Breeding Journal DataSheet
General Species: Amphiprion ocellaris. Female is "normal", male is "Snowflake". Both are ORA lineage.
Social Structure: Breeding pair
Size of Individuals: Female is 3 1/2", male is 2 1/2". As of 03/30/13 the fish are 4" and 3" respectively.
Age of Individuals: Probably born summer/fall 2010. Owner said she had them for a bit less than a year when I acquired them.
Date added to Tank: Acquired 03/30/12.
Broodstock Tank Details Size of Tank: 10 gallons (20x10x12"), plumbed to 140 gallon system.
Substrate Details: Light dusting of sand.
Filtration Details: Central sump. 200 micron filter sock, bioballs, EuroReef RS-180 skimmer.
Water Changes: Bi-weekly 40% waterchanges, and weekly bottom siphoning. Try to keep nitrate <25 ppm, but it is often around 40 ppm.
Water Temperature: 80F
Lighting: 12,000K LED lighting roll from eBay.
Lighting Cycle: 14 hours light, 10 hours dark.
Other Tank Inhabitants: A couple tiny hermits.
Broodstock Feeding Details Food Types: Homemade mash and HBH Super Soft Spirulina pellets mainly. Also some PE Mysis and TDO EP1. Occasionally Spirulina Brine Shrimp.
Feeding Schedule: 2-3x per day.
Spawning Details Date of First Spawn: Fall of 2011 (different owner). Spawned 3 times.
Spawn Time of Day: Midday.
Dates of Consecutive Spawns: 07/01/12. First spawn for me. 141 undersized eggs, 100 hatched. This spawn followed egg fostering for spawning trigger.
07/13/12. 165 undersized eggs. 158 hatched, complete loss 2 dph. Appear to be weak fry.
07/29/12. 752 eggs (counted).
08/12/12. 870 eggs (counted).
08/26/12. Approx 500-650 (not counted, not observed well)
*I was away from breeding room for the winter*
04/01/13. 1345 eggs (counted).
Courtship Details: The male does lots of tile cleaning and both fish do "burnouts". Both fish appear square-like near their vents from ripening eggs and swollen gonads. The female gets HUGE for a week before spawning. One to three days before spawning the female's ovipositor will be visible. A few hours before spawning the male's "spermipositor" will be visible, and the female will take up vicious looking tile cleaning which looks more like tile biting.
Egg Size: 2 mm x 1 mm. Undersized? UPDATE: 3.5 mm x 1.5 mm.
Egg Color: Orange at first, then dark within a couple days, finally silver just before hatch.
Egg Count: First spawn 141 eggs (number not accurate - troubles with eggs not sticking).
Hatch Details Hatch Date: About 40-50 hatched 07/10/12. Another 50-60 hatched the following night. 40 eggs unhatched.
Hatch Time of Day: Within an hour of lights out.
# Days after Spawn: 10
Larvae Description: 4 mm including the little clear tail fin. Big head, yellow belly area, and tiny little tails. Big silver eyes, big mouths. Larvae move in a fluttering and darting motion.
Consecutive Hatch Dates: 07/10-11/12. 141 eggs. 100 hatched. Complete loss 6-7 dph. Co-cultured w/ Darwin larvae. Darwin larvae survived.
07/22/12. 165 eggs. 157 hatched. Complete loss 2 dph.
08/08/12. 750 eggs. About 600 hatched. 30 or so make 24h post hatch. 8 survivors after meta.
08/21-22/12. 858 hatched, 12 unhatched. Temp for this hatch and all previous ones was 80F. Approx 550-600 make 72h post hatch.
08/31/12 to 09/01/12. Temp was 84F for this hatch. 7-8 dps. Larvae not retained.
* I was away from the breeding room for the winter. *
04/09/13. 1261 hatched, 76 hatched 04/10 (not retained), 8 unhatched. Majority hatched on day 9.
Larval Tank Details Temperature: 80-82F
Size of Larval Tank: 5 or 10-gallon aquarium, depending on size of spawn, filled halfway. Tank volume increased as fish grow.
Substrate Details: None.
Other Tank Decor: Heater, airstone.
Filtration Details: Waterchanges.
Lighting: Clip on reflector with 13 watt "cool white" spiral compact fluorescent bulb.
Lighting Cycle: 14 hours light, 10 hours dark.
Water Changes: Approx 1-2 dph just bottom siphoning. Approx 3-10 dph 30% daily waterchanges. 10 dph to transfer 50% daily waterchanges.
Larval Feeding Details Food Types: L-type rotifers (B plicatilus) enriched with N-Rich PL Plus overnight are provided at first 20-30 per mL which are cleared out during the 14 hours of light. Then rotifers are tapered to 10 per mL once larvae are eating TDO A well (around 8-10 dph) which are cleared out within the first few hours. Rotifers phased out after metamorphosis. TDO A introduced lightly a few times per day around 4 dph. TDO B1 slowly phased in to replace TDO A around 21 dph.
Feeding Schedule: Rotfiers are constant, TDO fed 3x per day until rotifers are phased out, then TDO phased in 6-8 feedings per day.
Metamorphosis/Settlement Date of Settlement Start: 08/31/12.
Days after Hatch: 10
Date of Settlement End: 09/03/12.
Description of Fry: First stripe developing. Obvious color change from grey/silver to orange. Swimming motion changes from the larvae flutter to the Clownfish bob/wag. About 7-9 mm including tail. Starting to squabble with each other.
Grow-Out Tank Details Temperature: 78F
Size of Grow-Out Tank: 20 gallons plumbed into 60 gallon growout system (still to expand).
Substrate Details: None
Other Tank Decor: None
Filtration Details: Central sump with filter sock, bioballs, and Vertex IN-250 skimmer.
Lighting: Ambient light from other tanks.
Lighting Cycle: 14 hours light, 10 hours dark.
Water Changes: Twice per month 50%.
Size at Transfer: 1/2 to 5/8".
Age at Transfer: 30-40 days. They aren't transferred until they have been eating TDO B2 for awhile.
Grow-Out Feeding Details Food Types: TDO B2 starting when some reach 5/8" (30 dph). TDO C1 starts around 3/4" (50-60 dph). TDO C2 starts around 1" (100 dph).
Feeding Schedule: 6-10x per day. Whenever I walk into the room.
Additional Information On 06/19/12 I gave this pair about 30 eggs from my Darwins' spawn to foster. This pair took to the eggs right away. These eggs hatched on 06/27, and this pair spawned their own eggs 07/01 which is right on schedule had the Darwins' eggs been theirs. Very cool trick!
The eggs from the first spawn (07/01/12) are much smaller than my Darwin eggs. I had about 40-50 of the 140 hatch out on the 10th night. I went to bed, and put the tile in the larvae tank to continue hatching. No more hatched even though the remaining ones look ok. Since the eggs were small, the larvae were small. I decided to keep the light on over the first night so this may have caused an interruption in hatching.
Having eggs sticking issues. Only about 25% of the eggs are sticking to the tile, others fall down and are quickly eaten. I noticed on the first batch (07/01), and more noticeable on second batch (07/13). Will increase PE Mysis feedings to provide more chitin.
07/29 spawn seems to have less sticking issues...maybe. Have been feeding almost exclusively PE Mysis and the HBH Spirulina pellets (for constipation) since 07/15 (14 days). This spawn was 750 eggs...would have been
massive if all the eggs stuck!
Early on I counted rotifers in the larvae tank of the 08/21-22/12 hatch. I had not counted before, just simply guesstimating. My guesstimates were waaaaay off! In previous hatches it is safe to say that for the first week I was providing rotifers at 50-70 per mL, then tapered off to 30 per mL before weaning off rotifers entirely. 08/21-22/12 hatch was the first one to
actually be provided a reasonable 20-30 per mL for the first week. This lower number caused the rotifers to be entirely consumed each day, so enriched rotifer additions were made each morning. Rotifers enriched overnight with N-Rich PL Plus.
<message edited by EasterEggs on Saturday, April 13, 2013 9:43 AM>