Water Quality and Filtration:Fish 'N' Chips
A Monthly Marine Newsletter
June 2002 Issue
Index
|
From Liz Critter Corner What's Up @ Reefs UK |
Caught In The Net Marine News Chips...er...Tips |
Upcoming Events Prove It!, a Bibliography Newsletter Disclaimer |
Visit This Month's Subscriber's Tank Showcase: Paul Ferreira's 180 Gallon Reef is this month's Showcase and can be seen at http://www.marinefiends.com/tankshowcase.html.
Critter Corner
Breeding Clarkii Clownfish - Part 3
Edited By Elizabeth M. Lukan 6/15/02
Water Quality and Filtration:
To minimize the growth of bacteria, the rearing tank should be half filled with water from the tank containing the eggs only a few hours before the eggs hatch (the introduction of the fry usually fills the tank completely, with water from the transfer bowl). Of course, the water temperature in both tanks should be identical at the time of transfer.
After 24 hours, one should siphon off about 10% of the water, and replace it with "fresh" water from the main tank. Thereafter, do 10% partial water changes every 12 hours for the first 12 days, and thereafter every 24 hours. During this water change, one should "vacuum" the tank's bottom to suck up any detritus.
Feeding the babies:
During the first 24-36 hours the fry do not eat, but live off their yolk sacs. After this time, they should be fed Rotifers three to four times per day. The initial rotifer density should be quite high. It's been recommended to have one rotifer every 1.5 times the length of the fry (meaning that the fry would only have to swim 1.5 body lengths before finding food. After 8-10 days one should start to feed newly hatched Brine Shrimp, and feed this for the next two weeks, while slowly introducing pulverized flake food. After that, you only need to find good homes for your babies.
Cultivating the baby food:
Your first brood of clownfish will probably catch you unprepared, and the chances are good that all the babies will starve within the first 2-3 days. Fortunately, Clowns are prolific breeders, and you can prepare for a successful second batch by starting to cultivate Rotifers, (and the Green-water food for the Rotifers) as soon as the first spawning becomes imminent.
Although Rotifer starter colonies are available commercially in the USA, this is not the case in the rest of the World. I was fortunate to obtain some from the research aquarium of the department of Sea Fisheries, in Cape Town. You will probably find that all universities and aquatic research institutes breed Rotifers, and will be glad to give you some.
Rotifers eat single celled algae, such as Nannochloropsis, Tetraselmis and Chlorella, and without a sufficient supply, you won't have any Rotifers, and that means your babies will starve. Fortunately, starter cultures of these algae can also be obtained from the same source as the Rotifers.
Baby Brine Shrimp (Artemia sp.) culturing should start two days after the babies have hatched. This should give you your first baby Artemia after ~48 hours, just in time for the baby Clowns' gradual weaning to this food type, which should start on the fifth day after hatching.
The following links should take you to sites with much more information than I can give on this subject. I regularly make use of this information myself.
Home Breeder's Guide: an excellent guide by Dr. Rob Toonen.
Artemia: this article on Ozreefs explains the setting-up of a Brine Shrimp hatchery.
Reefkeeper's Guide: Phylum Rotifera: an in-depth article by Rob Toonen.
Brine Shrimp Direct's Home Page: This site, though commercial, contains good information on rearing Brine Shrimp.
 The Clownfish cleaning a possible spawning site on the glass. |
 The Clownfish guarding their eggs. |
Editor's Comments & Photo Credits:
The above article and photos are the property of Hennie Landman and have been
republished with his permission. My editing was limited to checking spelling
and grammar and putting Hennie's article into the Fish 'N' Chips format.
Please visit Hennie's site for this article, a huge collection of beautiful
photos and much more. Hennie's "Indoor Reef" can be found at
http://home.gardenet.co.za/landman/.
What's Up @ Reefs UK
- http://www.reefsuk.org -
6/5/02:
To join the Reefs UK Mailing List or the Reefs UK Chat
(Email Discussion Group),
visit the Reefs UK Website for instructions.
Editor's Comments:
Information in this section covers the latest happenings at Mark T. Taber's Reefs UK Web Site. Mark
has given me permission to publish any information from his mailing list that I feel would be of
interest to Fish 'N' Chips subscribers. So, the above, although reworded by me, should be credited
to Mark or to Derek Scales who works closely with Mark on the running of Reefs UK. The dates in bold
coincide with Mark or Derek's mailings and are provided as a reference.
New Stuff Found
On Reefs.org (http://www.reefs.org/):
6/6/02 - DC, USA: Oceana, a new international ocean protection group, submitted to the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) the first installment of 60,000 public comments demanding that the federal government enforce current laws designed to halt the destruction of ocean life. The entire news release can be found at http://ens-news.com/ens/jun2002/2002-06-06-09.asp#anchor8.
6/13/02 - Washington, USA: Denis Hayes told the U.S. Commission on Oceans during its Northwest regional meeting in Seattle that "We have long thought of the oceans' bounty as limitless, and of the oceans' capacity to absorb waste as infinite. We were wrong. Today, the oceans are in serious trouble." The entire news release can be found at http://ens-news.com/ens/jun2002/2002-06-13-02.asp.
6/18/02 - Queensland, Australia: Great Barrier Reef Marine Park officials say the conviction of three illegal fishers demonstrates the effectiveness of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority Enhanced Compliance Program aimed at illegal fishing. The entire news release can be found at http://ens-news.com/ens/jun2002/2002-06-18-19.asp#anchor6.
6/25/02 - DC, USA: The changing, warming climate around the globe is triggering unprecedented numbers of disease outbreaks in both land and ocean based wildlife populations in habitats ranging from coral reefs to rainforests. Ecologists and epidemiologists express concern over this rising trend in a new report in the June 21 issue of the journal "Science." The entire news release can be found at http://ens-news.com/ens/jun2002/2002-06-25-06.asp.
Chips...er...Tips
Placing your Tank with Cool In Mind
We always look to items in the tank (powerheads, pumps, lighting units) for the reason for our heat problems, but you can help solve some of those problems a little bit by thinking ahead when planning your tank's location in your home or office.
Keep your tank far enough away from a wall so air will circulate around it. Keep those items in your home that tend to heat up (electronic equipment like TVs and VCRs, kitchen appliances, lamps, etc.) away from your tank. Put your tank in a room where there is air movement. Another good place is in a room where you plan to run an air conditioner.
These suggestions won't entirely solve your heat problems, but every degree helps.
To Submit Your Tip: Send your tip via email to fishnchips@mindspring.com and I'll publish it in an upcoming issue of Fish 'N' Chips. I'll write it up for you or you can do it yourself if you are so inclined. Make sure you let me know if I can include your name and email address or if you'd rather go anonymous.
| Event | Start Date/Time | End Date/Time | Location | Event Details, Notes, and For More Info |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Reefs.org Logo Contest | now | 6/30/02 at midnight | Reefs.org is in search of new and innovative designs for a logo. Winner receives hat and T-shirt showing their design! Visit http://www.reefs.org/news.html for contest specifics. | |
| MACNA XIV: The 14th Annual Marine Aquarium Conference Of North America | 9/27/02 | 9/29/02 | Westin Beechwood in Fort Worth, Texas, USA | Info: Hosted by the Dallas/Fort Worth Marine Aquarium Society. Visit http://www.dfwmas.com/M14.html for more info. |
| International Coral Reefs Conference of Paris (CIRCoP) | Feb. 2003 New Dates | Paris, France | Info: http://www.circop.com/. | |
| Mandarin Survey | Jan 2001 | Open Ended | If you have ever kept a mandarin, please fill out this survey, even if it has died. Visit the Reefs.org website at http://www.reefs.org/. | |
| Aquarist Profile Survey | Aug. 2000 | Open Ended | Info: What is the profile of a marine aquarist? Visit the Reefs.org website at http://www.reefs.org/. |
To Submit Your Event: Send your event and all the specifics (date, time, location, pricing, contact info, etc.) via email to fishnchips@mindspring.com and I'll publish it in all issues of Fish 'N' Chips prior to the event.
Article: Marine News
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