My clowns got busy! Anyone here able to raise the fry?

[simontan]

I didn't even know they were dating, but Bill from Neptune's Cove and I just disovered that my cinammon clown and tomato clown are in the family way! Bill was servicing my tank and pointing out different sponges and other growth in my tank when we noticed what I had previously thought to be a patch of coraline algae. We shined a flashlight for a better look and there they were - bright little red bubbles just like at the beginning of Finding Nemo (hey, I'm a noob). I'd noticed the clowns staying close to the area more than usual recently, but I thought it was just because they decided to settle on one of my candy canes as a surrogate anemone. A couple of pics are attached.

Sadly, Bill says they look they'll be hatching in the next couple of days and gobbled up by the rest of my fish and inverts. Is anyone on here equipped to raise these guys up from fry to juvennile? Or will this be a regular enough occurrence that I should just resign myself to letting nature take its course on the poor guys when they hatch?

 

[GraviT]

Once they start, it should be a fairly regular thing. I'd love to raise them, but need to get my hands on some food. It also looks like they will be difficult to remove from the tank since they're attached to a piece of rock.

That being said, if I can get my hands on a rotifer culture and start raising food, I would love to have a try at the next batch.

Anybody have some rotifers that I could use to start a culture? I've been very interested in trying my hand at raising fry, even more so after the presentation at Next Wave. Unfortunately, my clowns haven't gone that extra mile just yet.

 

[rckrzy1]

I have some rotifers at an all you can eat buffet , as in they got into a batch of phyto and have been pigging out. I think they will run out of phyto shortly.

Your welcome to use these.

 

[simontan]

@rckrzy1 wrote:

Sadly, it looks like they hatched the other day and ended up being snacks for the rest of the tank. If they really do start laying eggs regularly, though, I'm intrigued enough that I may try to set up a little tank to raise one of the next batches.

 

[timthetoolman]

I've got a couple of suggestions because I'm just starting out as well.
Get one of these https://3kserver7.com/~frank/secure/agora.cgi?cart_id=8470577.13880*UI6Z32&product=CULTURE_KITS and practice with the cultures before you try to raise the larve.
Read this http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=135137 and/or get Joyce Wilkerson's book on clowns which is about $22 on line and she gives the same advice but there are some newer approaches that RC goes over.
Maybe one of the experts will chime in and say if it's sound advice or not

 

[timthetoolman]

@simontan wrote:

I think they'll do in again in a couple of weeks so place a tile across that spot so you can remove the eggs but don't be suprised if they stop laying eggs for a month or so if you change the home.