Need Rotifiers please!

ChrisKey · Oct 10, 2013

I had a successful capture of my clownfish larvae so I am looking for a Rotifiers culture to put in the fry tank. Anyone close by have some Rotifiers I can purchase?

Also I need a very small heater for the 2.5 gallon tank. Anyone have a heater I could use as well? If I am successful in the slightest I will buy some parts but don't need to spend the money if I suck at it.

markkazdad · Oct 10, 2013

I have a small heater you can use. I also have a 5 gallon glass tank and several 10s if the 2.5 gallon is not big enough. (Not sure if you're intentionally going small there or not). I should be able to drop them by your house on the way to work tomorrow afternoon.

Tomoko Schum · Oct 10, 2013

I have rotifers. Just let me know what time you'd like to come get it.

If you are serious about raising the fry, you should get some Otohime A and C. These baby foods make a huge difference in their growth and colors. Otohime food makes it so much easier to keep clownfish babies. You can get them from here:
http://www.reefnutrition.com/otohime_apbreed.php
Hobbyists breeder pack comes with a variety of Otohime sizes. It lasted me a long time.

ChrisKey · Oct 10, 2013

Thanks mark. I have a 2.5 gallon for the fry and planned to move them to a 10 gallon after 7 days. I think the smaller tank is good to start so the tiny fry are more likely to bump into food. My 200w heater worked pretty well but I would hate for it to overheat although it seemed to work all night. Maybe if I can borrow it for just a few weeks.

Tomoko, I am only working today until 12:00 and I will head back to the other side of Huntsville. I could definitely swing by around 12:30, otherwise it may have to be later in the day if my wife doesn't have plans for this evening. Thanks for the input on the fry nutrition.

Tomoko Schum · Oct 10, 2013

I won't be home from work until 2:30 pm. Let me know when to expect you. Do you have my cell phone number?

Roughly how many larvae do you have? If you have many larvae, you can start with a 10 gallon tank filled only partially. You can add more water as they grow. I'd mix green water to the water from the parent's tank to keep them in to keep ammonia in check.

pickupman66 · Oct 10, 2013

Chris. what pair of clowns are laying? that is awesome buddy. I am waiting for my Black and whites to lay.

ChrisKey · Oct 10, 2013

It is my pair of Clarkiis. I wish it was the GSMs

I think GSMs are bonding now and hopefully will get some breeding pretty soon.

pickupman66 · Oct 10, 2013

way cool.

mine have been practicing and have a nice little nest dug in the sand, but have yet to Lay on the piece of terracotta I put in there.

Tomoko Schum · Oct 10, 2013

If you can find live adult brine shrimp, try feeding your clown with them. Something in the brine shrimp seems to stimulate them to spawn. It's fun to breed clownfish, but it's pretty easy to flood the market with them.

pickupman66 · Oct 10, 2013

I could probably hatch brine out but once they hit my tank water, they woudl be decimated by the other greedy fish I have. I dont want to move them to another tank either. the Female swims most of the tank but the male stays in their corner for the most part.

ChrisKey · Oct 10, 2013

I have my brine hatchery and my phytoplankton cultures set up. What I did one time is place a couple hundred eggs in a phytoplankton culture bottle and within a week I have a bottle full of adult live brine shrimp. So I filtered out the brine, reused the phyto culture and had the adult brines. I had no clue that would work but I have done it on 2 occassions and both times the hatched brine eggs grew into adult brines. I may do that with some of the brine eggs to feed to my GSM. I also need to get a terracotta pot put in the refugium for them. They have also dug out a spot in the sand.

ChrisKey · Oct 10, 2013

I will try to get with you tomorrow or Saturday Tomoko. It is a 35 minute drive from my house and my wife has plans for me most afternoons. I figured I have a day or two until they need to start feeding on the Rotifers.

Tomoko Schum · Oct 10, 2013

Clownfish larvae use up their yolk sacs within 72 hours after hatching. They start eating pretty soon after hatching. My larvae ate rotifers next morning. I was fun to watch them hunt for rotifers. The first 72 hours are considered the critical period. Large die off between hours 48 and 96 are likely starvation losses according to Joyce Wilkerson. You can minimize the loss to less than 10% by feeding adequate amount of rotifers. But be careful not to add too many since doing so can deplete dissolved oxygen and kill all larvae. The proper rotifer density is 15 rotifers per millimeter of water. You need a small pipette and a good magnifying lens to count them to get a good idea about the density.

ChrisKey · Oct 11, 2013

I sent you a message Tomoko.

Tomoko Schum · Oct 12, 2013

So, how are the babies? Are they eating rotifers well?

ChrisKey · Oct 12, 2013

I have seen 1 or 2 moving around actively eating them and others are swimming so I assume they are eating. I was looking this morning and counted 30 babies just scanning the surface. I am going on 60 hours (day 3) so I hope to see a little more activity. I think I initially had about 100 eggs and I estimate I still have ~50 alive.

Tomoko Schum · Oct 12, 2013

50 babies are more manageable to keep than 100. I don't know if you have seen my old thread about raising my first batch of baby clownfish (Suddenly eggs - Reef Central Online Community), but the first batch of just twelve babies required much less upkeep than later large batches. One fun thing I found with a larger batch is that they swarm into a tight orange ball. I know it is their defense mechanism, but they looked so cute to me. They greet you like a big swarm of orange bees when you approach their tank to feed them.

pickupman66 · Oct 12, 2013

Tomoko Schum said:
They greet you like a big swarm of orange bees when you approach their tank to feed them.

lol.... that's awesome. I can't wait to try on my clowns. Just need them to lay. They keep practicing. Kinda like me and the wife before our boys. Lol

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Tapatalk 4

Tomoko Schum · Oct 12, 2013

pickupman66 said:
Just need them to lay. They keep practicing. Kinda like me and the wife before our boys. Lol

Haha, that's funny. They may be laying somewhere unbeknownst to you if the male does not come out of their area much at all. It took me a while to realize that mine were spawning. I was wondering about the strange orange thing that showed up on my rock. I thought it was a small encrusting sponge or something (I am blind as a bad.) It kept disappearing and appearing again, getting larger each time. Then, they moved their hang-out to a more secluded place. I only noticed the eggs finally when my male stopped coming out at dinner time and I went over to check on him.