Breeding Journal, Species: Amphiprion Melanopus (Cinnamon Clown)

General
Species:  Amphiprion Melanopus
Social Structure:  Pair
Size of Individuals:  both 2.5 (6 cm)
Age of Individuals:  2.5 years
Date added to Tank:  may 2011

Broodstock Tank Details
Size of Tank:  38 gal Display Tank
Substrate Details:  Live rock and shallow sand
Filtration Details:  Red Sea Berlin skimmer + live rock
Water Changes:  2-3 weeks 10%
Water Temperature:  81*F
Lighting:  DIY LED  38 3W cool white,royal blue,red and UV
Lighting Cycle:  12 Hr on 12Hr off
Other Tank Inhabitants:  2 PJ Cardinals 3 Yellow -tail Blue Damsels

Broodstock Feeding Details
Food Types:  Omega One pellets,  homade3 seafood/shrimp mash, decapped brine shrimp eggs,
Feeding Schedule:  pellets   2x day auto-feeder, and homemade seafood mash

Spawning Details
Date of First Spawn:  13 Aug 2011
Spawn Time of Day:  14:00 ( 2:00 pm)
Dates of Consecutive Spawns:  25  Aug 2011,  18 Feb 2012,  1 Mar 2012,  8 Apr 2012,  24 Apr 2012,  9 May 2012,  24 May 2012,  26 Jun 2012,  5 Jul 2012,  ~22 Jul 2012,  23 Aug 2012  approx 7 Sep 2012, 18 Sep 2012, 1 Oct 2012, 17 Oct 2012, 30 Oct 2012,
Latest spawn:  11 Nov 2012
Courtship Details:  cleaning, nuzzling, chasing
Egg Size:  1.5- 2 mm
Egg Color:  Pink
Egg Count:  200-300

Hatch Details
Hatch Date: 21 Nov 2012
Hatch Time of Day: about noon
# Days after Spawn: 10
Larvae Description:    2 mm, large bluish eyes, some organ visible, no fins visible, stomach appears golden, larvae are active, appear to be eating rotifers.  no reaction to light.
Consecutive Hatch Dates: 21 Aug 2012, 31 Aug 2011,   26 Feb 2012,  9 Mar 2012,  18 Apr 2012,  4 May 2012,  18 May 2012,  1 Jun 2012,  4 Jul 2012,  14 Jul 2012,   ~30 Jul 2012,  1 Sep  2012 , 14 Sep 2012, 26 Sep 2012 , 10 Oct 2012, 25 Oct 2012,
latest 21 Nov 2012, 


Larval Tank Details
Temperature:  81*F
Size of Larval Tank:  2 gal fish-bowl kriesel
Substrate Details:  None
Other Tank Decor:  None
Filtration Details:  none
Lighting:  Compact Flour. 
Lighting Cycle:  16 on 8 off
Water Changes:  30% WC at 8 days

Larval Feeding Details
Food Types:  roitfers  later combination of Hikari First Bites and Ken's Golden Pearls with rotifers
Feeding Schedule:  3-4 dips of rotifers 2x day  (dip= 4"   50 um strainer) Small pinches( with forceps) throughout the day when ever possible

Metamorphosis/Settlement
Date of Settlement Start:  30 Nov 2012 ?
Days after Hatch:  9 dph
Date of Settlement End:  3  Dec 2012
Description of Fry: 5 mm,  dark bodies, bright orange fins and orange and white tails, Head stripe and middle stripes visible and tail stripe on one.  Bodies are more disc shaped

Grow-Out Tank Details
Temperature:  82 *F
Size of Grow-Out Tank:  2 gal fishbowl
Substrate Details:  2 small picece of live rock
Other Tank Decor:  heater
Filtration Details:  rigid airline
Lighting:  ambient light from phyto grow 
Lighting Cycle:  approx  16 on 8 off
Water Changes:  1 gal every 2 weeks
Size at Transfer:  this was the hatching vessel-  only 2 fish so this was good enough
Age at Transfer:  same as above

Grow-Out Feeding Details
Food Types:  crushed Omega One pellets, Reef Veggie pellets, Golden Pearls, decap brine shrimp eggs, selcon and live BBS
Feeding Schedule:  1-2 x daily

Additional Information
1 Sep 2012 hatch is only hatch to have live larvae collected, until Nov. 2012
21 Nov 2012  ~12 live larvae collected the remainder appear to have been unable to hatch naturally, larvae emerged after eggs were physically removed from substrate (I was intending to look at them under the scope.)
(No Pictures or Videos in the Section Please)
Miscellaneous Information: 



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Pictures of the spawn and development of the spawn on 23 Aug 2012.  The nest was successfully transferred to 2 gal fishbowl kriesel on the evening of Day 9.  Several eggs hatched but 0 larvae survived 1 DPH. 
I have started more feedings and more nutritious food.

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Cool! Do you have pics of all of the eggs and the broodstock?

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

Here are Ralph and Alice.  2.5 year A. Melanopus.
 
They're not great pics.  Sorry for the light effects in the nest picture

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It's not a very successful hatch.  I transferred the nest to the fishbowl Kreisel  on the evening of Day 9 (31 Aug).   A few larvae, about 12 hatched in the early morning of 1 Sep 2012  but they didn't survive past 1 day post hatch.    The bodies deteriorated quickly so I didn't get any pictures.
 
I think that I'm not feeding the parents well enough.  I've started to feed a home mash of tiger shrimp, scallops, talapia, mussels and squid, with vitamins; and Ive brought their pellets up to 3 x daily They are on day 7 of the new food plan.
 
I will try to do better reporting on the next spawn.  Which has already happened.  They laid inside the flowerpot this time and I didn't see them untill yesterday.  I think today is Day 5.  I could see distinct eyes yesterday.  I tried for pictures but the position is very difficult to see.  Hatch should be about 17 Sep.

OK pictures of the latest spawn on approx.  7 Sep '12  not very good pictures.  Hard to take a photo straight up through the glass side.

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very good to see eggs look well i have 6 batches to hatch this week ganna have my hands very full got true perk onyx perks two batces of oc got b&w and piccaso eggs cant wait

I'm having trouble with my rotifer culture so I don't think I'll be able to raise this latest nest.  I've tried restarting the rotifers from prepared cysts and sterile tank water.  There doesn't seem to be anything alive in there, so I'll have to try again or order some in time for the next nest.

well i have 3 tanks full of them and all are thick they eat so much what is your salinity?temp? and what are you feeding them? you should use roto grow plus from reed mariculture and roto green omega in the larvel tank

you should have been hatching them on day 8 the night of. keep your tank at 80 81 f they might have already hatched in the parents tank i hatch all mine day 7 or 8 for others never day 9 i think your tank might be to cold

My tank is usually bat 82 F.   Right now it is 79 F  , but I'll adjust it tomorrow.  It has to be adjusted when the furnace starts  coming on.

I've had a couple of new spawns, one in the flower pot (18 Sep hatched on 26 Sep) and one in a new place, on the skeleton of a large piece torch coral.  This latter one was today (30 Sep).  The nest is larger and pinker than any of the others. The pic shows how close this coral piece is to the BTA that they have started hosting.

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Okay, I'm back at it again.  On 12 Nov '12 I noticed that my pair had laid again, inside their pot.  I wasn't sure whether they had laid that day, or the previous day, but I suspect the latter. 
I had just received an order of live rotifers from Reef Nutrition, this time I was ready.  This pair's eggs usually disappear on the night of the Day 10.  An attack of life caused me to nearly miss getting the nest out of the display tank before lights out. In fact the lights had just clicked off when I got to the tank.  (I haven't had any success at see lavae in the DT, so I remove the nest)  I got the nest to the hatching vessel, a 2 gal fishbowl kreisel and wrapped it against any incidental light, reset the timer on the lights and left the room.  After about six hours there was no sign of hatch, so I set the air line to bubble through the center of the pot and left it till the morning.  No change in the morning, I figured  it would be that night.  I put 1 drop of H2O2 in the vicinity of the nest and waited for dark.  Another 6 hours and still no sign of hatch.  I decided to removed some of the eggs using the straw method look at under the scope and replace the nest pot in the DT.  When I got back to the fishroom I found live larvae swimming in the kreisel.  I think the egg shells are too tough for the larvae to break out.  (Too much shrimp shell in the mash).  I strained 3 or 4 dips of rotifers and added them to the kreisel.  The larvae started feeding right away.  I have about 12 out of about 500.  They have survived through 2 dph.
I don't have Otohime to feed them, does anyone know anything about Ken's Golden Pearls?  How does it compare?
I've been putting a couple of drops RGComplete in the kreisel to tint it green , is this right?
Well, I'll start the brine shrimp tomorrow for adding on day 4 or 5.

First of all, congrats on getting some to hatch! Pretty cool huh? I tend to think the lower temp slowed the hatch rather than too much shrimp in the diet but you can keep an eye on that in the future.
 
IMO, kreisels are overkill for clowns. Simple 10G tanks work just fine. 

I haven't used GP so I can't say if it is small enough. TDO A works great when you're ready to wean them of rotifers.
 
You want to use RotiGreen for greenwater, not RotiGrow. You can use RGrow if you have no other choice but it's just not formulated to be used for that purpose.

If you go the brine shrimp route you want to use freshly hatched. Brine shrimp nauplii less than 12 hours old are what you're looking for. After 12hrs they are of little nutritional value and get too big for the fry to eat at that stage. 
http://www.fishtalpropaga...m/#!brine-shrimp/c141x

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

I can't get Otohime into Canada.  That's why I asked about the Golden pearls.
I shouldn't have them either, but I got them while I was stateside.   My tanks are at 82*F , should they be higher?
 
The kreisel is convenient for 2 gal  I can always transfer to a 10 gal in a few days.
 
I only have GRComplete and a very small culture of nanno.  If I could get the nanno to develop I would use that, but there seems to be something wrong with my f/2.  Is f/2 supposed to get darker over time?  It takes about 3 weeks to darken after a split but if I put more in, it crashes and goes clear.

Hopefully shipping to CA will get sorted out soon. You'll love it. 82° is perfect. I didn't notice the date of your earlier post where you said your tank was at 79°. 
 
I noticed my f/2 got darker over time but I stopped using it long ago and just use RG now. Since all you have is RGComplete I would use that. Some people notice a bit of an oil slick on the surface when you add it. Try putting the syringe below the water surface where the bubbles are to avoid that problem.

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

Pictures of larvae at 2 dph

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Also, I have what appears to be a shrimp about the same size as the larvae in there with them.  Is this a hazard to the larvae?

I would remove it if possible, just to be safe.

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

Is settlement when they start to get more disc shaped and start to use their tails to swim like fish instead of a propeller?
I think one or more are there.  It is 9 dph
I don't expect colour,  They are Cinnamon so they will stay dark awhile.
I still can't get any decent pictures

You should be getting close to settlement depending on water temp. I haven't worked with these so I can't say anything about coloration but you should start to notice them acting differently. They should start acting more like fish than larvae. They should also take on the attributes of juvenile fishes with more developed fins and such.

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

It looks like they have settled.  I can see fins and tails and I think I can see the mid body stripe.  I'm not sure about a head stripe, there is a light patch where it should be but it could be internal organs or gill I'm not sure.  It's 10 dph

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I hatched my second batch last night, I think about 100.  maybe a few more tonight.
They are in a 10 g  with rotifers, a heater and airline and currently the nest pot. 
I had a heater failure today, I checked the thermometer to see what the final setting was and it was ~60*F .  The heater had filled with water and ceased functioning.  I immediately replaced it.  The current temp is 80*F.  
The parents laid another nest today.  It's odd that they lay the day after hatch night. No break at all. It's a huge nest easily 500. 

13 day post hatch
I still have 4 small juvies, they definitely have 2 stripes.  They are still very dark, but showing signs of turning orange.  They are about 5 mm long and about 4 mm high and 1-2 mm thick.
They are active and eating a mix of fine ground  Ken's Golden Pearls, Hikari First Bites, Omega One pellets, Reef veggies dressed with Selcon.

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My first hatch are now down to 2 .   My second hatch is at least 20 .  Will I be able to to put both hatches together in the same grow-out tank?

20 days post hatch   about 8 days post settlement
These 2 are the same shape as their parents, about 6mm long, with dark bodies and bright orange fins and tails.  All 3 stripes are visible and they swim like adults (hovering in place and moving up and down in a horizontal position)  They no longer dart about.

Second hatch
6  days post hatch
Their bodies are darkening aft of the internal organs where they were clear 2-3 days ago.  They are long and narrow, about 5mm long. active and eating rotifers.

I pulled the latest nest (3 Dec) a day early, evening of day 8, instead of day 9.  There were some larvae present today in the hatching tank.  I expect there will be more there tomorrow.

No more new larvae.  I seem to have lost all of this batch. And all but 1 or 2 of the 2nd batch.  The 2 original hatch are still doing well and are actively eating crushed pellet food.
 
edit;  I recall that the first hatch was the only one that I was able to use live nanno in the larval tank.  The others were RGC entirely.  This may have made a difference.

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They look good!
 
Congrats on the success so far!

-Adam

as requested, my fishbowl kreisel is a 2 gallon upright fishbowl.  It has a 25 watt heater in it and a 1/4" rigid airline fixed diagonally across so the air comes up the curved side of the bowl.  The air bubbles create a circular current. Thus, Kreisel   I wrap it in a towel to keep the ambient light coming in the top to keep the larvae off the glass.  Since there are only 2 survivors in this hatch, I have just left them in there with a couple of small pieces of live rock.
 
I have another fishbowl  kreisel with about 3 fry in it that is in a 5 gal tank water bath because I don't have another small heater.
 
 

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60 days post hatch.  The 2 that survived form my first hatch are still with me.  they are about 2 cm and maybe a little less.  They are active and eating crushed pellet foods and live BBS.  Since there were only 2 and one from a later hatch, they have stayed in the 2 gallon fish bowl.  They have a few small pieces of live rock and an airline for filtration. And a heater.

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73 days old  63 days post settlement.
They are 2-2.5 cm.
Eating crushed pellet foods, live BBS, some crushed frozen mysis. almost anything they can get in their mouths.
They have a couple of pieces of live rock and a heater and airline in their 2 gallon fishbowl.

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I guess I am going to have to learn not to correct spelling on a report that already has approvals on it.  I'll have to put up with the bad spelling until the report has gone through.  My bad.

Report reviewers are able to make minor spelling corrections to reports without "resetting" the approval count.  In the future, you might ask a report reviewer to make such simple spelling corrections.