Babies!

[Sophie1213]

Hey guys,
I have a pair of picasso clownfish that I purchased about 3 months ago. I have noticed in the last week and a half that they laid eggs somewhere and they hatched last week. They are big enough to see swimming around. Not sure what they are eating. I have lots of pods, maybe those? I have pellet food and nori that I feed and also some elite reef blended food. I noticed that when I feed pellets the baby clowns pick up the pellets??? Is this normal? So far my tangs havent eaten them and my cleaner shrimp has left them alone too! Any advice? How long do they typically take to grow to a size that I can start removing them from the tank and rehoming?

 

[treyschafer]

do you have any pictures? it is very very rare to get fry from clowns to live in the tank with the parents with out constant live food, they will go through metamorphous and begin to look like actual clownish, the hardest part about wanting to move baby clowns is that they can be stressed out and die from a heart attack, i have attempted to move some babies at one month old and lost some due to this, the safest method to move them will be in some kind of a clear cup(being inside a net causes the most stress, I've noticed) and set them up in a ten gallon tank with a heater and a sponge filter, you can switch to a hang on the back filter when they get larger, when they are small they can still get sucked up into a hang on filter and thats no fun. If they are picking up the food it is probably because they are trying to fit it in their mouths or take chunks off of the pellet. Baby clownfish can grow rather slowly or quickly, depending on the temperature of the tank they are in, if it is between 72 and 77 they grow extremely slow, if the tank is at 82-84 they grow extremely quick. Pictures would be awesome if you could get some!

 

[JodiI]

do you have any pictures? it is very very rare to get fry from clowns to live in the tank with the parents with out constant live food, they will go through metamorphous and begin to look like actual clownish, the hardest part about wanting to move baby clowns is that they can be stressed out and die from a heart attack, i have attempted to move some babies at one month old and lost some due to this, the safest method to move them will be in some kind of a clear cup(being inside a net causes the most stress, I've noticed) and set them up in a ten gallon tank with a heater and a sponge filter, you can switch to a hang on the back filter when they get larger, when they are small they can still get sucked up into a hang on filter and thats no fun. If they are picking up the food it is probably because they are trying to fit it in their mouths or take chunks off of the pellet. Baby clownfish can grow rather slowly or quickly, depending on the temperature of the tank they are in, if it is between 72 and 77 they grow extremely slow, if the tank is at 82-84 they grow extremely quick. Pictures would be awesome if you could get some!

+1

It seems hard to believe that they may actually be the baby clowns. If so, they are the smartest dang fish in the (fake) sea! If you haven't already, you'll want to cover any pump intakes or overflows, as the babies are not strong swimmers. Though timelines vary, it takes anywhere between 6-10 weeks for the clowns to be large enough to be sold.

FWIW, my clowns also laid eggs and also hatched in my tank. Never saw any babies, as I assume they were sucked into the overflow and died. Clown fry aren't exactly easy to keep alive, so its super cool if yours made it on their own!

 

[Fourthwind]

Clown babies are the same size as Betta fry (which I raise). Some of the smallest of all fish species. Going to be hard in a community tank to raise them. The best bet would be to get them into a net breeder so you can target feed them until they are large enough to transfer to a grow out tank. Most fry can last a week with no significant food, but they will die off soon if they don't get some nutrition. Rotifiers are a good start, but likely at 1 week they are large enough to consume Baby brine Shrimp. SFO strain have the smaller shrimp.

 

[Sophie1213]

I am sorry for the bad pictures. These guys are pretty small. at first I really thought they were pods. Once I literally had my face pressed to the glass to see these little guys you could see they were swimming and not climbing around on the walls and they had a distinct tail attached to a small little round body. They stay in the extremely low spots in the tank and stay around little swim throughs or the corners. I have a tiger pistol shrimp, a cleaner shrimp, a hippo tang, and a yellow eye kole tang with the picasso pair. Not too sure what else could have made these little things. If it isnt fish oh well, but it would be cool for sure. If they get bigger or if i have a chance i will try to upload a video of these guys trying to pick up the pellet food. Anyone know where I could get baby brines in the lakewood/golden area?

 

[Sophie1213]

Sorry you can see a couple specks near the shrimp and overflow. Thank you for your replies. I am sorry to get back so late, I didnt see any notifications

 

[Fourthwind]

I have some BBS eggs, but you need a hatchery. Not going to find retail hatched baby brine. They are really only good for about 36 hours after being hatched, and then they have lost their nutritional value. I run two hatcheries alternating to keep myself in good food for fry when I have a spawn. Likely after two weeks you could get them on golden pearls, but like I said you will need to get what fry that are left into a breeder net to protect them.

 

[zinovate]

Watch these videos (3 parts) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aiOyupbi5sY This is 45 minutes of awesome material.
Tips:
You can buy rotifers from Aquamart, Call ahead of time to make sure they have some.
Buy Joice Wilkersons book (buy the ebook, printed copy is rare, it's out of print)
Don't raise Phyto, it's another fragile part of the food chain you'll hate relying on. Spend the money on RG Complete from Reed Mariculture. http://reedmariculture.com/ Warning, Shipping sucks big time, I'd do a group buy with you but I am stocked for the next 3-4 months.
Use a dedicated grow out tank.
Get inspired, you'll need it, This video from a local boy (Jake Adams) was inspirational for me. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EaJpUc-0eU0
Raising BBS is easier using a hatchery but you can make your own using less that a few bucks. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vc9ZuzCSepQ I had a hard time sourcing the rigid airline tubing, now I order it off Amazon.

To get the babies out of your tank, the first video show a method. I personally use this and it works like a charm. http://www.lightning-maroon-clownfish.com/?p=3401

Good luck. It's not easy.