Babies Again!

Chelle's Ocean · 08-02-2010, 08:15 AM

My mated clowns have finally began to breed again, after having been moved from the main tank to the biocube.

I have noticed them in a cave the past week, and after looking all around- I can definitely see the clutch. The male is carefully and diligently working at the eggs.

What is the best filter to put in front of the filter wall in a 14 gal Oceanic biocube- so that the water still can pass through...but the frye will not?

I do not want to risk moving the clowns again- as they took awhile to breed since last move, and I would prefer to keep the frye in the biocube.

Is this possible? Has anyone ever done something similar to their cube?

Any ideas?

Thanks!
-chelle

adalius · 08-02-2010, 08:40 AM

I can't really suggest a size, but the theory is sound. You should be able to even zip tie some filter matting over the grates if you wanted to. Then you just cut the ties and replace the matting if it fills with crap.

jolson10450 · 08-02-2010, 08:47 AM

once they hatch i would sat turn your filter off. do a water change every day to compensate for it.

adalius · 08-02-2010, 08:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jolson10450

once they hatch i would sat turn your filter off. do a water change every day to compensate for it.

Given the Biocube design that would kill all water movement in the tank as it only uses one pump for everything. You could probably get by this with a small koralia or similar on low speed so they don't get diced. I'm usually pretty hesitant against raising fry in a display tank just because of how much stuff eats them that you don't think about, but they're so small they become bitesize for lots of things.

fishtal · 08-02-2010, 12:53 PM

Congrats! I do foresee a couple of problems with rearing fry in the cube... You won't be able to keep food density high enough without overloading the tank. I raise all of my clowns using the greenwater method and this isn't going to make the tank happy either, at a high density.

If you have to leave the eggs in the cube to hatch, I'd suggest siphoning out the larvae out after they hatch and rearing them in a simple 10 gallon tank.

vittleking · 08-02-2010, 01:16 PM

I have used an aquaclear sponge to put on the intake when breeding freshwater fish. I use a fillet knife and cut a slot inside in an X pattern and slip it over the intake. It works well to keep the fry out of the filter. As for the feeding issue, I used tetra tropical tablets http://www.tetra-fish.com/sites/tetr...id=1276&cid=28 They are almost powdery in texture once they dissolve in water, and they sink so you can drop them right into the group of fry. Not sure weather or not this is proper nutrition for clowns, but it worked well for my flowerhorn wigglers untill they where free swimming and able to chase down flake food floating around the tank.

jolson10450 · 08-02-2010, 01:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by adalius

Given the Biocube design that would kill all water movement in the tank as it only uses one pump for everything. You could probably get by this with a small koralia or similar on low speed so they don't get diced. I'm usually pretty hesitant against raising fry in a display tank just because of how much stuff eats them that you don't think about, but they're so small they become bitesize for lots of things.

i didn't think you needed flow for raising fry. ive seen people with a 10g tank with a heater and sponge pump and that is it. just do water changes daily.

like fishtal said though greenwater will most likely not work in your cube so a seperate 10g tank for them would be good.

$9.99 at meijers for a 10g tank.

adalius · 08-02-2010, 01:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jolson10450

i didn't think you needed flow for raising fry. ive seen people with a 10g tank with a heater and sponge pump and that is it. just do water changes daily.

like fishtal said though greenwater will most likely not work in your cube so a seperate 10g tank for them would be good.

$9.99 at meijers for a 10g tank.

You don't need flow for raising fry. You do need flow for everything else she has in that tank as it's her display tank.

jolson10450 · 08-02-2010, 01:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by adalius

You don't need flow for raising fry. You do need flow for everything else she has in that tank as it's her display tank.

good point. i guess the lack of details made me think that though. sounded to me like a pair of clowns was all that is in the tank.

adalius · 08-02-2010, 01:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jolson10450

good point. i guess the lack of details made me think that though. sounded to me like a pair of clowns was all that is in the tank.

Re-reading I might be wrong as well, she said after being moved from the main tank to the Biocube, but I thought I saw pics of her Biocube and it had coral and what not in it... If not I rescind my comment.