First attempt at breeding

[pcmechanix]

I'm about to take a stab at raising Clarki's (eggs are laid). I currently have a 75gallon reef with a 15 gallon sump. I'm running an ETSS ReefDevil Deluxe skimmer (rated at 220gal), and have around 100lbs of live rock.

My thoughts are to plumb a 20gal next to the 75, using the same sump and central filtration. I would put a 300 micron screen on the overflow to prevent larvae and food from entering the main system. The 20 would be set up as a mini-reef, with live sand, macro, and some live rock. I have also considered keeping an anemone in it for the babies.

This seems to be quite a contrast from everyone else doing bare bottom tanks and water changes. Is it too elaborate? What problems will I have? Since I'm new at this, any advice would be appreciated.

(I am also in the process of setting up a station for growing micro, rotifers, and brine shrimp)

Thanks,
Sean

 

[Francisco Andrade]

Hi Sean,
I have just siphoned two larvae tanks, and you better bet you won´t be happy to have all those dirt water conected in any way to you display tank. Larvae tanks are heavily fed and there is also much uneaten food on the bottom (the reason to go with the bare bottom). IMO a bare bottom tank makes cleaning much easy, and a small tank (10 gal) makes water changes easier to do. At 15 - 20 days old, the babies should have totaly metamorphosed and then a setup like the one you described should be fine for grow out.
Chico

 

[Dman]

Sean,
Fransisco brings up some valid points, I swear clown fish fry are the dirtiest creatures in the ocean, you wouldn't believe how big of a mess a thousand well fed fry can make.
The feeding regime for growing out fry is way too intense to piggyback to an established reef system. Also clowns usually lay eggs every two weeks, so piggybacking systems can get really costly in the salt department, unless you have access to the ocean. Which I'm guessing you don't as Iowa is kinda far from any ocean.
10-20 % water changes per day on anything larger than a 10 gallon tank can get very time consuming as well.
Another option, if you have the room is to incorporate a centralized filtration system; feeding 4-6 ten gallon tanks and accomplishing some of the fitration that way, be it via bio-balls, skimmer, fluidized bed filter, live rock or any/all combinations therein.
Also, don't include an anemone for the babies, clown fry are food to anemones until after they metamophisize and the care required to maintain anemones is just another headache you can do without.
Are the clakrii's laying eggs on a removable substrate such as a pot? If not train them to.
And even before you try raising the fry, learn to grow rotifers, lots of them, more than lots of them, gazillions of them, without a huge supply of well fed rotifers at your disposal, rearing fry is an exercise in futility, I know as I'm finally getting a handle on raising sufficient rotifers; my success rate without adequate rotifers? Less than 2%.
Dman