Breeding Journal, Species: Amphiprion percula (Onyx x Onyx Picasso)

General
Species:  Amphiprion percula (Black Onyx F0 female) X A. percula (Onyx Picasso Proaquatix male)
Social Structure:  Pair
Size of Individuals:  3.75-4" Female, 2" Male
Age of Individuals:  Female purchased as a wild caught (age?), Male purchased as a juvenile 1.5" late 2012 from Proaquatix 
Date added to Tank:  01/15/2013 (this is the date I paired the two)

Broodstock Tank Details
Size of Tank:  40g (4 stalls) 36" x 18" x 16"
Substrate Details:  Bare Bottom
Filtration Details:  UV, Skimmer, Carbon & Phosphate pads, Deep Sand Bed fuge with Macro/Live Rock
Water Changes:  10-20% weekly
Water Temperature:  82.9 F
Lighting:  T5, 10k and actinic bulb and fuge light on 24-7
Lighting Cycle:  12 hr light cycle
Other Tank Inhabitants:  4 broodstock pairs total, each in their own stall

Broodstock Feeding Details
Food Types:  Rod's Original, Frozen Brine, Oto pellets, Mixed flake high in protein
Feeding Schedule:  I feed every time I look at the tank, 4-8 times a day during the main light cycle

Spawning Details
Date of First Spawn:  02/28/2013
Spawn Time of Day:  8:30-9:30pm like clock work (this is the midway point of their light cycle)
Dates of Consecutive Spawns: 02/28/2012, 03/13/2013, 03/29/2013, 04/15/2013, 04/27/2013, 05/09/2013, 05/23/2013, 06/04/2013, 06/27/2013 [I stopped documenting here] 12/12/2013, 05/01/2014, 05/18/2014
Courtship Details:  Normally when I see the female has a protruding ovipositor she lays that same evening.
Egg Size:  2mm
Egg Color:  orange and then they turn dark orange almost black after showing signs that they were fertilized (3 days)
Egg Count:  1,000-1,500

Hatch Details
Hatch Date: 03/18/2013, 04/21/2013, 05/16/2013, 05/29/2013, 06/10/2013 [I stopped documenting here] 12/21/2013
Hatch Time of Day: At lights out
# Days after Spawn:  6 days
Larvae Description: yoke sack seems to last almost 24 hours  
Consecutive Hatch Dates:   05/16/2013, 05/29/2013, 06/10/2013  


Larval Tank Details
Temperature:  81 F
Size of Larval Tank:  5-7g
Substrate Details:  bare
Other Tank Decor:  n/a
Filtration Details:  Heater, Prime, 2 x Rigid Airline
Lighting:  Small white IKEA desk light with bendable arm (really love these)
Lighting Cycle:  lights out on first night when I pull the pot, 24-7 lighting until after settlement
Water Changes:  no water changes during first 3 days, 2%-5% water changes with broodstock water up until settlement start, 2%-5% water changes after settlement began, daily 10% water changes after settlement

Larval Feeding Details
Food Types:  live rotifer only for first 3 days, then a little oto A every few days, after settlement I feed oto A and B along with crushed flake
Feeding Schedule:  rotigrow plus added daily untily after settlement along with live rotifers, I keep a dense culture until after settlement (add live rotifers once a day)

Metamorphosis/Settlement
Date of Settlement Start: 5/26/2013
Days after Hatch:  9 days (5/16)
Date of Settlement End:  29 days (6/13)
Description of Fry:  Very active and always racing around to eat, most of them stay at the surface but during settlement I notice they will lay on the bottom.  They are around 8mm at settlement.

Grow-Out Tank Details
Temperature:  78.8 F
Size of Grow-Out Tank:  120g 5 stall system + 30g 12 stall system + 40g sump all plumbed together
Substrate Details:  bare
Other Tank Decor:  frag racks, live rock and coral
Filtration Details:  full coral propagation system with large 40g sump, nac7 skimmer, macro algae, phosphate pads, carbon pads, UV, auto top-off, RKL controller, fans
Lighting:  BML LED 72" fixture, BML 48" LED fixture, IKEA LED strip lighting
Lighting Cycle:  12 hours
Water Changes:  5% daily
Size at Transfer:  1/2"
Age at Transfer:  2-6 months

Grow-Out Feeding Details
Food Types:  oto B and C, premium flake, frozen cyclopeze, live brine, live rotifer, frozen brine
Feeding Schedule:  4-5 times daily

Additional Information

(No Pictures or Videos in the Section Please)
Miscellaneous Information:  The female is a wild caught A. percula, which I purchased as a black onyx percula.  The male is an Onyx Picasso percula from Proaquatix.



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.

Here is video of them back in February 2013 when they first started showing signs of courtship.

 
Here is their first spawning event on 02/28/2013

 
2nd nest:

 
4th nest:

 
Vid of eggs fertilized:

 
 

post hatch 3 days: 
  
 
post hatch 19 days (during settlement): 

 

 

Sample size of their HUGE nest of 1200-1500 eggs:

 

vid of an entire clutch past settlement:

A few shots of a couple of the offspring at 1/2"
 
We (my wife and I) are getting some very nice looking fish from this pair.
 
1)

 

 
2)

 
 

I will continue to log their progress moving forward but wanted to at least get some of their history documented.  I have not kept the best records this past year (other than what you see above) but plan to do so moving forward.  I'm just uncertain how much of it I should keep for my personal records and how much on MBI...?

I went back and tracked a clutch from my videos and documentation...
 
Lay 5/09
Hatch 5/16
3 days 5/19
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dnDsuYV1WMc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ZtC-ziXy1k
 
9 days 5/26
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-oxtYBMw2A
 
19 days 6/4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W52emglLjsE
 
29 days finally ALL past settlement 6/13
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GW7ni4bzLuQ
 
60 days post hatch 7/18
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c6gyKzxF7wo
 
 
 
60 days post settlement 8/13


 
Notes: their first 5-10 clutches were very difficult to get the entire clutch past settlement.  Their current clutches are out of settlement within a couple of weeks. I'm not sure exactly what caused the delay in some of the early clutches.

Here is a pot pull from July 20th 2013 with a count of 900 eggs in the pic. There was another hundred or so not in the pic.  This was one of her smaller nests.
 

Was able to capture a great video of the pair laying lastnight (12/12/2013). You can see the female's ovipositor extruded and eggs coming out of the tube. The male is following along doing his thing fertilizing the eggs.

Watch in HD for the best detail.
 

 
 
 

-Rob

mrcobscorals.com

Nest from 12/12/2013 hatched last night on 12/20/2013.  Only had about 15-25 left in the nest and all of them hatched.

-Rob

mrcobscorals.com

How are your offspring shaping up in terms of regular vs. picasso?  From the one shot it seems you're getting 50/50?

Hey Matt, definitely about 50/50 and I have yet to see any come out as all white platinums which I thought was interesting.  Lots of very unusual patterns too.
 
I will follow this nest that just hatched and the few after it to document.

-Rob

mrcobscorals.com

Onyx Picasso nest (12/12/2013) hatch night: (12/20/2013)..

-Rob

mrcobscorals.com

New nest lastnight 12/26/2013
 
12/20/2013 hatched nest is now 7 days old and doing great.
 
*I have made some changes with my live foods and now culture harpacticoid copepods with my rotifers. Once the larvae hit 4-6 days post hatch I can see them eat the copepods from the glass. I have been able to keep a stable culture of both rotifers and harpacticoid copepods in two 20gal brute trashcans with lids, rigid airline and rotifer floss with daily harvesting and water changes once a week (syphon bottom out during water change).

-Rob

mrcobscorals.com

Any pictures from the latest batch? I'm getting that itch.

So how many babies hatched out of this huge clutch?

Also what kind of camera/lenses are you using to be able to count all those eggs? 

Sorry for the late reply.  This pair took a break from laying.  I have no idea what caused the break other than the fact that I stopped feeding Rod's original frozen food.  That was the only change that I had made.
 
Good news is that they are back in action and put down a nest last week
 
My camera lens you ask?  lol..... it's my phone!  lol  All my pics and vids are from my phones.  HTC One, HTC Vivid and a Samsung Note3.  Believe it or not but my old cracked HTC Vivid captures the best macro shots of them all. 

-Rob

mrcobscorals.com

Well looks like we are back at it. They layed on the 1st of may and then last night around 9pm 05/18/2014. It looks to be a nice healthy nest and I plan to pull it.

-Rob

mrcobscorals.com

Here is one of the few onyx picasso juveniles I have in growout right now. The parents stopped laying in December of 2013 and started up again May 1st 2014 and they layed their 2nd consecutive nest yesterday 05/18/2014. I plan to start pulling their nests again.

They really produce some very unique picassos that are very dark (ie onyx).










Sent from my Samsung note3 using Tapatalk.

-Rob

mrcobscorals.com

Silver eggs tonight...they will hatch tomorrow.


http://youtu.be/VRuMRS_gvOw

-Rob

mrcobscorals.com

Any photos of the non-picasso siblings? Can you confirm a roughly 50/50 split between the two basic types?
 

I think these photos acurately display a near 50/50 split of picasso / normal
 
60 days post settlement 8/13

 
 

 
 
 

 
 
 
 

-Rob

mrcobscorals.com