Afboundguy's breeding journey...

[afboundguy]

New massive air pump!!! Reviews said it was loud which it is if you have it turned way down or try running just one line but 2 or more lines it's quiet enough. Not as quiet as my small 5-10 gallon whisper air pump was but pretty sure quieter than 3-4 of the 5-10 gallon whisper air pumps!

 

[afboundguy]

Had a rare Town-wide power loss a few days ago and the battery backup for the return pump worked but I was worried about my phyto and pod cultures going without air for too long especially if it happened while I was at work and couldn't hook up generator. Luckily power came back on in 10-15 minutes.

But got mw thinking so I ordered a small UPS on amazon for $50 and then that night my work was throwing out a "broken" UPS and they said I could take it. I spent about $60 on a way larger battery and when the amazon UPS came yesterday and I went to return it I got the random "all set keep it and we'll refund it anyways" message!!!

Charged it last night and hooked it up to the phyto and pod airpumps and lights!

 

[GiannisK]

Had a rare Town-wide power loss a few days ago and the battery backup for the return pump worked but I was worried about my phyto and pod cultures going without air for too long especially if it happened while I was at work and couldn't hook up generator. Luckily power came back on in 10-15 minutes.

But got mw thinking so I ordered a small UPS on amazon for $50 and then that night my work was throwing out a "broken" UPS and they said I could take it. I spent about $60 on a way larger battery and when the amazon UPS came yesterday and I went to return it I got the random "all set keep it and we'll refund it anyways" message!!!

Charged it last night and hooked it up to the phyto and pod airpumps and lights!View attachment 210256View attachment 210257

I use the same one (or one size up, can't remember) as a battery backup on my tank. People talk about how they're not good enough because of the massive battery waste due to the AC->DC conversion. However, my return pump is AC, and only a couple of watts. It's calculated that this battery backup would keep the return pump (which creates some flow and oxygenation) for 6 or so hours. That seems well worth it to me.

 

[afboundguy]

I use the same one (or one size up, can't remember) as a battery backup on my tank. People talk about how they're not good enough because of the massive battery waste due to the AC->DC conversion. However, my return pump is AC, and only a couple of watts. It's calculated that this battery backup would keep the return pump (which creates some flow and oxygenation) for 6 or so hours. That seems well worth it to me.

The larger one I created could probably run less things for several hours but the backup for the return pump is DC to DC and can last several hours as well. I might rethink what I have hooked up to larger setup and take some things off so it would last even longer especially when I add a larger battery.

 

[afboundguy]

Was going to set up the breeding tank today but then remembered it's always easier to paint an empty tank! I only had dark gray paint which isn't ideal but I like how it looks and if it's not dark enough I can peel it off and buy some black paint.

 

[afboundguy]

Set up the tank with the equipment I got from @Kens Bees and added a spare ATO I had kicking around. Set it up with a spare ReefKeeper Elite I had as well just need to do a little cord management!

 

[afboundguy]

Finally got the 3D printed larvae collecting system up and running and had it on the past few nights but the babies hadn't hatched. Went to check this morning and saw all the babies still on the rock.

Went to fix my acclimation box as I have a few fish coming today from @Cultivated Reef and as I was setting that up I saw some things moving around in the setup and saw a few babies! I have two baskets so I plan to capture the rest of the hatch tonight!

 

[afboundguy]

Well first attempt was a failure. The second night of hatching a lot made it into the 3d printed container but a vast majority were dead. The next day all of them were dead. My guess was the ones that were dead in the box from night two were killed due to how rough the air was in the tube and maybe because there was still some support on the interior of the tube.

So I bought a vossen trap and I will try that with the next batch in about a week! I also plan to increase temperature of the tank so hopefully the eggs hatch sooner as this last bath was almost two weeks before they hatched.

 

[Aquatic Nerd]

Another thing to try is gluing a small piece of tile where they lay, in-between clutches. Then just put it back after they hatch. That's what I used to do

 

[afboundguy]

Another thing to try is gluing a small piece of tile where they lay, in-between clutches. Then just put it back after they hatch. That's what I used to do

I tried that and they gave me the middle fin and started laying somewhere else! I ended up taking out the tile since they ignored it the past 2-3 clutches but I was hoping I could do that method!

 

[Aquatic Nerd]

I tried that and they gave me the middle fin and started laying somewhere else! I ended up taking out the tile since they ignored it the past 2-3 clutches but I was hoping I could do that method!

Bastards lol.
Usually they see the smooth surface and it's go time. That blows

 

[afboundguy]

Bastards lol.
Usually they see the smooth surface and it's go time. That blows

Yeah I was shocked they went somewhere else. They had been laying on the one spot since they started breeding again in the new tank and I figured they would have loved the tile! I removed the tile a few days ago but they still laid on the new spot so oh well!

 

[Aquatic Nerd]

Yeah I was shocked they went somewhere else. They had been laying on the one spot since they started breeding again in the new tank and I figured they would have loved the tile! I removed the tile a few days ago but they still laid on the new spot so oh well!

Good luck!
Please update us on how the trap goes!

 

[Seapets]

Yeah I was shocked they went somewhere else. They had been laying on the one spot since they started breeding again in the new tank and I figured they would have loved the tile! I removed the tile a few days ago but they still laid on the new spot so oh well!

Seems like they like to lay eggs, whatever spot they want

 

[afboundguy]

So my dumb clownfish larvae didn't want to get caught no matter what I tried and even the Vossen trap didn't work. I ended up breaking down the tank but just set it back up as a QT tank.

I have been doing tons of research on breeding mandarinfish as I have a pair that I believe is mated. I set up a Wyze camera to monitor the tank to see if they do the dance but they have been paying a ton of attention to each other during the day and are nice and fat!

I will be starting a Parvo pod culture as I have researched that their nauplii are the best size and nutritional value for the larvae. I did a lot of research on culturing Parvo pods as I kept reading they crash all the time. I reached out to some breeders after watching a few YT videos and got some great tips on harvesting and feeding just the nauplii and keeping density at a certain level so keep culture going strong so plan to do that as soon as RWU gets back to me about their cultures!

I already purchased some new sieves to be able to capture and separate the nauplii from Etsy.

I haven't figured out if I will plumb in larvae and grow out tanks into my current system of keep them separate but I want to give it a shot eventually! I already have the phyto and pod cultures just need to find tune the Parvo culture and then plumb in tanks!

 

[afboundguy]

After setting up the Wyze camera I noticed my display fuge light was on way too long and the phyto lights were on even longer! I adjusted them this morning and still need to adjust the phyto lights a bit more but I was watching back some of the recording and the male mandarin is definitely trying to entice the female!!! I am hoping once I fine tune the lighting the magic will really happen!

 

[afboundguy]

 

[afboundguy]

The first video he has his front fin way up showing off!!! Super excited and plan to watch the rest of the video footage tomorrow and only watched up until 8pm and the phyto lights go off at 9pm.

 

[afboundguy]

Been hit or miss with me checking camera footage but saw the magic event happen again last night!

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[afboundguy]

Looks like they spawned multiple times tonight. Appears to have been 2-3. First one was behind rocks but captured two other ones!

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