false perc breeding questions

balashark21

Member
i plan to breed false percs in the tank i am getting.
1:what will the babys eat?? can i grow it in a q tank i plan to keep the babys in or is it store bought?? if i can grow it what does it look like??(pics??)
2:i know they lay there eggs and i am gonna seperate them in a q tank, i plan on getting the 30-90 Reef Package for cleanup crew and was wondering if i was gone @ school and they layed the eggs, would any of the crabs or shrimp eat the eggs??? just wondering.
i also plan to keep a pigmy angelfish and a firefish goby in that tank and maby some damsels later(but probably not enough space. i will be adding some ricordia, maby a brain and wayy wayy later a galaxia anemone
 

bdhough

Active Member
You have to seperate the fry at least into their own tank. The parents will guard the eggs with their life. Once the fry are hatched they need a liquid fry feeder. Most lfs carry some form of it. Look around for it. I don't know if zooplankton is to big for them though. You could try that. If a hermit or shrimp can get past the parents to the eggs then yes they will eat them. They will also eat the fry as they hatch and start to swim around. So will your other fish since they can't distinguish them from brine shrimp. SO yes you will need to find some way to seperate them. If you really want to breed them i suggest getting them their own private tank that you meticulously take care of.
 
Try rotifer culters for the frys first food, then move to brine shrimp after about a week and a half, then slowly start flake food.
The parints will gaurd the eggs and if they are pushed to they may kill other fish that continue to invade there space. The can get very territorial.
HTH
 

bang guy

Moderator
The eggs will be guarded by the parents (yes, they have teeth). If you have agressive fish, like a Dominoe Damsel, that constantly harass the parents then they simply won't lay eggs instead of dying trying to protect them.
8 or so days later the eggs hatch a couple hours after darkness decends on the tank.
Typical first foods for the larvae are algae fed Rotifers. The rearing tank needs to be saturated with rotifers for the first 4 - 6 days. They can eat baby brine shrimp after that.
Rotifers need to be fed a LOT of single celled algae to maintain densities high enough to keep Clown larvae from starving. For this reason they can't be grown in the same tank as the fry.
The algae is vulnerable to crashes and required high nutrient levels to maintain densities high enough to keep Rotifers from starving. For this reason they can be grown in the same tank as Rotifers.
 

balashark21

Member
hmm what are rotifers?? here is my plan for a breeding tank:
30 gallon tank
10 lbs ls
30 lbs argonite caribsea sand
20 lbs lr
like 3 50 gallon bags of salt mixer so i have a stock up
protine skimmer (HOT)
powerhead
heater
then after cycle:
10 scarlet reef hermits
5 turbo astrea snails
5 sand sifting crabs
1 brittle star
1 ricordia coral(for clowns to host)
how does that sound??
 
N

newreefers

Guest
Pick up the book Clownfishes by Joyce Wilkerson and all of your questions and more will be answered. It is a great book, goes into detail for what you are wanting to do.
 
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