So basically you just have to get a pair and just wait for it to happen?
Also when I was reading though, the whole rotifer, phyto BBS ect confused me a little.
Could you tell me, in a simple way, what is cultivated and fed to what, if that makes sence, and also at what ages the clowns are at when you feed them different things?
Glad to know youll help me out in the hopefully near future.
josh
I didn't buy them with the necessary intention of breeding them, I hoped for it, but I was in no hurry for it to happen. I know several people who have gotten mated pairs and have had them mate again after being moved, so that's always a possibility to look into. Usually they "recover" faster and start mating again if moved with a clutch of their eggs.
If you get a younger pair, it can take as little as a year for them to become mature enough and to start mating. When they start to spawn depends on a variety of factors, it seems most importantly is nutrition. Also, some speculate they are influenced by lighting cycles, so having a more realistic cycle may help.
Onto feeding.
The first food the larvae receive is live rotifers. The actual rotifers are not the nutritious part, however, it's what the rotifers are eating that is good for the larvae so you are "gut loading" the rotifers. The rotifers are feed phytoplankton AKA greenwater (most people use the phytoplankton Nannochloropsis). The larvae are feed this solely for generally 5-7 days, and then NHBS (Newly Hatched brine shrimp) is introduced along with the rotifers. NHBS are not feed anything, because they are not hatched with a mouth or anus and therefore cannot. The yolk sac is the nutritious part of NHBS, so it is best to feed them to the larvae ASAP. I was trying to feed my larvae NHBS that were less than 36 hours old. I also started putting in some enriched flake food (enriched with zoecon) the same day as I introduced the NHBS, they were not very interested at first, but I think it helped them to recognize it as food.
I discontinued adding the rotifers at around Day 11; I stopped once I knew for certain that the smaller larvae were capable of eating the NHBS. From then on I feed NHBS and enriched flake food, NHBS 2 times a day, and flake food once a day. As they started gaining their stripes and completing metamorphosis, I switched to feeding NHBS only once a day, and flake food twice a day. The smaller ones are only now starting to eat the flake food, so within the next few days I will most likely be discontinuing adding NHBS and only adding flake food.
So to summarize
Day 1-5: Rotifers gut loaded with phytoplankton
Day 5-11: Gut loaded Rotifers, NHBS, and enriched Flake food
Day 12-Around 22: NHBS and Regular Flake food
Day 22+: Regular Flake food and perhaps some small/crushed pellets; once large enough I may also feed them some mysis.
Do you think you will keep boss baby?
Ever since the last clutch, she just always looks full of eggs. Her whole physique has changed. She constantly looks fat and pregnant now...
I forget how easily 3G of water and evaporation can quickly change the salinity... Needless to say I put in about 1/2G of freshwater, dripping in and the salinity dropped to 1.024-1.025.
