Breeding Percula Clownfish
Amphiprion percula
A few technical bits of info may be useful prior to reading the diary, they are as follows. The tanks I use to raise the larvae/fish in are 18x10x10 approx. 6 gal if full, for the first 7 days they only have 4" of water in them. (Increases rotifer density and reduce water wastage due to water changes to control pollution). The tanks have a bin liner wrapped around the to reduce side lighting, top lighting is from domestic tubes and is reduced by placing a piece of A4 paper, folded in half lengthways and placed directly underneath the tube, on top of egg crate just to take the worst of the glare away. Because I also breed fresh water fish, some of which need almost pure water to successfully breed in, I use (and supply) a Bischof Conductivity Meter which measures the salts dissolved in water i.e., RO will have a conductivity of 14-20 uS (micro Siemens), whilst marine water will have a conductivity of 45-50 mS (millli Siemens) that is 45,000-50,000 uS. when you have a lot of individual tanks to check, the meter is just so much quicker. pH is maintained at around 8.2-8.3 again using a Bischof pH meter. All my breeding pairs of marines are kept at a temperature of 80 F,27 C. Approximately two years ago 2 small wild caught percula clowns were purchased from M G Marines, these fish were kept until there original owner tiered of there spawning behaviour, which was disturbing the rest of his tank.A week or so prior to Christmas 1999, the pair of Percula clowns were returned to M G Marines from where they were purchased as a Christmas present for me. The female is 3.5" long and the male is 2.75" long. They have been set up in a 24x18x15 tank with 2-5"Dia plant pots.
Tuesday 22-2-2000
The pair of fish spawned sometime this afternoon. The nest was not very compact, stretching from 13:00 to 18:00 just inside the rim of one of the two 5 inch plant pots. At the time of writing Monday 28/2/2000, 90 percent of the eggs are ready to hatch either tonight or more likely tomorrow Tuesday 29-2-2000. I have still to decide whether to leave the eggs with the parents to hatch or remove them and hatch them in there rearing tank?
Wednesday 1-3-2000
I moved the eggs into the hatching tank Monday afternoon as I though the male was getting too rough with the eggs and dislodging them! Some eggs hatched on Monday night, some more hatched on Tuesday night and I'm waiting to see if the remainder will hatch tonight. There have been quite a few moralities to date, and quite a few eggs have not hatched at all. It may have been better to leave the eggs with the parents after all.
Thursday 2-3-2000
Siphoned off the bottom of the tank this morning, mainly unhatched eggs plus some dead larvae. Only 30 to 50 larvae swimming around, just as well as I don't have enough rotifers for any more!
Friday 3-3-2000
Reduced the water volume in the tank approx 50% to increase the Rotifer density in the remaining water.
Saturday 4-3-2000
Added freshly hatched Brine shrimp this morning for the first time as the rotifers are very sparse today. I also reduced the conductivity from 45mS to 35mS as it is supposed to reduce osmotic pressure on the young fish.
Monday 6-3-2000
2nd spawning of percs taking place today at12.00 noon, pH 8.25, 45mS. The egg cluster is much tighter this time and positioned between 2-oclock and 4 oclock As the fish have spawned on Monday this time, have they spawned a day early or did I miss the spawning the 1st time and only notice it a day latter?
Tuesday 14-3-2000
2nd spawning hatched tonight, one night late according to the book, but what do books know! I had left the eggs with the parents and it certainly gave me my best hatch yet. I tried the shining the torch light on the surface of the tank bit, but it didn't attract many larvae, so I tried shining the torch light onto the gravel substrate and siphoning the larvae out using a small rigid plastic pipe connected up to some silicone air line, this worked quite well. It took 20 minutes to siphon out the larvae into an ice cream tub, pour them into a glass and pour them into their own tank. (there is not enough room to get the ice cream tub over the larvae tank that's why I have to use the glass).
Still on Tuesday 14-3-2000
1st spawning still going strong, feeding on freshly hatched brine shrimp and rotifers, must get around to weaning them onto flake foods! Placed a mature sponge filter in the tank today, it should help keep the Nitrite level down. Nitrite seems harder to control than the Ammonia.
Wednesday 15-3-2000
Siphoned at least 50 percent dead larvae out this morning, I think it was due to the problem I had last night pouring the water plus larvae out of the ice cream tub. The tanks I use to rear the larvae in only have about 5" head room, which I found wasn't enough room to up turn the ice cream tubs quick enough to pour out the larvae cleanly. I finished up with a lot of larvae stuck to the side of the tub on my first attempt to transfer the larvae, the first tub unfortunately held most of the larvae. On the next hatch I will siphon the larvae into a sawn off pop bottle and pour the larvae from that directly into the raising tank.
Friday 17-3-2000
Some of the fish from the first spawning have now developed their head and mid-body stripe. Still doing two 30% water changes a day on the second spawning to hold the Ammonia and Nitrite levels down.
Monday 20-3-2000
13.00 Hours, 3rd spawning taking place as I write, they are using the same plant pot and laying the eggs in approximately the same area, i.e. 2 oclock to 4 oclock. Spawning conditions 46 mS pH 8.2. I expect the eggs to hatch Monday 27-3-2000 or Tuesday 28-3-2000, I hope to make a better job of transferring the larvae next time! 1st spawning now feeding on ground up "Prima" and Freshly Hatched Brine Shrimp. Some of the fish still have not developed any stripes on the head or body! 2nd spawning have been given "Prima" and F H B S in very small amounts for the first time today.
Wednesday 22-3-2000
2nd spawning. Some of the fish are already showing the start of the head stripe at only 7 days old. This means the fish have already come through metamorphosis!!!
Sunday 26-3-2000
1st spawning now almost 12mm long, a few still haven't developed the stripes yet. 2nd spawning now between 8-10mm long, with about 1/3 showing the head stripe. I added a small sponge filter to the 2nd spawning tank today, I hope it will bring the Nitrite levels below 0.5! The conductivity of the 2nd spawning tank has been brought back up to around 45mS; again this will reduce the effect of the nitrite present in the tank. All the fish are now being fed a combination of Rotifers, FHBS and ground flake food. I have stopped feeding the ground up Prima, as there were too many large lumps in the mix, at least the flake food is thin to start with, so it grinds down much finer.
Tuesday 28-3-2000
Lost 10 fish out of the second batch during the night and it looks like another one is about to go the same way. I do not think it is nitrite poisoning as the fish are still very lively and feeding quite well, but just in case I've carried out two 20 percent water changes and added the sponge filter from the 1st batch tank to try and get the nitrite down once and for all. 3rd Spawning. The big hatch that never was. I was all set up, two tanks already for the hundreds of larvae that would hatch tonight. I'm not sure if the eggs hatched or were eaten on hatching by the parents, or that a trifid ate some of the larvae, whatever, there were very few larvae to siphon out of the tank. The only good thing to come out of tonight's efforts was that I cut down on the transfer losses, by using a smaller tub to siphon the larvae into.
Wednesday 29-3-2000
Siphoned 70 dead larvae off the bottom of the 3rd batch tank this morning, although I think it is still too many to loose during transfer, it was a big improvement on the 2nd batch. Fed them rotifers, and went away to sulk. 1st batch now starting to show the tail stripe.2nd batch, odd ones showing the mid-body stripe at two weeks old. I have finally got the Nitrite levels down in the 2nd batch tank by using the 1st and 2nd batches sponge filters over night in the 2nd batch tank and returning the 1st batch filter to its rightful tank during the day. (by using the two filters only at night they are not taking out the FHBS before the fish have time to eat it).
Friday 31-3-2000
Decided to spend the morning having a good "clean up" in the marine fish house, each of the breeding tanks had there sponge filters removed and cleaned, spawning pots removed and cleaned and a water change using R O water to bring down the conductivity (SG). I also cleaned some of the algae off the sides of the tanks and removed any Trifids I could find. The conductivity was brought down in one go from 50 mS to 45mS using R O water and the pH adjusted back up to around 8.3 using a buffer. All in all a good mornings work, and after all that disturbance the Perks spawned again, 3 days early! The fish finished spawning at 14.30hours, with a conductivity of 43.5 mS and a pH of 8.3. An interesting observation is that the pair spawned in the right hand pot today for the first time, this pot was the left-hand pot prior to the clean up this morning, when they were swapped over. Did the fish recognise the pot by sight, smell or feel, or is it just an odd coincidence? This 4th spawning is expected to hatch on Saturday night the 8-4-2000, I may have another go at artificial hatching this time. 3rd batch, carrying out 2 water changes per day in an attempt to keep the Nitrite down. 2nd batch, OK. 1st batch, had there 1st full day on dry rations today, it's supposed to reduce the risk of shock from being on too much FHBS.