Setting Up a Fry Tank

thatdarndragon

thatdarndragon

Member
hey all.
Im getting into breeding clownfish (my female's getting ready to lay her first batch of eggs)
and I need the know-how to set up my 10 gal tank for the babies.. how do I get the water established.
I am a no0b, I got my nano set up with LR and sand, but Im unsure how to get the baby tank established without that.. just salt water, aeration and how else?
step by step please? :D
 
michaeltx

michaeltx

Moderator
try this link
here
you can also do a search for breeding clownfish and it will bring up alot of threads that will be halpful for you.
Mike
 
thatdarndragon

thatdarndragon

Member
Originally Posted by MichaelTX
try this link
here
you can also do a search for breeding clownfish and it will bring up alot of threads that will be halpful for you.
Mike

Thank you, Mike :) looks very helpful!
 
thatdarndragon

thatdarndragon

Member
To raise my clownfish fry I use a 5 gallon tank. All you need for this tank is some airline tubing, wood airstone, air pump and a heater. The tank is pictured below. The picture is a little dark.
The sides and bottom of the tank are painted flat black. The reason this is done is because it is much easier for the clown larvae to see their prey (rotifers) against a black background than a clear one.
You want to use a wood airstone to aerate the tank because you want very fine bubbles. The larvae can get trapped in courser bubbles and can be killed.
The tank needs to be vacuumed every couple of days because water quality is very important for these fragile fish. Since their is no filtration you need to be very vigilant about this. You can use airline tubing to vacuum the tank.
Some people believe that the larvae need to be kept in complete darkness, but there is no evidence supporting this. Just keep the tank under low to medium light. Do not use a flouresent light.

thats all that said about setting it up. I got that much, but I want to know how to establish the tank to salt water. Just add salt water and be done with it? How do I get it aged enough? Pretend I know absolutely nothing about getting it going for fish, lol.
 
michaeltx

michaeltx

Moderator
basically its going to be the same because the water needs to be cycled just like the regular tanks. by adding a ammonia source for the bacteria to grow if you dont cycle it then once the fry start to hatch and the ammonia will rise killing them.
you can use stuff out of your DT or sump to get this going though.
Mike
 
thatdarndragon

thatdarndragon

Member
I spoke to my expert LFS dude who breeds clowns himself, he said dont cycle the tank. just salt water aerated will do since constant cleaning would destroy the cycling anyway.
 
michaeltx

michaeltx

Moderator
well that depends on weither your going to due bare tank or not really and with a bacteria source its going to be once or twice a day cleaning. I was told the same thing when I was doing bettas and trust me they get nasty quick on top of that if any die without a bacteria source from somewhere its going to start an ammonia buildup in no time since they are so small to start.
Do a search for bang guy though he has raised clowns and has many posts about them.
mike
 
rabbit_72

rabbit_72

Member
We were trying to do the same thing a few months back (ok...many months back). We did exactly what the author of the book we have told us, and we continually lost batch after batch of baby clowns. I surely hope it goes better for you...keep us posted on how this goes.
We didn't use a cycled tank, like your lfs. I think major ammonia spikes may have been a factor in the demise of our eggs and babies. But not sure. I don't know when we will try again as I am pregnant myself and don't have enough time for baby clowns at the moment.
Good Luck!
 
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