Breeding Journal, Species: Amphiprion percula "Onyx" x "Picasso"

General
Species: Amphiprion percula "Onyx" x "Picasso"
Social Structure:
Size of Individuals: Female ~3"; Male ~1.5"
Age of Individuals: Female >4yrs; Male unknown
Date added to Tank:

Broodstock Tank Details
Size of Tank: 200g
Substrate Details: Sand, Rock
Filtration Details: Sump, MRC MR-2R with 6" extension
Water Changes: rarely
Water Temperature: 78-82F
Lighting: 3x 400W MH 20000K; 4x 54W T5 actinic
Lighting Cycle: T5 10am-9pm; MH 12p-7p
Other Tank Inhabitants: Hippo Tang, Purple Tang, Yellow Tang, Scoapus Tang, Yellow Watchman goby with pistol shrimp, Pajama Cardinal, many corals

Broodstock Feeding Details
Food Types: Pellet, homemade frozen
Feeding Schedule: once per day

Spawning Details
Date of First Spawn: 28Mar2010
Spawn Time of Day: Afternoon
Dates of Consecutive Spawns: Every 13 days
Courtship Details:
Egg Size:
Egg Color: Orange
Egg Count: >100

Hatch Details
Hatch Date: 19APR2010
Hatch Time of Day: After lights out
# Days after Spawn: 9
Larvae Description: Very small and active.


Larval Tank Details
Temperature: 81F
Size of Larval Tank: 10g filled halfway
Substrate Details: N/A
Other Tank Decor: N/A
Filtration Details: N/A
Lighting: PC lighting masked to dim
Lighting Cycle: 4:30a - 8:00pm
Water Changes: 1-2 gallons per day 

Larval Feeding Details
Food Types: Rotifers (Screened through 120micron mesh and collected in a 53 micron mesh)
Feeding Schedule: Fed on the morning of hatch and maintained with greenwater

Metamorphosis/Settlement
Date of Settlement Start: 26APR2010
Days after Hatch: 8
Date of Settlement End:
Description of Fry:

Grow-Out Tank Details
Temperature:
Size of Grow-Out Tank:
Substrate Details:
Other Tank Decor:
Filtration Details:
Lighting:
Lighting Cycle:
Water Changes:
Size at Transfer:
Age at Transfer

Grow-Out Feeding Details
Food Types:
Feeding Schedule:

Additional Information
Miscellaneous Information:



You will be required to provide photographic evidence in this thread of each event submitted for the MBI Program.
If your thread does not contain these photos the MBI Committee will not be able to approve your reports.

I couldn't snap a pic of the male with the eggs without disturbing the nest but I did take a short video of him mouthing them. 
 

   
 
and a pic of the pair. 
  

 
 

There were over 100 strong larae all feeding on the first day.  I use RotiGrow Plus to culture the rotifers and was using RotiGrow Plus as greenwater for the larvae.  At the end of day 4, most of the larvae were dead.  There are only seven or eight living at day 5.  Next time I'm going to try using RotiGreen Nanno for the greenwater.
On day 8 I noticed the headstripe on one of the larvae which I thought was kind of early for a percula?
Day 9 I added a sponge filter even though only one of the larvae has a head stripe.
 

You mention noticing the first head stripe earlier than with regular A. percula... I notice the same thing with my Picasso offspring. They stripe much quicker than normal A. percula. It should be interesting to see what the Onxy does to the outcome.

http://www.fishtalpropagations.com/#!home/mainPage
"Making captive breeding easier."

I don't know much about pure perc when it comes to striping but even my hybrid perc x ocellaris stripe up slower than that.
 
I'm hoping that my pair will produce some picassos but we shall see.
 
Day 10:  All larvae have head stripes now but they are still hugging the sides of the aquarium.  I'm wondering if that's a trait of percula larvae because my hybrids do the same thing no matter how much light I use.  My ocellaris larvae are out in the open water from day one.

Gale, good to meet you finally this weekend!  The hugging the wall thing = need more Phyto!  Post meta it doesn't matter I suppose, but I know I've read a paper that showed how constantly nosing the walls while growing caused bones to form improperly as cartilage is replaced with bone - one of the causes of smashed faces / twisted mouths.

Matt,
It was great finally meeting you too.  Loved your presentations.

I also thought that hugging the walls meant I needed to green the water up.  No matter how green I made it some of the larvae just wouldn't enter the open water.  Most of the larvae would go into the open when the water was green but after the head stripe developed I stopped offering rotifers so I also stopped the greenwater.  Am I removing rotifers/greenwater too early?
Thanks
Gale

Any updates?

Michelle  
 

Yeah, come on Gale. His whole house is full of clownfish. His fish are the ones that produced the eggs that I'm raising.

--Andy, the bucket man.
"Not to know the mandolin is to argue oneself unknown...." --Clara Lanza, 1886

OK so I sold the original fish before I got pictures of them for the 60DPS proof.   Here are some pics of my fish that finished settlement on 6/26/2010.
 

 

 

 

Hey Gale, did you get any picassos out of this cross?