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Amphiprion thiellei
Thursday, October 27, 2011 9:24 AM
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Just putting my feelers out there for anyone experienced with breeding fish in the skunk complex. I have a pair of A. thiellei that were paired by me. They're definately a bonded pair as exhibited by their behavior. They have done some cleaning from time to time but never really seem to get past first base. When I'm consciously making an effort to get them to spawn I tend to feed twice per day on the week days and three or four times on the weekends. I rarely have time for true saturation feeding, so I tend to overfeed and deal with the waste later. I am not an experienced breeder. So, any suggestions are welcome. Current setup is: Tank - 40 breeder Scape - BB with flowerpot Sump - 100 gallon rubbermaid trough Filtration - liverock and a huge skimmer. Heater set point - 80F Chiller set point - 82F Lighting - Metal halide Photoperiod - 0800 to 2000 SG - 1.022 I don't test anything else unless there's a problem Food - Rod's food fish only formula, frozen cyclopeeze, mysis, Ocean Nutrition pellet WCs - 30% 1-2 times per month. That's off the top of my head....
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Re:Amphiprion thiellei
Thursday, October 27, 2011 9:55 AM
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you can try an anemone in there to help out. You have the lighting and the system for it. I would also shorten the lighting to about 10 hours. I've been researching skunks for quite a while now. It's between them and something in the clarkii family on what I get next. If possible you can add a third non sexed fish if you have availablity to one. I've read a ton that this can help out to push them just a little further to breeding.
RLTW 180 Gallon Mixed Reef Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?" And I said, "Here am I. Send me!" Isaiah 6:8
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Re:Amphiprion thiellei
Thursday, October 27, 2011 10:09 AM
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I've tried this (nevermind the bryopsis.) ...and this (note them cleaning in the second image.) ...and this Now they're in the 40B with bare bottom and just a flower pot. Next I'm probably going to place them in a 75 gallon reef I'm working on. The non sexed fish wasn't the best idea.
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Re:Amphiprion thiellei
Thursday, October 27, 2011 12:55 PM
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Feeding and time is the BIGGEST thing. I have a pair of A Nigripes that have been spawning for that past couple of years. Just fill them up. Saturation feeding really is important, even if you can only do it a couple of times a week.
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Re:Amphiprion thiellei
Thursday, October 27, 2011 1:10 PM
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Nigripes are a real witch to get stabilized. Mine should be a lot easier to get started than those. They have more of an ocellaris personality than anything else. What are you feeding if you don't mind my asking and what's the difference in saturation and just plain overfeeding (other than the obvious decomp considerations?) That is, is there a benefit to one over the other?
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Re:Amphiprion thiellei
Thursday, October 27, 2011 1:11 PM
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what did they do to the non sexed? That's surprising. How often did you change the setups to try to get them to breed?
RLTW 180 Gallon Mixed Reef Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?" And I said, "Here am I. Send me!" Isaiah 6:8
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Re:Amphiprion thiellei
Thursday, October 27, 2011 1:23 PM
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I changed the setups about every six months. They were clicking and chasing and biting him... even when he did submisive twitching.
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Re:Amphiprion thiellei
Thursday, October 27, 2011 1:33 PM
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I guess I should add to try and keep there environment stays the same, moving them around and changing things around in the tank can slow things down too. By far the best food to condition your fish is PE Mysis shrimp. Saturation feeding just simply means to feed the fish (female mostly) as much as she will eat. I will sit and feed her until she is stuffed and just watches the shrimp sink. I would feed one PE mysis at a time to them. When doing this, they eventually become trained and will eat the shrimp the second it hits the water and become very aggressive feeders. By feeding them one shrimp at a time they seem to eat more than just having extra food floating around. Just my thoughts though, and not a proven fact or anything.
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Re:Amphiprion thiellei
Thursday, October 27, 2011 1:51 PM
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I've got some PE mysis at home. I'll give it a try. They don't really feed with gusto. So, I see where there might be something to that. If they see a bunch of food, they don't really feel like it's going anywhere versus if only one piece at a time is offered, they think they're gonna starve. Clownfish psychology. Hahaha! Do you find that they eat more aggressively at regular feedings once they're "trained?"
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Re:Amphiprion thiellei
Thursday, October 27, 2011 4:19 PM
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I feed all my pairs with a cocktail stick. It takes some time but I find it the best way to ensure their full. Doing 26 tanks before going to work though can be stressful if your running late!
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Re:Amphiprion thiellei
Friday, October 28, 2011 6:27 AM
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OK. So, I tried the one at a time method last night and again this morning. They were havin' none of it. The male ate two last night and either spit out or ignored all that followed. This morning the female took one bite and spit it out. The male showed no interest whatsoever. I think it's the freezer burn. I'll try again tonight with bloodworms. On a brighter note, they have been doing some cleaning over the last few days. I stumbled on Tal's site last night and there was some great detailed info (and pictures) on that site. Nobody (literature) seems to have any new methods about difficult spawners. I guess I'll just have to suck it up and wait it out.
<message edited by WDLV on Friday, October 28, 2011 8:14 AM>
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Re:Amphiprion thiellei
Friday, October 28, 2011 9:30 AM
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Sorry, I missed your question before. Yes, once the get trained, they will become much more aggressive feeders. To train them you may have to start out with their favorite food. PE Mysis can sometimes take a little time for them to get used to. So if they LOVE bring shrimp, try using an eye dropper, and add one drop at a time. The goal is to get the to start comming to the top of the tank looking for the food when you come up to the tank. They will eventually start begging you for it! Hang in there. Like I said feeding and TIME are the biggest factors. Their food consumption will start going up as they get closer to spawning as well...
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Re:Amphiprion thiellei
Friday, October 28, 2011 9:48 AM
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Yeah, they typically do love the mysis. So, it has to be the freezerburn. Perhaps I should go buy a new pack of mysis and try again tonight. If they don't eat, I'll starve them until they do start to show interest in food again.
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Re:Amphiprion thiellei
Friday, October 28, 2011 1:42 PM
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Try smaller foods Walt. I have some really finicky pairs that won't eat hardly anything and others that are complete pigs. For finicky feeders I use lobster eggs and cyclopeeze. As there planktivores they go mad for it! Also try mixing lobster eggs with spirulina to make a paste. They seem to like it because it doesn't require any effort to eat it.
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Re:Amphiprion thiellei
Monday, October 31, 2011 1:30 PM
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It seems like the pellet food will be the best thing to start with. I just need to kill the return so they will see them.... Where do you get the lobster eggs? Are they sold in pet stores?
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Re:Amphiprion thiellei
Monday, October 31, 2011 3:26 PM
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They are over here in blister packs. Not sure if they are actually lobster egss, but they are certainly eggs of some crustacean, but that's what they call them. I use 400 micron pellets also for my clowns. My Thiellei loves it!
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Re:Amphiprion thiellei
Tuesday, November 1, 2011 9:24 AM
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OK Thanks. I remember seeing rods food have some sort of eggs, maybe I'll try that. Give 'em what I want them to produce.
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Re:Amphiprion thiellei
Tuesday, November 1, 2011 9:39 AM
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Maybe they'll take a hint. Hahaha!
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Re:Amphiprion thiellei
Tuesday, November 1, 2011 11:42 AM
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I have a pair of Occy's adults that spawn that took about a year (maybe a little more) to eat PE mysis. Even one cut in half was too big and they'd spit it out. Now, she will mow them down with force.
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Re:Amphiprion thiellei
Thursday, November 3, 2011 10:22 AM
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They've been eating everything I've put in the tank for a couple years now including mysis.
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