Fish 'N' Chips
A Monthly Marine Newsletter
May 2002 Issue

Index

From Liz
By Elizabeth M. Lukan 5/31/02

Nearly 90 to go - Yes, that's 90 and what are we talking about you ask? Email messages, of course. Yup, I'm that behind, but at least all my messages are from the year 2002 which is more than I could have said a couple of weeks ago! Now, if you've written me, a reply will come ... eventually!

Showcase Submission Needed! Remember to keep those submissions coming. I need photos of tanks, your favorite critters, etc.

Visit This Month's Subscriber's Tank Showcase: Ian Harris' T. maxima and Corals are this month's Showcase and can be seen at http://www.marinefiends.com/tankshowcase.html.

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Critter Corner
Breeding Clarkii Clownfish - Part 2
By Hennie Landman
By Elizabeth M. Lukan 5/31/02

Hatching:

According to the experts, the eggs take from 6 to 15 days to hatch, depending on the temperature. My eggs hatched as regular as clockwork on the evening of the seventh day. During the last day, the eggs change from a reddish brown to a silvery colour. This is a positive indication that the eggs are due to hatch that evening.

All the power heads and external filters should be stopped the evening of the hatching. Just before the last light goes out, one should also stop the sump return pump. After lights out, one should check on the tank every 15 minutes or so, using a red filter in front of a torch (Editor's Note: aka flashlight). About 1-2 hours after total darkness, the eggs hatch, all within a few minutes of each other. At this stage, one should switch on a dim exterior light, just to make it easier to work in the tank. Then, use a bright torch (without filter), and shine the light into the tank at a place convenient to catching the fry. All the hatched fry will immediately start to swim towards the light, and congregate in great masses just below the water surface. It's then a simple thing to scoop them up into a shallow bowl (or even a large soup ladle). The fry should then be transferred to the rearing tank, and gently released by immersing the bowl below the water surface. Care should be taken to ensure as little current and turbulence as possible while doing this, as the newly hatched fry are very delicate.

The first few days:

In nature, the fry would swim to a depth of a several meters below the surface. Being confined to a much shallower tank, they still try to swim away from the light, and will end up "standing" on their heads on the bottom of the tank. This stress will cause them to die within the first day or two. The rearing tank should thus be kept in total darkness for the first 24-36 hours. Thereafter, the light intensity should be GRADUALLY increased over a period of four to six days, ending with the full power of one 20-30W NO fluorescent lamp. This can be achieved by covering the tank's top with a cover glass, on which one places two portions of dark cardboard. After the initial 36 hour's darkness, one can move the cardboard sections slightly away from each other, thus increasing the "light gap." During this period, the fry should remain free-swimming in the center of the tank. Any tendency to "head stand" should be enough indication that the light intensity is too high.

The Rearing Tank:

The rearing tank should ideally be a 7-10 gallon (20-40 liter) tank. The bottom and sides should be painted a dull black, or covered with tight fitting matt black cardboard sheets. (In nature, the light only shines from above, and the fry orientate themselves accordingly. Even the slightest bit of light shining through a side panel will cause the fry to cluster around it, trying to swim through the glass. In doing this, they miss out on food, and invariably die). There should be no substrate, and the heater's pilot light should also be covered (or painted over), else the fry will cluster around the heater.

There should be no filtration in the tank until the fry are at least 3 weeks old. Water movement in the tank should be accomplished by one or two airlines, discharging air from the bottom. During the first 3-4 days air should be pumped through the lines without using an air stone, as the small bubbles tend to "capture" the fry, and cause them to float on the water's surface. This is a sure way to kill them.

Just allow VERY GENTLE aeration, like one or two bubbles per second!

The Clownfish cleaning a possible spawning site on the glass.

The Clownfish guarding their eggs.

To Be Continued.

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/.

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What's Up @ Reefs UK
- http://www.reefsuk.org -
By Elizabeth M. Lukan 5/31/02

5/3/02:

• Reefs UK are pleased to announce that Calico Aquatics in Penrith Cumbria are the latest member to join the Coral Farm Partnership Program.
• Reefs UK has added a live Chat Room to their list of services offered.
• Reefs UK continues to promote swapping or selling your propagated corals with other hobbyists. You can register your corals in the Coral Farm Partnership Program for free.
• Calico Aquatics, the newest member of the Coral Farm Partnership Program, has also announced that they will pay hobbyists for their propagated corals or will provide aquarium equipment in exchange.
• Reefs UK are currently working on a new layout for their website to make finding articles and other features more easily. They will also be updating some of the articles and will hopefully be adding some more. The new layout should be ready in approximately a month.

To join the Reefs UK Mailing List, send an email to post@reefsuk.org.
To join 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.

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Caught In The Net
By Elizabeth M. Lukan 5/31/02

New Stuff Found

On Advanced Aquarist's Online Magazine (http://www.advancedaquarist.com/:

• Volume 1, Issue 5 is now available.

On AquaServe Aquarium Publications (http://www.aquaserve.com/):

• Community/Articles: A Good Use for Aiptasia Anemones by Anthony Calfo (from Book of Coral Propagation)
• Community/Articles: Algae Control FAQ sheet By Duane Clark
• Community/Articles: An Introduction to Coral Farming In Greenhouse Operations by Anthony Calfo (from Book of Coral Propagation)
• Community/Articles: Buying a Better Fish by Shawn Prescott
• Community/Articles: Keeping Dwarf Seahorses (Hippocampus zosterae) by Alisa Abbot
• Community/Articles: Making Live Sand printed with permission of Albert Thiel
• Community/Articles: Phytoplankton and the Corals Who Love Them by Anthony Calfo (from Book of Coral Propagation)
• Community/Articles: Using Cement to make Live Rock in Creative Shapes

Reef Central's (http://www.reefcentral.com/) Reefkeeping Magazine (http://reefkeeping.com/):

• May 2002 - Volume 1, Issue 4 is now available.

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Marine News
By Elizabeth M. Lukan 5/30/02

5/23/02 - Queensland, Australia: In a survey aimed at helping unravel the implications of global warming for reef management, the most comprehensive aerial survey ever conducted of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park, showed that coral bleaching may be the worst on record. The entire news release can be found at http://ens-news.com/ens/may2002/2002-05-23-01.asp.

5/28/02 - DC, USA: An underwater expedition that began last Thursday will explore the sea life around hydrothermal vents near the Galapagos islands. The entire news release can be found at http://ens-news.com/ens/may2002/2002-05-28-09.asp#anchor7.

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Chips...er...Tips
Ridding Your Tank of Cyanobacteria - Part 2
By Steve McLeod 4/12/02
Edited By Elizabeth M. Lukan 5/31/02

Further to the April 2002 Tip, Ridding Your Tank of Cyanobacteria by Jason and Tera Chavez, Steve McLeod, an Australia based reefer submitted the following:

"In this article the author states that your Ph should be high and it is bold letters so as to reinforce it, I think that it should read that your Ph is maybe 8.1 to 8.4 or some thing like that so that people don't go raising their Ph to levels that will cause harm to the tanks inhabitants. Not trying to be pedantic but to the uneducated it could easily be taken the wrong way."

Editor's Comments:
The above tip was submitted by Steve McLeod. My editing was limited to checking spelling and grammar and putting it into the Fish 'N' Chips format.

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.

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Upcoming Events
By Elizabeth M. Lukan 5/31/02

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.

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Prove It!, a Bibliography
By Elizabeth M. Lukan 5/31/02

Article: Marine News

• Environment News Service, http://ens-news.com/

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