Breeding Journal, Species: Amphiprion percula (Onyx variety)

General
Species:  Amphiprion percula (Onyx variety)
Social Structure:  Male-Female pair
Size of Individuals:  2" male 3" female
Age of Individuals:  unknown
Date added to Tank:  unknown

Broodstock Tank Details
Size of Tank:  ~ 30 gallons
Substrate Details:  bare bottom
Filtration Details:  central system with sump and protein skimmer
Water Changes:  Monthly
Water Temperature:  81 -82 degrees
Lighting:  T5
Lighting Cycle:  14/10
Other Tank Inhabitants:  limpets/snails

Broodstock Feeding Details
Food Types:  variety frozen and dry
Feeding Schedule:  3-4 times per day

Spawning Details
Date of First Spawn:  unknown, this pair has spawned numerous times this spawn was on March 4, 2013
Spawn Time of Day:  Evening
Dates of Consecutive Spawns:  Unknown
Courtship Details:  Not observed, female cleans pot
Egg Size:  1 mm
Egg Color:  orange
Egg Count:  200+

Hatch Details
Hatch Date:  March 13, 2013
Hatch Time of Day:  over night
# Days after Spawn:  8
Larvae Description:    small, slightly flattened colorless fish
Consecutive Hatch Dates:      all in one night


Larval Tank Details
Temperature:  79 - 80.5
Size of Larval Tank:  10 gallon tank filled to about 6 gallons
Substrate Details:  bare bottom
Other Tank Decor:  piece of live rock, sponge, some plastic filter parts, piece of PVC pipe about 5" long
Filtration Details:  Bio-filter from above docor and one large air stone 2"x2" from Aquatic ecosystems
Lighting:  clamp on light with 7 watt CFL
Lighting Cycle:  6 am till 10 pm, then 24 hours after hatch
Water Changes:  None' adding 4 cups/day of reef tank water diluted with RO/DI water to lower SG to 1.020

Larval Feeding Details
Food Types:  Rotifers fed RG+ with added ClorAm-x, at around day 5 or 6 added NHBBS, and 2 days later started light feedings of TDO A.  Since rotifers where co-cultured with T. californucos pods, immature pods where between 180 microns and 53 microns would have been fed along with the rotifers.
Feeding Schedule:  As needed about 2 - 3 X per day.  Using .75 ml phytofeast and .75 ml RG+ for greenwater 2X per day.

Metamorphosis/Settlement
Date of Settlement Start:  3/20/13
Days after Hatch:  7
Date of Settlement End:  3/29/13
Description of Fry:  Goes through a series of changes.  First is a change in body shape to more oval profile and flatened  when viewed from above.  The a white stripe is visable from above but not from the side.  Then stripe becomes visable from side view and body starts to turn from clear/slight pink to light orange slowly getting more pronouced.  After that fish starts to spend more time out of the water column near the top and starts fighting for teritories near the bottom with other fry of similar changes.

Grow-Out Tank Details
Temperature:  79.5 - 80.5 F
Size of Grow-Out Tank:  10 x 20 x 12
Substrate Details:  Bare bottom
Other Tank Decor:  same as above in larval tank
Filtration Details:  same as above in larval tank
Lighting:  same as above
Lighting Cycle:  16/8 manual
Water Changes:  10% per week with water from reef tank.  Water change includes vaccuming the bottom for debris and uneaten food particles.
Size at Transfer:  Not transfered yet (need to build the growout system yet.
Age at Transfer:  Not yet transfered

Grow-Out Feeding Details
Food Types:  At 3 weeks switched from feeding TDO A to TDO B1, 4-7 times per day.  Also T. californucos pods daily in evening (only 4-6 dozen total per night) and BBS enriched with selcon and phytofeast on the mornings that I work a 12 hour shift.
Feeding Schedule:  Depends on day and my work schedule.

Additional Information

(No Pictures or Videos in the Section Please)
Miscellaneous Information: 



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Pictures of the 1 day old hatchlings

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Thought I would post a picture of the eggs 3 days prior to hatch

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Here are the male (smaller) and female (larger) together and each alone.

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The first of the clowns have gotten their stripes today.  So far I've only seen 2-3 with the head stripe.  Body form on many have changed to a more oval profile with more compressed sides and a faint orange color is noted on the tail musculature.  I've also noticed that these fish will stay motionless in the water-column in a U or J shape with their tails.

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Lost 2-3 fry last night that were undergoing Meta.  Guess that isn't bad for between 100 to 200 fish.  I think it may be time for a partial water change.  Ammonia between 0.25 and 0.5 ppm and nitrite at 1 ppm.  Don't know if that is bad or not.

I'm going to call settlement done as of today.  99% of the fry have undergone meta, and only 1-3 are still without a head stripe.  Here are the latest pictures of these little cuties!

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A. percula tend to show their stripes slower than A. ocellaris. Not sure how the Onyx affects that process. Keep us posted and don't be too concerned at this point.

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

Going to post some more pictures of the onyx percs today at 4 weeks old.  Not because it is a milestone, or for MBI points, but just because they are so cute, they need to be shown off.  Enjoy!
 

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Had to move the onyx babies on to grow out today.  A 29 gallon with HOB filter and bare bottom tank.  Total count was 138 fry to 5+ weeks post-hatch.  Not bad for a first attempt .  Oddly, one is already starting to get its middle stripe.  Looks like a short white dash on one side and a white dot on the other side.

Latest pictures at 5 weeks 2 days.
 
 

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For those of you interested in fishy porn, here is a short video of the onyx pair spawning.
 

Just noticed I have about 3 to 6 of the little percs starting to develop their 2nd mid-body stripe already.  I thought I read that that doesn't happen until they are around 6 months.  These fish are around 6 weeks and are already starting to get their stripes.

Some of my Picasso offspring do that too. 

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

Here are pictures of the Onyx percs at just a little over 60 days post settlement.  As you can see, quite a few survived my 'care'.  This has been very exciting for a first time through this process of raising marine fish from eggs.

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New update: some of the fry are beginning to onyx up on the dorsal half between the 1st and 2nd stripes.

Here are those percs at 5 months old.  Does it look like they are starting to onyx or is it just that the glass needs to be cleaned????

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