Clownfish breeding without culturing rotifers

[Hijinks_78]

I have a pair of clownfish that lay eggs regularly. I’ve always wanted to try to raise a clutch of them, but have been unwilling to do the work to raise the rotifers. My wife and I were talking about it again the other day and it got us to th8nking about how much it would cost to buy the rotifers to raise a single clutch. It seems like nowadays you can buy live rotifers much easier than years past, but I just don’t know how long it would last and how many bottles you would need to buy to raise a clutch. I would not have any interest in trying to make money or anything breeding clownfish and would be fine with taking a loss 9n the project, but was curious if anyone else had tried to raise a clutch of clownfish without culturing rotifers and how much it would likely cost to buy the live rotifers to feed the fry? Is it even possible or do they simply need too many? Thank you all

 

[Cdipasquale]

Culturing rotifers is the easiest part of raising clownfish larvae. Once you get them setup, they require very little of your time to keep them going. Keeping your larvae tank water where it needs to be is where the work is.
But..... live rotifers do seem to be much more available now so I'm sure you could make it work. Probably best to see if someone local is raising rotifers so you have a quicker source than trying to mail order. If you run out and have to wait 24 hours to get more, you larvae may all die.

 

[nick0206]

I have no experience in this, but I have a question. Will they not eat frozen rotifers?

 

[Hijinks_78]

I have no experience in this, but I have a question. Will they not eat frozen rotifers?

I’ve never bred them but everything I’ve read has said that Live rotifers are required.

 

[nick0206]

And further. Why exactly rotifers? I understand that they need planktonic food. I would also try, for example, something like reef roids.

 

[Kzang]

And further. Why exactly rotifers? I understand that they need planktonic food. I would also try, for example, something like reef roids.

My neighbor raises them. You need the live food. Once they get bigger after a month or two, he feeds them powdered food called first bites I think.

To put in perspective, your asking two week old baby to eat pizza. It isn't going to work.

 

[Hijinks_78]

Culturing rotifers is the easiest part of raising clownfish larvae. Once you get them setup, they require very little of your time to keep them going. Keeping your larvae tank water where it needs to be is where the work is.
But..... live rotifers do seem to be much more available now so I'm sure you could make it work. Probably best to see if someone local is raising rotifers so you have a quicker source than trying to mail order. If you run out and have to wait 24 hours to get more, you larvae may all die.

I understand that culturing rotifers is not overly difficult but I’m just curious what sort of options I have and what, if any steps can be skipped. There are only so many hours in the day, and square feet in my house...so much space is already taken up by reptile breeding, and fish tanks, that I want to make this as simple as possible. It seems that you can buy a 48 oz bottle of rotifers for around $20. Does anyone have any idea how many of these it might take to get the fish to an age in which they can eat easier to obtain food?

 

[Hijinks_78]

And further. Why exactly rotifers? I understand that they need planktonic food. I would also try, for example, something like reef roids.

I’m not trying to reinvent the wheel. Everyone I’ve ever talked to has said that Live rotifers are necessary, so that seems like the place to start. I’m not trying to go to the trouble to set up a tank for the fry and do all of this work to do an experiment with something like reef roids. I only want to raise one clutch for the experience, not reinvent the way clownfish are bred...

 

[Hijinks_78]

To put in perspective, your asking two week old baby to eat pizza. It isn't going to work.

Not cool! It’s 6 AM and now I’m thinking about pizza!

 

[Kzang]

I’m not trying to reinvent the wheel. Everyone I’ve ever talked to has said that Live rotifers are necessary, so that seems like the place to start. I’m not trying to go to the trouble to set up a tank for the fry and do all of this work to do an experiment with something like reef roids. I only want to raise one clutch for the experience, not reinvent the way clownfish are bred...

Raising clownfish is difficult. They will probably all die the first few times. My neighbor constantly has rotifiers growing. His clowns layba clutch every 2-3 weeks. Just research proven ways to raise them and don't change it because it won't work. There is no short cuts.

 

[The Aquatic Arsenal]

There are some breeders that don't use rotifers at all. They use BBS, but I do believe they have more losses then when using rotifers.

 

[Hijinks_78]

Raising clownfish is difficult. They will probably all die the first few times. My neighbor constantly has rotifiers growing. His clowns layba clutch every 2-3 weeks. Just research proven ways to raise them and don't change it because it won't work. There is no short cuts.

Thank you for your advice, but there may be short cuts...attempting to raise clownfish in a profitable way is very different than attempting to raise one clutch. Why are you so certain that buying rotifers will not work? This would be a short cut but seems plausible. Keep in mind, I’m not trying to start a clownfish business, or do it in the most inexpensive way...

 

[Hijinks_78]

There are some breeders that don't use rotifers at all. They use BBS, but I do believe they have more losses then when using rotifers.

What are bbs? Sorry for my ignorance. A lot of losses would be just fine. I’m not interested in doing it regularly or as a side business or anything. My wife and I just thought it would be a fun project to do for fun.

 

[nick0206]

I agree that is not easy. The question is why this is necessary. I understand that for the sake of interest.
I think that if we only went along the beaten path, we would not have had such impressive progress in our hobby.
I remember, about 5 years ago on different sites, when someone raised the question of keep goniopora in our tanks, many experienced reefers shouted that they should not be kept.
There are new diet like reef roads, and no one talks about it.
I will not argue with anyone, but I would try alternative ways.
Even 50 to 100 years ago, there was no alternative to breast milk.

 

[Peace River]

BBS = baby brine shrimp.

 

[Peace River]

The movement of the live feeds seem to be a trigger for the response of the clownfish fry. Please realize that some of us on this thread have bred a lot of fish so these comments are based on a fair amount of experience and research. However if you choose not to follow an established recipe then feel free to experiment and let us know the results so we can continue to learn together.

 

[nick0206]

Do you know why I got so fired up and love our hobby?
I always loved saltwater aquarium. For the first time, I accidentally saw a shop selling marine fish and corals. I was sure that it was impossible.
I asked the store owner what I needed for this. It was the year 2002. He said ... a minimum of $ 25,000 in my pocket to get started.
After that, I forgot about the marine aquarium for 5-6 years since I was not ready for such sums of money until I read one article about nano reef and realized that it was possible and not so expensive.
And all this thanks to amateurs and enthusiasts.

 

[Peace River]

Do you know why I got so fired up and love our hobby?
I always loved saltwater aquarium. For the first time, I accidentally saw a shop selling marine fish and corals. I was sure that it was impossible.
I asked the store owner what I needed for this. It was the year 2002. He said ... a minimum of $ 25,000 in my pocket to get started.
After that, I forgot about the marine aquarium for 5-6 years since I was not ready for such sums of money until I read one article about nano reef and realized that it was possible and not so expensive.
And all this thanks to amateurs and enthusiasts.

@nick0206 you make a great point that this hobby doesn’t have to be expensive. One of my tanks is an extreme budget build.

Can you please connect your thought above to the recommendation to feed live foods to clownfish fry? The suggest of a $20 BBS setup seems to be low cost, so help us understand.

 

[nick0206]

@nick0206 you make a great point that this hobby doesn’t have to be expensive. One of my tanks is an extreme budget build.

Can you please connect your thought above to the recommendation to feed live foods to clownfish fry? The suggest of a $20 BBS setup seems to be low cost, so help us understand.
[/ QUOTE]
It's not about the money. Not everyone has enough space for additional equipment. I don’t even have a place in a calcium reactor, so I dose with my hands daily.
I used to use the DIY installation for breeding BBS, and then feeding and growing them (for seahorses). It took a lot of time and space. I realized that this is not for me.
Find a place for an additional tank (albeit a small one) for fry, plus a place for breeding rotifers .....

 

[LadyMac]

The movement of the live feeds seem to be a trigger for the response of the clownfish fry. Please realize that some of us on this thread have bred a lot of fish so these comments are based on a fair amount of experience and research. However if you choose not to follow an established recipe then feel free to experiment and let us know the results so we can continue to learn together.

This is true for most fish fry. When raising bettas(any of the species) we start with live foods of an appropriate size. Splendens usually microworms then bbs. The larger can go straight to bbs. The movement of the live food triggers a natural predator response and most of the fry won’t touch the food of it doesn’t move. If it moves it should be food and therefore they snatch it up. Most people will train them to eat at a certain time and start to introduce powdered or other non live foods at the given times because the fish are conditioned to eat at that time. Then they learn that that is also food.