Breeding Journal, Species: Amphiprion clarkii

General
Species:  Amphiprion clarkii
Social Structure:  Pair
Size of Individuals:  4" and 3.5"
Age of Individuals:  Unknown
Date added to Tank:  November 2010

Broodstock Tank Details
Size of Tank:  Breeding setup approx 1000L total.  Tank 380x610x390mm 67L 17.5US Gal
Substrate Details:  None
Filtration Details:  Skimmer, UV, Macro Algae, Live Rock
Water Changes:  100L Fortnight
Water Temperature:  27.1C
Lighting:  Power Compact
Lighting Cycle:  7am to 7:45pm
Other Tank Inhabitants:  Pseudochromis flavivertex pair

Broodstock Feeding Details
Food Types:  Spectrum Thera A+, Spectrum Salt H20 flakes, Enriched Brine Shrimp, Marine Green, Home Made Mash (prawn, pipi clam, white bait, squid, garlic, norrie etc). Occasional live brine shrimp
Feeding Schedule:  Morning and night.  Pellets followed 10 minutes later with frozen food.

Spawning Details
Date of First Spawn:  9/15/2011.  Spawn for report 11/16/2011
Spawn Time of Day:  Unknown
Dates of Consecutive Spawns:  approx 2 weeks there after
Courtship Details:  Cleaning of standpipe
Egg Size:  1-2mm
Egg Color:  Orange
Egg Count:  300-400

Hatch Details
Hatch Date:  11/24/2011
Hatch Time of Day:  9:00pm (lights were on till 7:45pm)
# Days after Spawn:  8 days
Larvae Description:  quite alert, attracted to light

Larval Tank Details
Temperature:  26C
Size of Larval Tank:  40L RBT
Substrate Details:  None
Other Tank Decor:  Heater (light taped over)
Filtration Details:  water change
Lighting:  Power Compact
Lighting Cycle:   6am to 10pm
Water Changes:  variable

Larval Feeding Details
Food Types:  Rotifers raised on Reed Rotifer Diet. Greenwater acheived by tinting the water with Reed Nannocholoropsis, about 2ml, and 1ml of AmGuard for ammonia control daily.
Feeding Schedule:  morning, afternoon and night

Metamorphosis/Settlement
Date of Settlement Start:  12/6/2011
Days after Hatch:  20 days
Date of Settlement End:  12/7/2011
Description of Fry:  Multi coloured with head and tail stripes.  Small dot patters that are changing on a day by day basis.

Grow-Out Tank Details
Temperature:  26
Size of Grow-Out Tank:  1200mm x 450mm x 300mm (with seperator to make two tanks 600mm long).  1/2 of juvinile fish in each tank.
Substrate Details:  None
Other Tank Decor:  Heater and Sponge Filter
Filtration Details:  Sponge Filter and water changes as required
Lighting:  Power Compact
Lighting Cycle:  6am to 10pm
Water Changes:  as required
Size at Transfer:  8-10mm
Age at Transfer:  23 days

Grow-Out Feeding Details
Food Types:  Aqua Pearls 300-500um, Crushed Salt H2O flakes, Crushed Spectrum Pellets, Adult brine shrimp (weekly)
Feeding Schedule:  5 times per day

Additional Information

(No Pictures or Videos in the Section Please)
Miscellaneous Information: 
Both parents share the duties of caring for the eggs, often one after the other.
Caring for the eggs is about 50/50 between the parents.
Additional Spawns:
S = Date of Spawn
H = Date of Hatch
S 02/28/2012
S 03/10/2012
S 03/24/2012
S 04/07/2012 H 04/14/2012
S 04/19/2012 H 04/28/2012
S 04/30/2012 
S 05/10/2012 H 05/19/2012
S 05/22/2012 H 06/01/2012 and 06/02/2012
S 06/18/2012 H 06/28/2012
S 07/01/2012 H 07/09/2012
S 07/12/2012 H 07/21/2012
S 07/22/2012 H 08/01/2012
S 08/02/2012
S 08/15/2012 H 08/22/2012
S 08/23/2012 H 08/31/2012 Pair 1
S 08/29/2012 Pair 2
S 09/03/2012 Pair 1
S 09/10/2012 Pair 2 H 09/17/2012
S 09/14/2012 Pair 1

You will be required to provide photographic or video 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. PHOTOS AND VIDEO S MUST BE PLACED IN ADDITIONAL POSTS, NEVER IN THE FIRST POST IN A JOURNAL.

Parents

 

 
Parents fanning eggs (female I think)

 
RBT with fry

 
Fry at 1 day old (hatched 24th November 2011)

7 days post hatch

Those are some FAT parents!!

-Adam

They are a bit "tubby" or shall we say well rounded.
 
Its probably the camera, didn't you know that the camera adds 5 pounds.
 
You'll hurt their feelings when I show them this
 

Haha... tell them with the "ut most respect".

-Adam

updates on hatch from 11/22/2011
 

 
We have both head bands and a tail band.  All fish have this.  Approx 50 fish remain from a hatch estimated at 150-200.
 
Of the approx. 100 missing, about 80 perished in hot weather in the last week, when I left the air stone out of their RBT overnight.

Those are unusual looking Clarkii, no?  Do you have a better pic of the parents from the side?  they are very nice looking!

New hatch 12/6/11 missed hatch of eggs, expected them a day later.
New clutch of eggs 12/9/11.  Laid in the morning before feeding (late today feed at 11am).

New hatch last night 1/26/12 (Australia Day ) Largest hatch I have seen from any of my pairs.
 
I collected about 200-250 fry, My guess was that there were 600+

Babies are always good! 

new large nest 1/31/2012

I just realised that my fish in grow out are now 60 days post settlement.
Ill take some photos tomorrow, then post and do a report.
In total I have three species that all have now made it to 60 days post settlement (about 74 days post hatch) within 1-2 days of each other.
 
I also have a second batch about a month younger than these ones that are also growing well.
 

are they sebae?

I purchased them as clarkii, but that's just was the LFS listed them as I suppose.

My understanding is that they were wild caught from Darwin area of Northern Territory.

on looking at the colour patterns shown on fish base they look like clarkii, though both species are listed as having wide colour variation.

What makes you guys think that they are not clarkii?

I should have some time to catch them both and photograph this afternoon.

its hard to tell from the pics but the almost diagonal body stripe on the male (i think the male ) made me think sebae . could just be the angle . either way they dont look like common sebae or clarkii
 they are wicked BEAUTIFUL specimens !!!
i would love to see more pics 
    i love your photos

Someone suggested I look at "melanistic Clarkii" photos, and yours do look like melanistic Clarkii.  I've never seen Clarkii like these (or yours).  Just "unusual" I guess...?

I have some more information.
 
I talked to the supplier I got them from this morning when picking up some other fish.
They are Western Australian, clarkii from the Ningaloo Reef area.  He had another pair, one of which was almost identical to the ones I have.
 
So, I think in the end, I just have an interesting looking pair.
The kids are really cute as well.

That is so cool, knowing the origin of the fish you have.  

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

A photo of the adults.

 

Here is a photo of one of the individuals for the 60 dps report.

 
I was trying to get a better shot of him, but he didn't like the little tank I was taking photos of him in and just tried to hide in the corners.

beautiful!
 

I have a real soft spot for the little clarkii's.
They are always doing stuff that is entertaining, exploring the tank with gusto and they always seem to be in a hurry.
 
One of them in particular likes to swim back and forward over the top of an airline that floats in the tank.  A bit like an Olympic swimmer going over floats/rope marking the lanes.  He will do it for three for four minutes, back and forward, then will just stop and swim off.  Each time its a matter of pushing himself out of the water and over the airline.
 
Its quite funny to watch and if you interrupt him by putting a finger in the way, he will just move to another location and keep doing it.

What's interesting to me is that the black coloration carried through to the juveniles,given that some of the "black" forms of our fish are more environmental / epigenetic (i.e. take Black Tricinctus out of their mertens anemones and they revert to normal coloration supposedly)
 
Nice job!

I have one other question - where did you get these Clarkii from?  Do you know the geographic location?  I find the wide bands and particularly the "gold crest" on the one very interesting...they almost look as if there's a small dosing of Latezonatus in them!

Darren, the new pic of the adults is nice...they are gorgeous!  I can't believe how dark the babies are.  I have some Galaxy Clarkii from Bali Aquarich, and they are very dark as well, but start out reasonably light colored.  I'm not sure of their origins, but Aquarich's website lists the normal barred Clarkii as originating in the Indian Ocean.  I have an ORA Clarkii that is probably approaching a year old that is still very, very light colored.  Weird there is so much difference in one specie.
 
Matt, that's exactly what I was thinking when I saw the first photos.  The white bars are sooo wide!  However, if you read his first page Matt (tsk tsk lol) he states their geographic location:
 

 
 

Yes, they are from the Ningaloo Reef area, It's about 1,300km (800 miles) north of Perth.

Over the last three weeks I have been adding sponge filters to each of the brood stock tanks as I go through the tank cleaning process.
 
This pair, previously would only lay nests on the stand pipe in the tank.  With the introduction of the sponge filter, they have now started laying on the glass in the front left corner of the tank.
 
They are not interested in the flower pot at all.

This morning about 11am the clarkii pair laid what I think is their biggest nest yet.
 
The photo is from tonight and is not great but it gives an idea as to the number of eggs.
 

 
The nest is on a 25mm/1" diameter pipe and about 60% is shown.  The nest is 165mm/6.5" tall.  I have no idea just how many eggs are there, but I would guess 600+ 

Your clarkii babies are much much darker than mine.... interesting.

-Adam

How is the pair doing?  Still going strong?

Sorry, I missed this question. Unfortunatly the female jumped from the tank earlier this year, around January. This was the last staw for me at the time and I wound back on some of the breeding efforts thereafter.

I did how ever replace the female with a new younger fish, the existing male transitioned to female and in the last two months has laid a few nests. These have all been eaten or I have missed the hatch.

Tonight I had a 95+ % hatch on day 10 counting the day they were laid as day one.

In the last two months I have transitioned my systems from artificial salt water to natural salt water, feeding more heavilly again and put more effort into maintenance.

The results so far are three nests from this pair.