Weak Clownfish Larvae

[Sebae]

Hi,

I have a couple of Coral Sea percula clownfish that are spawning but when the larvae hatch they are very small and weak and tend to die within 2 days. The only way I can save any at all is to feed them on Selcon enriched rotifers from day1.

I suspect the problem is related to a nutrition deficiency in the parents diet somehow but I feed them five times a day.

Has anyone else had a similar problem?

[Mikey]

Are you seeing full bellies at day 2?? As a rule of thumb, you should be feeding enriched rots from day 1 anyway.

Firstly, I'd take a step back and start at the beginning. Parental diet is very important in getting healthy eggs, which in turn will produce strong healthier larvae.

Before spawning (i.e in the 2 or 3 days the male should have in between broods) try twice a day saturation feeding with a good quality enriched brineshrimp. Either side of these, a high quality flake/pellet food, and in the middle something like squid/gamma fish/mackeral. This is if you intend to keeppa 5 a day eating routine. I would run this type of diet even during broods, but cut out the saturation feeidng of brine, and just feed a "normal" amount.

This kind of diet should provide all the fatty acids/lipids etc, to help produce healthy eggs. If the diet you are currently feeding now reflects the above already, then the problem would lay elsewhere IMO.

Are the parents (female most likely) stressed with anything at all in the tank, either generally, or at spawn time? If they are a new spawning pair?; they will need a good few month to start perfecting the procedure, and egg quality tends to be a little shoddy at the beginning.

If an established or older pair, could the female be coming towards the end of her spawning abilities??

Is your parameters within "acceptable" to "good" tolerances?

Sure others will chip in too, but my initial thoughts while half asleep.....

[Sebae]

Originally posted by Sebae@Feb 1 2006, 00:20
Hi,

I have a couple of Coral Sea percula clownfish that are spawning but when the larvae hatch they are very small and weak and tend to die within 2 days. The only way I can save any at all is to feed them on Selcon enriched rotifers from day1.

I suspect the problem is related to a nutrition deficiency in the parents diet somehow but I feed them five times a day.

Has anyone else had a similar problem?
Thanks for all the advice Mike.

No I didn't see full bellies on day 2, the larvae were very small and weak and didn't seem to show much interest in the rotifers at all. Most of them died on the first night but the remaining few have really picked up and have bulging bellies after I feed them. They are starting to get the first signs of pigment as well.

With the saturation feeding do you mean frozen or live enriched brine shrimp? I already feed them frozen Spirulina and Omega 3 brine shrimp and also krill which has a fairly high lipid/caretenoid content I believe.

I don't think the parents are stressed they have the tank to themselves although it is a bit basic. Its just a 3 foot tank with an external power-filter but no skimmer as yet. Water quality should be OK I can't detect any ammonia or Nitrite but the Nitrate level is fairly high at around 25PPM. They have been spawning for about 12 months now and when they first started spawing the larvae were fine.

Do you think the high Nitrate level could be a problem?

Cheers,

Bob.

[Mikey]

Hi Bob,

Sounds like the majority of larvae arent eating, and this may have something to do with the nitrate level. There is quite a bit of info coming out saying that elevated levels can lead to other problems, so it could be plausable, but I have no experience of raising larvae at high NO3 levels - maybe others can chip in who have, maybe even rule this out??

Anyway, it is usual to have a mass die off at day 3, if nutrition is a problem, so it could well be dietary without the NO3 being a factor.

When I saturate feed, frozen is fine IMO, but live is a great treat. Feed them as much as they can eat, literally until they can eat no more. Omega enriched by SFBB is a favourite of mine.

Cant see stress or age being a problem myself either.

Is your current broodstock diet as I described?

[Sebae]

Thanks gain Mike for all the great advice.

The current broodstock feeding regime is:

1-Total Nutrition Marine Flakes
2-Nutrafin Max marine complete food
3-Nutrafin Spirulina algae flakes
4-Mix of frozen enriched Omega3 brine shrimp, marine mix, plankton and mysis
5-Frozen Formula 1 and fineley chopped Krill.

Plus the occasion feeding of live brine shrimps.

I have another hatch due tomorrow night so I will see if the new larvae are any better and I'm :thanx: going to invest in a skimmer and some more live rock to try and bring the nitrate level down a bit.

The remaing larvae from the original hatch still seem to be doing well and they should move onto newly hatched brine soon.

Cheers,

Bob.