes: 30 gallons weekly (on full system) Water Temperature: 78* low point 84* high point (light cycle) Lighting: 250W Metal Halide over section 14k Ushio Lighting Cycle: 10 light/14 dark Other Tank Inhabitants: Single Mythraculus Sculptus, Several Nassarius Pauperi Broodstock Feeding Details Food Types: Prime Reef Flake, Formula One Marine Pellet Feeding Schedule: Two to four times per day Spawning Details Date of First Spawn: July 2008 Dates of Consecutive Spawns: Every 14 days Larval Tank Details Temperature: 80* Size of Larval Tank: 10 gallon (3 gallon fill) Substrate Details: Bare Bottom Other Tank Decor: none Filtration Details: none Lighting: 14 Watt CF Lighting Cycle: 14/10 Water Changes: 1 gallon daily on average water changes are performed slowly with airline for removal and periostatic pump for fill Larval Feeding Details Food Types: Acartia Tonsa, Tigriopus Japonicus, Brachionus Rotindiformus (S strain Rotifers) -At Pre Meta -- Larger A. Tonsa, T. Japonicus, T. Californicus, Artemia, Otohime during meta and at post meta Feeding Schedule: twice daily with Otohime, continuous drip with all others Metamorphosis/Settlement Date of Metamorphosis: 01/05/2010 Date of Settlement: Grow-Out Tank Details Temperature: 80* Size of Grow-Out Tank: 10 gallon Substrate Details: aragonite sand Other Tank Decor: few peices of live rock Filtration Details: same as broodstock system Lighting: Metal halide (250W) Lighting Cycle:10light/14dark Water Changes: 30 gallons weekly (same as main system) Size at Transfer: Age at Transfer: Grow-Out Feeding Details Food Types: Otohime, Prime reef flake Feeding Schedule: Twice to three times daily Additional Information Miscellaneous Information:
<message edited by THEJRC on Wednesday, January 6, 2010 8:06 AM>
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Re:Breeding Journal, Species: A. Ocellaris
Tuesday, November 3, 2009 6:38 AM
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Alrighty time to throw my little log up into the pot. I'll be using Amphiprion Ocellaris for this little experiment for two reasons, one they're spawn rate is high so multiple chances to test methodology in a short amount of time and two I so happen to have a pair that are tossing out viable spawns on a fairly consistant basis. I'll plop it out now that I'm not looking for points or awards here and am plopping this up purely out of the fun of it so no milestone tracking guys. I'm also bound to have a ton of failure as I'm testing new methods rather than following the existing methods that have been shown to work. My goal is to find alternative methods of feeding, larval collection, and nursery set up to make it easier and more economical to enter into captive propagation. You will see much less (if any) focus on Rotifers and much much more focus on Copepods and other plankters for food sources. As well you will see additional equipment in use such as enteral feeding pumps (periostatic pumps used for medical), various larval snagger designs, and some different lighting techniques. I will most likely mirror these posts on my site at www.copepodgeek.com so that I can track my own progress in the future (I use the backend of that site for journaling already). So off we go!!! In opening I'll go over the setup real quick (pics to come at a later time). The Main System My current system is an in wall that has been running in it's current state for approximately 6 months, the tanks and livestock themselves have been run separate for about three years now so it's not so much a new system as it is a "moved" system. There is a 72 gallon bowfront display (we will not be working with this tank) and two 33 gallon long tanks each partitioned into three separate sections. Each section has it's own inlet and overflow and all tanks and sections are plumbed in such a way that I can "detach" each one from the system for experimentation / quarantine. Back end equipment consists of multiple 400 Watt heaters, three sumps (two Brute trash cans holding approximately 20 gallons each and one modified Mars sump holding about 10 gallons) A UV filter run as supplemental, JBJ auto top off, Milwaukee PH monitor, and an EV180 Skimmer (I typically underskim). Two 1100gph pumps drive the 33 longs (one pump for each 33 manifold) and one 850 GPH pump drives the display. The 33's share the smaller sump with the lower 33 manifold feeding through the UV and out to one of the brutes which then flows to the second brute where the 72 is fed. The second brute is also plumbed back to the smaller sump. In this way I can separate the 33's and the 72 for two systems quickly and easily by shutting off two ball valves. The Broodstock My broodstock consists of two Ocellaris clownfish that were purchased as a pair approximately 2 years ago. The pair currently host in a green bubble tip anemone and lay a clutch of viable eggs every 14 days (on some instances 16 days). The eggs hatch after 8 days and viability rate of hatch looks to be around 80% on the average. The broodstock are kept in the middle section of the lower 33 tank (known as section B-2) and are housed with the BTA, a small Condilactis anemone, a single emerald crab, approximately 8 pounds of live rock and a 2 inch sand bed. important to note that I am breeding Nassarius Pauperi in the same section so the section is fed heavily with formula one marine pellet. The clowns are themselves fed two to three times a day with Ocean Nutrition Prime Reef flake as well as whatever pellets they manage to nab during snail feeding. Tank B is lit with a single 250W dual ended Metal halide positioned halfway over B-1 and B-2 and a 75 Watt dual ended Metal Halide positioned over B-3. This gives a nice gradient light across B-2 (bright on one side, little shaded on the other) The First Journaled Hatch (for MASM) At the time of this post, I currently have an existing clutch of eggs laid on the back wall of B-2, the clutch is 7 days old with hatch expected tomorrow night. I will journal the hatch with a separate post illustrating my use of a new larval snagger design that I am working with. Details of the larval snagger can be found at www.copepodgeek.com just click the "Larval Snagger" link on the left hand menu. I will be using revision C of the larval snagger which features an LED light at the base of the updraft tube, as well as a filed down upper cross pipe so that I can separate the snagger and remove the collection bottle with the downdraft assembly as a whole. I am hoping that these two methods combined give me a greater collection rate than in prior breeding attempts. Nursery setup consists of a 14 liter Sterilite storage tub painted black on all sides (but left clear on the bottom) that sits on a white melamine board so that I can see the bottom. A single 50W stealth heater is dialed to heat the water to 82*F and the tub will be filled only half way at time of collection. Initial water will be prepped at 35ppt (1.026) and seeded with a culture of rotifers, Acartia Tonsa, and Tigriopus Japonicus. Seed cultures will be mixed with 300ml samples from each totaling 900ml. A Compat enteral feeding pump will be used to deliver 150ml per hour of food source to the nursery tank. Initially the food culture shall consist of 80% Acartia Tonsa to 20% Rotifer cultures. It is important to note that I have not accurately counted culture density at this time but will not tap a Tonsa culture unless I can count 3 specimens per ml sampled. Cultures are kept at 26ppt (1.020) and fed a mixture of 60% Nannochloropsis and 30% Isochrysis Galbana (currently). Because I beleive in high nutrient I will NOT be seiving my cultures prior to adding them to the tank. Water changes will be done twice daily (once in the morning and once in evening) using a peice of airline tubing attached to a stick of 3/16" thinwall for siphoning out, and a periostatic dosing pump to gently pump preheated saltwater in at a rate of 70ml/min. During water changes approximately 50% of the volume will be changed. Salinity will be tested and freshwater addition for adjustment will be made at those times if needed. Post Metamorphasis the fry will be moved to a second nursery tank which is a 10 gallon tank holding approximately 5 gallons of water, this tank is kept at the same temp and salinity but is not opaque on the sides. It is lit with a 14 watt CF bulb and has a small submersible power filter. Currently this tank houses two fry approximately one month old and a third specimen approximately 18 days old, these were from previous attempts And thats the installment for now, I'll update as I get more time!
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Re:Breeding Journal, Species: A. Ocellaris
Wednesday, November 4, 2009 12:40 AM
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and we have a hatch, half hour offschedule at approximately 11:45 MST we started to hatch... I have just finished using the larval snagger (revision C as shown on my site) to capture as many as possible. For what it's worth I need to work on the snagger, the red LED does not work as intended and blue or white should be substituted. In any case I've managed to transfer more than 70 to the larval grow out tub where they are currently being fed @ 150ml/hr mixture of copepod and rotifer mix with extremely dim light provided by a dimmable cold cathode bulb (ala home depot). light will be changed in the morning. For now I will let them eat the rotifers. Tomorrow it's weening to copepod nauplii.
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Re:Breeding Journal, Species: A. Ocellaris
Wednesday, November 4, 2009 5:36 AM
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Congrats on the hatch!
Chad Penney - MBI Council Agis quod Adis
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Re:Breeding Journal, Species: A. Ocellaris
Wednesday, November 4, 2009 7:58 AM
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Yep, this morning I count (as well as possible) about 30 visible fry, definately gotta work on my technique there (need to figure out why many did not last the night). When all was said and done with collection I pulled best guess around 90 fry total. In any case the yeild was much higher than prior runs with the snagger and detaching the collection bottle was much easier this time (I didnt spill my fry back into the tank). I'm not happy with the red LED though and next run will be that of a different color (blue or white most likely). While not as extreme as the flashlight method I still had light bleed through the PVC (krylon paint maybe?) so naturally there were the little guys who couldnt find the bottom of the tube still. Interestingly enough... I've got yet another idea on this for a future revision, perhaps "porting" the intake tube at the bottom and mounting the LED below rather than above and in the tube. I'll have to diagram this so I can think about it.
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Re:Breeding Journal, Species: A. Ocellaris
Wednesday, November 4, 2009 8:04 AM
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Have you looked into some schedule 80 pipe? Schedule 80 is thicker and usually gray so it should help with the bleed through. I suspect that white or blue light would also help since red is typically filtered out rather quickly in water most organisms have very bad perception of red light.
Chad Penney - MBI Council Agis quod Adis
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Re:Breeding Journal, Species: A. Ocellaris
Wednesday, November 4, 2009 9:20 AM
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I thought about schedule 80 but space constraints and all I really want a more compact unit than I already have, maybe I'll give it a shot. Though this ported bottom idea I'm roughing up might just be the ticket! the idea is to trim "teeth" into the bottom of the intake tube so that it can pull in from the sides, then I'll either suspend the LED between the teeth or mount it underneath in such a way that directs light up rather than down. Once I get it all figured out I'll pop up a prototype. Might be a week or two though as I've got a lot of catch up with work and of course my wife are renewing our vows saturday! Has anyone used Plasti Dip in an aquarium application? I'm curious
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Re:Breeding Journal, Species: A. Ocellaris
Wednesday, November 4, 2009 9:29 AM
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Schedule 80 as the same OD as schedule 40 so fittings can be use interchangeably. It's just has a small ID. Which might actually be good as a smaller slightly smaller diameter might improve the suction a little bit. Another thought might be to place a cap on the bottom and then drill 4 large holes just above the cap. Place you LED in the end of the cap facing up wards. That should make the light shine just around the holes and pretty much no where else.
Chad Penney - MBI Council Agis quod Adis
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Re:Breeding Journal, Species: A. Ocellaris
Wednesday, November 4, 2009 4:06 PM
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hmmm... Revision D-1 you guys are killing me.... (I'm killing me).... scored today though at Home depot shopping... they had a full on rollaway with top chest (massive) for a whoppin $299 as a "christmas gift special" Merry christmas to me, from santa
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Re:Breeding Journal, Species: A. Ocellaris
Wednesday, November 4, 2009 4:35 PM
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Thought I saw an elf this morning on the way to work!
Chad Penney - MBI Council Agis quod Adis
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Re:Breeding Journal, Species: A. Ocellaris
Friday, December 11, 2009 10:37 AM
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alrighty, I fell off the wagon and need to update... go figure! Given all the activity with the holidays and a short vacation this batch went away... 0 survivors (I sorta expected it). so we're back to square one. The good news is my clowns are on schedule... Eggs were deposited last Friday the 4th with hatch expected tomorrow night. I will keep everyone posted.
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Re:Breeding Journal, Species: A. Ocellaris
Sunday, December 13, 2009 2:02 AM
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okay sure enough, just finished cleanup after moving the little guys... granted I should be using the whole pot and plop method but my clowns love the anenome and well... I'm into testing my larval snagger... two lessons learned, 1. having mesh up higher near the surface even with more area does not help... I attribute this to the head pressure theory 2. Red LED... yeah, need to change it to blue or white or something else, just not all that attractive to the larvae in any case, my separation at the top cross brace joint of the snagger worked excellently!! and even though I got only a partial snag (set up late and ran with pumps on) I've still got about 30 specimens to work with for my feeding study. Since my main goal here is not "breeding clownfish" and is more geared through improving methods, this will do! The fry are now currently in the larval tank with 3 gallons of water, and a mix of rotifers and acartia tonsa being piped in at the rate of 100 ml/hour by way of enteral pump. they seem happy and so do I (oh wait that's due to the holiday party we just got back from.... hence the late snag)
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Re:Breeding Journal, Species: A. Ocellaris
Sunday, December 13, 2009 12:11 PM
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You're right about the red light. If I recall, red is the first color that gets lost in water and probably can't be seen by fish... Everything else sounds good though.
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Re:Breeding Journal, Species: A. Ocellaris
Sunday, December 13, 2009 12:36 PM
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I often use a red LED flash light to look around my tank at night because the animals don't seem to be able to see it and don't go running when you shine the light on them. A blue LED would probably be the best option.
Chad Penney - MBI Council Agis quod Adis
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Re:Breeding Journal, Species: A. Ocellaris
Sunday, December 13, 2009 9:44 PM
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yeah thats pretty much my thought... in any case the fry are doin good, getting their drip feed from the pump and cruisin along. Time to change my snagger a touch though as I'm still not happy with how it's functioning. I'll crunch something together for next time... which of course will be in a whopping 14 days or so
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Re:Breeding Journal, Species: A. Ocellaris
Saturday, January 16, 2010 10:03 AM
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little behind on this one but naturally pics are required.... here are the little guys after breakfast this morning Naturally.... I dont have pics of the eggs these little guys came from, I'll scan and see if I have prior pics of other egg masses. Worst case... Monday evening I'll have a new egg mass to photograph.
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Re:Breeding Journal, Species: A. Ocellaris
Saturday, January 16, 2010 10:14 AM
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That will work just as well Joe
Chad Penney - MBI Council Agis quod Adis
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Re:Breeding Journal, Species: A. Ocellaris
Saturday, January 16, 2010 11:40 AM
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yaaay I found one!!!
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Re:Breeding Journal, Species: A. Ocellaris
Wednesday, March 10, 2010 9:06 PM
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Huzzaaaahhh!!! 60dps! So far all survivors and no losses! No misbars either though some of the juviniles arent growing as fast as others. about 12 days ago I separated the batch into two sections to reduce arguing amongst siblings. This section contains 8 set asides for friends and giveaways. I'll try and get a shot of the lower section later.
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Re:Breeding Journal, Species: A. Ocellaris
Wednesday, March 10, 2010 9:10 PM
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Oh dear! You're raising fish... what will the plankton think? Congrats!
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