Breeding Journal, Species: Amphiprion ephippium (pair 2)

General 
Species:  Amphiprion ephippium 
Social Structure:  Pair 
Size of Individuals:  Female 2.5" Male 2" 
Age of Individuals:  2 years 
Date added to Tank:  07/10/2013 

Broodstock Tank Details 
Size of Tank:  L 2410mm x W 750mm x H 650mm 310G/1170L 
Substrate Details:  1-2mm Aragonite
Filtration Details:  Skimmer, UV, Macro Algae, Live Rock, Carbon, GFO and ATS   
Water Changes:  500-800L Fortnight   
Water Temperature:  26C (25 at night)   
Lighting:  LED 
Lighting Cycle:  9am to 8pm   
Other Tank Inhabitants:  Multiple tangs (3 x Blue, 1 x power brown, 1 x power blue, 1 x Nasso, 1 x Yellow), chromis, talbots damsels, other fish, corals, snails, shrimp etc.  Full reef tank, but mostly fish.   

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 defrosted frozen food.   

Spawning Details 
Date of First Spawn:   01/12/2014
Spawn Time of Day:   late am/early pm
Dates of Consecutive Spawns:   see additional details
Courtship Details:   none
Egg Size:   1-2mm
Egg Color:   initially bright orange, darkening over a couple of days
Egg Count:   approx 150-200

Hatch Details 
Hatch Date:   1/20/2014  (settlement batch hatched 2/28/2014)
Hatch Time of Day:   10pm
# Days after Spawn:   8
Larvae Description:     See pictures, clear fry with large orange gut.
Consecutive Hatch Dates: None as yet      

Larval Tank Details 
Temperature:   26c
Size of Larval Tank:  Black Tub 50L with 20L of salt water from Parent tank.
Substrate Details:   None
Other Tank Decor:   Heater
Filtration Details:   Air Stone, water changes as required
Lighting: T5 Bulb with egg crate used to dim the light
Lighting Cycle: 24 hours for initial 5 days 
Water Changes:   as required (50% per 3 days expected)

Larval Feeding Details 
Food Types:   Rotifers for days 1-6, NHBBS following this
Feeding Schedule:   Morning and Night dependant on food density

Metamorphosis/Settlement 
Date of Settlement Start:   3/8/2014 (hatched 2/28/2014)
Days after Hatch:   9
Date of Settlement End:   3/9/2014
Description of Fry:   Brown clownfish with several white bars (some with one others with two bars, some white at the tail also, see photo)

Grow-Out Tank Details 
Temperature:   26c
Size of Grow-Out Tank: L 600mm x W 200mm x H 400mm 
Substrate Details:   None
Other Tank Decor:   Heater
Filtration Details:   Sponge filter
Lighting:   CF
Lighting Cycle: 8am to 8pm 
Water Changes:   as required, typically 20L per week
Size at Transfer:   10mm
Age at Transfer:   15 days

Grow-Out Feeding Details 
Food Types:   NHBBS and crushed NLS pellets
Feeding Schedule:   Morning and Night.  NHBBS remain during the day.

Additional Information

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

01/12/2014 Spawn Pair 2
01/20/2014 Hatch Pair 2 to RBT5
01/28/2014 Spawn Pair 2
02/08/2014 Spawn pair 2
02/19/2014 Spawn Pair 2 
02/28/2014 Hatch pair 2

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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.

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Male

 
Female

 
The above photos make the female look lighter than the male, this is not really the case, they are both similarly coloured with a light face/head and a darker body.  Its more a case of the angle of the photos.

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This is the first spawn from this pair.  They were introduced to the tank as juveniles and have paired up.  Each fish has an anemone that they spend most of their time in about 6" apart.  The two anemone's are a split of a single "parent".
 
The eggs are near the anemone of the female.  Both fish appear to be attending to the eggs, but occasionally when compared to my other clown pairs.  The eggs are well within the range of the anemone and as such are also protected.   The parents are slightly more protective of the area that the eggs are in, but not overly.
 
The area where the eggs have been laid receives quite a lot of water flow from the nearby powerhead and the anemone's tentacles regularly brush over the eggs.

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What kind of anemone is that?  Beautiful clowns!

I think its a Entacmaea quadricolor, Bubble Tip Anemone, not a great shot of it.  Its quite fluro green.

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I wouldn't have guessed that...it looked like it was green with purple tips so I thought it was some crazy anemone I don't know anything about
 
Are you going to raise this nest?

It is fluro green with purple tips, it's quite a nice critter. It's funny, but the parent split a few months ago and the two clones seem to have different behaviours. The one that the male clown lives in is stable in position and tends to be mostly extended all of the time.

The one pictured that the female lives in wanders a bit, but always within a couple of inches of where it is now. It is also not uncommon for it to be pulled in like in the picture.
 
Here is the male in his anemone from a couple of months ago.  The green is washed out as well in the pic but it gives a better idea of the anemone

 
And yes I'm going to raise the nest as I haven't done any A. ephippium before.  I expect that they will be fairly similar to the A. frenatus or A. melanopus so hopefully it will be fairly straight forward.  It will also get me back into the swing of things.  I will have to collect the fry from the reef tank so that will be a little more painful than the breeder setups, but should be ok.
I would specifically like to raise some of these guys as I really like them and I was given a pair about a year ago by a friend and then lost the female due to it jumping.  So it would be great to give him some replacement fish for the one that was lost.

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About 30 of the fry hatched tonight, it looks like the rest will hatch tomorrow.
I collected about 20 as a few of the chromes got the idea that a free meal was available and hung around the light until I scared them away.
 

 

 

 
 

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About 10 of these guys have now reached settlement, I managed to loose quite a few on day 3 and 4.

 
Most of them only have a single stripe today.  This one has two (well the tail stripe is more of a partial at the moment).

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I look forward to the 60 days post settlement report

I have been meaning to take some photo's of these guys and submit this report.
So without further ado,
 
A photo for 60 days post settlement.

 
I gave away most of this clutch to a friend who wanted to try his hand at raising clowns, but was having difficulty getting them past settlement.  I think he has about 20 or 30 still going.  I only kept three.
All three still have a spot on their banks, that looks bright blue to the eye.  I was really surprised that when photographed it comes out white.

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