Problems with first attempt raising clownfish

[Uncle99]

Thanks. I wonder if I can do some kind of post-mortem autopsy under the microscope to see if the dead fry bellies are green or empty… I might take a look just for fun

This is an example of using a 5x magnifying glass on newly hatched skunk shrimp.

 

[darkside7747]

This is an example of using a 5x magnifying glass on newly hatched skunk shrimp.

hello I know its been a while since you posted this message but do you have any tips on how to raise and breed the shrimp? I'm looking into breeding fire shrimp if that's possible!

 

[manzoherz]

I killed some clownfish larvae last night and have some questions about what may have gone wrong.

Only about 10-20% of the eggs hatched, and they are still looking nice and silvery in the parents’ tank so I’m hoping to have better success with the rest, assuming they all hatch tonight.

My setup for the larvae/fry tank is a 10 gallon aquarium, blacked out on all sides, filled slightly less than halfway with water from the parent tank at salinity 1.026. I have had a rotifer culture going for about a week which has been growing great using roti-green complete for food. About an hour before expected hatch, I harvested a gallon of rotifers, strained them and added to the fry tank. I tinted the tank water with a few mL of RG complete that I mixed in some saltwater prior to adding. My light is an LED light bar which I turned to the lowest white setting and placed on the corner of the tank so that it was only partially shining on the water and the opposite side of the tank stayed pretty dark.

After hatch in the parent tank, I used a vossen trap to catch the fry. I only caught 15-20 fry and the rest of the eggs did not hatch. I shined a dim light on the eggs to check on them a few times (probably a mistake).

After transferring the larvae to their new home, many immediately started swimming in erratic circles, but a few looked alright so I left them alone for about 30 minutes. After that 30 minutes I went back to check on them and all were dead.

It is noteworthy that I only had one air pump and had to use it for the vossen trap, so the fry tank had no aeration for about 3 hours before adding the fry.

So, what are your thoughts? Did I shock them with too much light? Did the lack of aeration suffocate them and/or the rotifers, leading to ammonia spike? Is there a problem with using RG complete for tinting? Can particulate matter in the tank kill fry? I had some minor dust fall in the tank from a basement shelf above. Can minor temperature differences (1-2 degrees) between parent and fry tank cause shock? I set the heater to same set point but didn’t verify the tanks were matching with a thermometer. Any other suggestions?

Morning, I'm on attempt 7 of clownfish fry rearing after our clownfish pair started doing the mating dance. It's reassuring that you're having the same challenges I am. So far from 7 hatchings we've got one lone survivor! The most recent lot all died within the first 72 hs. I have mostly figured out why the earlier hatches died - too few rotifers on one go, a shonky heater on another attempt, and then it seems to be ammonia spikes predominantly. Overnight it is going from 0.2 to 1.0 and the fry become very sluggish and then die. This recent round I was doing 2 water changes a day but it still spiked - so i have to assume it's either too many rotifers, too much phytoplankton, not a big enough tank?? I'm using 7L capacity and filling with tank water to halfway mark, with an air stone.

I have read so many mixed reports of when you can introduce a filter sponge - most seem to say to wait until the fry have gone through meta. But other than setting up some continuous drip and drain system to water change regularly whilst then also filtering out rotifers etc I just can't see what to try next.

I also moved to having a terracotta pot in the tank and it's much easier to remove that the night of hatching rather than try to catch in traps that all seem to damage the fry.

The spinning in circles you mentioned originally is definitely too much light - I've done that too and have switched to a desk lamp on a low setting.

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

hello I know its been a while since you posted this message but do you have any tips on how to raise and breed the shrimp? I'm looking into breeding fire shrimp if that's possible!

The link below has a ton of detail for trying to rear Skunk Cleaner Shrimp specifically, but a lot of it would be transferrable to Fire Shrimp too:

Detailed Diagrams of lsymata amboinensis larval stages

Hello All, I am in need of some photos or diagrams of shrimp larval stages. I am considering taking a shot at breeding these guys but need more information on their life cycle to be certain about some ideas i have. Is there anywhere i can get high quality information on them that isnt an...

www.reef2reef.com

That said, the link below is specifically on the rearing of Fire Shrimp, it's impressively detailed (it basically walks you through step-by-step how they did it), and the methods used have the highest reported survival rates I'm aware of at the moment "with the survival rate of 12.7 ± 0.1% to 18.35 ± 0.15%" so I would really suggest reading through this one if you're trying to rear Fire Shrimp:

https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/2ea5/d95a0230c1a6e377da051d2e30e352b6c4a5.pdf

If you've got any questions, feel free to ask (though you may want to start your own thread on it so as to not put too many off-topic posts on this one).

 

[Formulator]

Morning, I'm on attempt 7 of clownfish fry rearing after our clownfish pair started doing the mating dance. It's reassuring that you're having the same challenges I am. So far from 7 hatchings we've got one lone survivor! The most recent lot all died within the first 72 hs. I have mostly figured out why the earlier hatches died - too few rotifers on one go, a shonky heater on another attempt, and then it seems to be ammonia spikes predominantly. Overnight it is going from 0.2 to 1.0 and the fry become very sluggish and then die. This recent round I was doing 2 water changes a day but it still spiked - so i have to assume it's either too many rotifers, too much phytoplankton, not a big enough tank?? I'm using 7L capacity and filling with tank water to halfway mark, with an air stone.

I have read so many mixed reports of when you can introduce a filter sponge - most seem to say to wait until the fry have gone through meta. But other than setting up some continuous drip and drain system to water change regularly whilst then also filtering out rotifers etc I just can't see what to try next.

I also moved to having a terracotta pot in the tank and it's much easier to remove that the night of hatching rather than try to catch in traps that all seem to damage the fry.

The spinning in circles you mentioned originally is definitely too much light - I've done that too and have switched to a desk lamp on a low setting.

It is definitely not easy! I ended up throwing in the towel temporarily. It just wasn’t worth the time and headache in the end and we are expecting our second child this fall, so I had to divert my attention to those preparations. I’m sure I will give it another go eventually.

 

[Uncle99]

hello I know its been a while since you posted this message but do you have any tips on how to raise and breed the shrimp? I'm looking into breeding fire shrimp if that's possible!

I’ve done skunk shrimp.
Any 2 will make eggs, as each is both male and female.
They will carry the eggs underneath, and will be unable to close legs when hatch is close.
Will toss the eggs with a tail shake at night, fry run to light so this way you can collect them.
Rotifers for a week, then transition to pulverized flake.
Is slow to mature, about 180 days to get 3/4” or sellable.
Is fun though.

 

[manzoherz]

It is definitely not easy! I ended up throwing in the towel temporarily. It just wasn’t worth the time and headache in the end and we are expecting our second child this fall, so I had to divert my attention to those preparations. I’m sure I will give it another go eventually.

I can totally understand that feeling - I am looking at this next hatch as possibly my last for a while! Good luck with new addition and I'll post in here if I find some magical process )

 

[Vincenc]

I think 1 gallon of rots on first day is allot.

 

[darkside7747]

The link below has a ton of detail for trying to rear Skunk Cleaner Shrimp specifically, but a lot of it would be transferrable to Fire Shrimp too:

Detailed Diagrams of lsymata amboinensis larval stages

Hello All, I am in need of some photos or diagrams of shrimp larval stages. I am considering taking a shot at breeding these guys but need more information on their life cycle to be certain about some ideas i have. Is there anywhere i can get high quality information on them that isnt an...

www.reef2reef.com

That said, the link below is specifically on the rearing of Fire Shrimp, it's impressively detailed (it basically walks you through step-by-step how they did it), and the methods used have the highest reported survival rates I'm aware of at the moment "with the survival rate of 12.7 ± 0.1% to 18.35 ± 0.15%" so I would really suggest reading through this one if you're trying to rear Fire Shrimp:

https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/2ea5/d95a0230c1a6e377da051d2e30e352b6c4a5.pdf

If you've got any questions, feel free to ask (though you may want to start your own thread on it so as to not put too many off-topic posts on this one).

I just read the fire shrimp link you sent me and it ye survival rate is only .1%? That seems way too low

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

I just read the fire shrimp link you sent me and it ye survival rate is only .1%? That seems way too low

The survival rate is 12.7 ± 0.1% to 18.35 ± 0.15%; so anywhere from 12.6% on the low end to 18.5% on the high end for survival.

 

[darkside7747]

The survival rate is 12.7 ± 0.1% to 18.35 ± 0.15%; so anywhere from 12.6% on the low end to 18.5% on the high end for survival.

Oh alright perfect have you ever raised or attempted fire shrimp?

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

Oh alright perfect have you ever raised or attempted fire shrimp?

Unfortunately, no. I can try and help if you run into difficulties or have questions, but I don't have the hands-on experience here, so I definitely have some blind spots.

 

[manzoherz]

Good morning! With my latest hatch of clownfish I've had a lot more success so far with around 40 alive at day 14 and everyone developing nice striping. I'm going to now move them to a grow out tank as the ammonia control is too challenging in the fry tank. But my concern is, that despite trying to feed them TDO-A and then TDO-B1 and whilst some of them nibble at it, the majority just ignore it in the water. I still have rotifers in the fry tank but when I move them to the grow out tank I do not want to have rotifers in there. If I'm not seeing them eat the powder, is it too risky to move them into a grow out tank with no rotifers, or will they very quickly adapt to the powder once rotifers are no longer all around them?