Update to LiveAquaria Breeding McCulloch's Clownfish

McCulloch's Clownfish Fry

A few weeks ago, I was perusing the web and found this interesting story on LiveAquaria’s website: LiveAquaria Breeding McCulloch’s Clownfish. Well, during my ventures again, I came across the update put out by LiveAquaria.

McCulloch's Clownfish Fry Day 1

McCulloch's Clownfish Day 2

McCulloch's Clownfish Day 4

McCulloch's Clownfish Day 7

McCulloch's Clownfish Hatchery

06/16/09 UPDATE From Kevin Kohen:

Our McCulloch’s pair has spawned again! The sneaky pair laid their eggs late last week behind some live rock where nobody could see them. We had laid several tiles out in the hopes they would spawn on the tiles, but I guess the fish had other things in mind. Good news is we’ll be able to tranfser the rock to another aquarium for hatching, and we hope to cut down on initial mortality this way. This egg nest is three times as large as the first nest, and the eggs are bright orange, and look to be much healthier as well. We are down to a small handful of fish from the first batch, but they continue to thrive. We have learned a lot with the first batch, and are hopeful the 2nd batch hatches successfully.

06/12/09 UPDATE From Kevin Kohen:
We have put together a section with photos documenting the transition from eggs to larvae, day-by-day! In addition we’ve got pictures of Day 2 & 3 of the larvae, and detailed photos of our housing system for the larvae. So far we still have a batch that seem healthy and are eating. Please enjoy the NEW PHOTOS here

06/09/09 UPDATE From Kevin Kohen:
Good news! The main hatching occurred last night, around 10 pm. We suffered some minor mortality post-hatch when we transferred the larvae into 2 Kreisels made out of 2 gallon upright goldfish bowls. The Kreisels sit in a water bath to maintain a consistent temperature, and rigid tubing is used to create a gentle stream of bubbles to move the water in a circular motion through each Kriesel. This helps to disperse the rotifers and keep them moving to make it easier for the clownfish larvae to feed so they do not exert too much precious energy. The larvae are eating voraciously, and seem to be active and healthy at this point. We hope to post pictures soon.

06/08/09 UPDATE From Kevin Kohen:
Last night we had a small batch of the eggs hatch, and expect the rest will hatch tonight. The Larvae Catcher is working perfectly, and the batch that hatched last night are safely residing in a greenwater/rotifer rearing bowl. Stay tuned!

06/05/09 UPDATE From Kevin Kohen:
Thank you everyone for your compliments and support. This is a great feat for the entire marine aquarium community here in the US.

Our plan is to try to raise the larvae if they do in fact hatch, and have rotifer cultures and the necessary equipment ready to go. Being realistic, we are however in for a steep learning curve. I have spent countless hours researching any and all of the information out there on the trials and tribulations/successes and failures with this species, and other species with similar aggression levels during the different stages of metamorphosis.

We have a game plan that I hope will work so we will just have to be patient, cross our fingers, and hope things work out. All of us here are excited to learn quite a bit in the coming months! I have already started documenting the progress with the photography of the development of the eggs and will continue to do so. Regardless of the outcome we will prepare some nice photographs and hopefully some nice stories about our efforts.

Permissions and Sources:

© 2009 Drs. Foster and Smith, Inc.
Reprinted as a courtesy and with permission from
DrsFosterSmith.com (http://www.DrsFosterSmith.com)
Free pet supply catalog: 1-800-323-4208

Captive Breeding of the Rare McCulloch’s Clownfish (Amphiprion mccullochi)
Captive Breeding of the Rare McCulloch’s Clownfish (Amphiprion mccullochi) Updates & Blog