They hatched! (Ocellaris fry)

[James]

They hatched last night about 10pm. Looks to be about 50 or so, hard to count, no deaths yet. Still about 25 eggs in the main tank that haven't hatched, hopefully they will hatch tonight. Here are a few pics of them, water is a bit green because I just feed them their first Rotifers. Sorry about the photos haven't perfected my photo skills, and these guys are tiny.
I also attached a few pics of my modified nano/grow out tank. I first covered the over flow vent with a very fine mesh net glued onto a plastic lid, held in place by a plastic toilet seat bolt. Then removed the bio balls from the back and put in a 3" filter sock, held open and in place by some plastic egg crate.

[Poseidon]

Congrats! Good luck with the little guys!

[ghofmann]

Great job!!! Keep us posted on how they do.

[Reefland]

Congratulations daddy! The top down picture shows them the best. Please do keep us updated on their progress.

[scubadude]

Go for it James

[Cims]

cool $$$

[James]

Well turned their light off at 2 pm and left for work, got home around 10:15pm turned on their light and fed them their second batch of rotifers.
(Turning the lights off keeps them from moving around too much when there is no rotifers in the tank to sustain them, they burn up their food supply in their bodies pretty quick just swimming a short distance.)
Though we suffered our first losses 8 dead and 4-5 not looking too good , the others are mastering their rotifer hunting skills. Kinda funny to watch, at first they darted around, clearly missing their targets, now their mastering the "tail squinching leap" attack. By looking at them, you can kinda tell which are having success catching and eating rotifers, because they get this peanut shape to them, being the eyes and stomach.
10:30 pm now, will leave the light on for the next 2-3 hours while they feed, then lights out until tomorrow around 7am at which time I'll feed them again. Don't have to work tomorrow until 10 pm, so I'll have the day to monitor and feed them every 4-5 hours. I don't have any kids of my own, but I'm guessing this is alot like having a new born in the house, constantly feeding and monitoring, and not much sleep.
As for the other 25 or so eggs that where still in the main tank that had not hatched yet, well, I didn't get home in time before the lights turned off. They hatched alright, but probably fell victim to the filtration .

[Ninong]

You may want to leave a weak light over the tank for 10-12 hrs/day to imitate natural conditions. This would allow them to feed longer. Also, it might help to cover the sides of the tank with cardboard or something so that they don't injure themselves swimming into the sides following ambient room light.

[James]

Well 7:30 am (slept in a bit) on friday day 2. Woke to a few more casualties, death toll at 22 . Fed them 3rd batch of rotifers.

Ninong - I have all the sides covered in black contruction paper, hard to tell from my photos. Leaving a light on wouldn't do any good because I turn the filter on after 4 hours and any remaining rotifers get sucked up. Today they will get alot of light though because I'll be home all day to monitor and feed them every 4 hours. Hope my rotifer population can keep up .

[James]

Well bad news. Came home from work this morning to find all the fry dead . I'm thinking that I may have not changed out enough water. Hard to keep water quality up when you feed rotifers because your adding the green water to the tank with the fry in it. Some people suggest rinsing the rotifers in fresh water before adding them. Hard to do because they are so small.

Well some good news, the breeding pair in my main tank have laid new eggs, so in about a week I'll try again. Until them I'll read up and see what I can do better next time.

[Cims]

ouch

[EnronExec]

Wow... this is exciting. Can you take some pics of the mating pair and the eggs?

[Elmo18]

James, don't give up. I'm raising my first ocellaris batch as we speak as well. Only gathered about 22 fry, but still about 19 alive.

I've done Clarkiis, and GSMs already, and it seems like the Ocellaris are a lot more stronger, even though they can't swim well, bad swimmers.

If you describe your setup, I may be able to help in some way. I'll keep you updated on how mine is doing. They are on Day 7 right now.

Best,

Ilham