Kessil

Picasso Clown pair spawn

Not so fast. Mortality rate is high. Maybe 10 left.
How the heck do these survive in the wild?
Helpless bait is how I would describe them.
 
Tough night for the clowns. Only like 5-6 left. They are so tiny. Hard to count. They seem to be chasing rotifers instead of their tails though!
 
Way to go!!! Sorry for coming back in late to the larvae party.

A few things to check:
1. Aside from Gresham's advice about keeping the larvae away from the heater with a column of air, it is a good idea to use electrical tape to cover the heater indicator light, which tend to flock to.
2. Have you blacked out the sides of the hatch tank so that light comes in only from the top?
3. If there is too much air, the larvae get tossed around in the turbulence and don't hunt for food as effectively. I like to place airstones in the corner and leave calm spots in the center of the tank.
4. You don't have to use the greenwater method, but with so few larvae remaining the rotifers may take a while to be hunted down, in which case it may be beneficial to ensure that the rotifers are continuously being gut-loaded.

Best of luck with the wee ones!
 
I guess I should read up on raising clown fish.
Blacking out the tank did not seem intuitive but it makes sense.
Do you have a good link to suggest?
 
Rearing the larvae at home makes you appreciate just how special wild-caught fishes are to have made it through metamorphosis!

Tal Sweet has an informative site:
http://www.fishtalpropagations.com/#!hatching-and-rearing/c1s29

MBI and MOFIB are good resources too - a person can spend weeks reading through the various threads. You are also welcome to borrow my copy of Wilkerson's book, it's a little dated but is still the best primer for clownfishes IMO. I just need to get it back eventually. :)
 
I can pass you Matt's book, and I think I have Joyce's as well. I'll look around.

FWIW the first 3-6 clutchs normally don't do so hot.... and I would pump up the nutrition of the broodstock... TDO works great for this ;)

ALso, greenwater is pretty much crucial for larvae... IMO/IME you don't want to not do it. IT allows a background to the rotifers, and the larvae get a little phytoplanton as well (as some studies have shown that I have not read yet but was told about them)
 
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