Clown laying eggs! Yeah!

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I had the pipe opening slightly above the water so that air bubbles carry the water up over the water surface and pour into the catching container. I don't think having it submerged will work.
 
Trying again tonight. So far I have seen no fry. I think my 2 pajamas cardinals and chalk basslet are gobbling them up. Also think my snagger design is faulty after Tomoko's last post. May have to work on that.
 
Tomoko Schum said:
I had the pipe opening slightly above the water so that air bubbles carry the water up over the water surface and pour into the catching container. I don't think having it submerged will work.
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So tube from entrance pipe to catch container at water surface. So air bubbles pull them up the pipe and across the surface of the water. Once in the container the bubbles keep them in.
 
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Not really sure what I am looking for, but I'm pretty sure all I caught was 2 brine shrimp. I gave up on the trap and decided to use my cellphone flash as a light and my coral spot feeding turkey baster. Turned off powerheads and return pump. Anything that was floating under the light and not floating to the top got sucked up. If they are clear tiny jellyfish like. I may have gotten a few. Going to look for a magnifying glass tommorow. If so much smaller than expected.
 
I'm excited to see if you caught any larvae.
Are the majority of the eggs gone? If so, when did they disappear?
 
Top Shelf Aquatics
The clownfish larvae are clear and tiny. Smaller than an adult brine shrimp. They hatch all at once when the light goes off except for a few strugglers.
Vosson's larval trap is expensive, but it works well. You can see how larvae and the trap look like in this video:
 
However, I think your snagger will work with a bit of tweaking. I got mine working very well to the point that I ended up with a huge number of clownfish larvae. I was glad that I had some practice raising them ahead of time by capturing a dozen of them with a tea cup. I raised them all for a good while in a large (aprox. 1.5 gallon) clear plastic container from which biscotti came in. Only when the babies became large enough (maybe like 1/2 inch long), I moved them into a 2.5 gallon glass tank. It's easier to keep an eye on the tiny larvae/fry watching them up close in a small jar and do frequent water changes with the parents' tank water (the reef tank water is kept clean with weekly or bi-weekly water changes back then.) Every morning I drained 1/2 of the water slowly using a 1/4 inch airline tubing and then added the same amount from the parents' tank water using the airline, placing another biscotti container above the fry's container. It was quite easy to manage because the containers were small.
 
I still see a quarter of the eggs. I assume my other fish are eating them as soon as they leave the parents zone. I put the pipe about an inch from them to reduce predation. Tweaking snagger, but also debating moving rock to a bucket just before lights out to see if I could get a few.
 
Top Shelf Aquatics
Parents are usually pretty good at fighting off predators. The parents also need practice to fertilize all the eggs. If there are some unfertilized eggs, they won't grow and the parents clear them off by eating to keep the rest of the eggs from develop fungus.

You can remove the rock into a separate container. Place a rigid airline tubing beneath the rock and let the air bubbles travel over and around the eggs to keep the eggs oxygenated and clean.

I prefer not to disturb the parents, but it's your choice.

How many days has it been since the parents laid the eggs? Mine typically hatched within 12 days.
 
How many days has it been since the parents laid the eggs? Mine typically hatched within 12 days.
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Laid on the 5th, so this is day 11. I was going on 8 to 10 days.
Do you turn off powerheads and/or return pump?
Going to tweek trap to sit at water level so return pump on or off makes a difference.
 

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I turned off my return pump and powerheads as soon as the light went out. You can have them off for an hour or two without any problem while you wait. The first time I got my clownfish larvae, I was waiting for an hour or so and fell asleep. By the time I woke up, there were only a dozen or so left at the water surface. My Bangaii cardinals were not near them. They might have been busy eating the rest in the tank.

You may be surprised to know that I occasionally turned off the return pump and powerheads off when I fed the tank in the morning and forgot to turn them back on till evening or next morning. The tank amazingly never showed any ill effect afterward. I don't recommend doing so, but you don't have to worry about turning them off when you try to get the babies.
 
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