A. leucokranos Fry Pictures

[jamesw]

Here are some pictures of my A. leucokranos fry at day 31. For scale, the black "thing" is a sinking aquarium thermometer about 1/2" in diameter.

The little guy is grubbing down on some Selco enriched baby brine in one of the pictures.

Enjoy!

James Wiseman

 

[Veng68]

Quite a feat since A. leucokranos is quite hard to come by. Do you just have the one fry or do you have more? Good luck with future batchs

Cheers,
Veng68

 

[Anonymous]

jamesw-

congrats!
8) 8) 8) 8) 8) 8) 8) :!:

(like to see the color development/progression, too!)

 

[Anonymous]

Nice, about how many fry do you have at this point?

Continued good luck raising them and looking forward to more pics as they color up.

 

[Minh Nguyen]

Great James. It does look like they breed true.
How many do you still have at 31 days?
May I put in an order for two?

 

[Mouse]

wohoo, congrats James.

Dont suppose you now if its been done before :?:

 

[JeremyR]

Looking good!

 

[SPC]

WOW, well done!
Steve

 

[jamesw]

Hi Guys,

Unfortunately, this is probably one of the most difficult clownfish to raise due to the fact that it is a hybrid. These fry have extremely high mortality which is probably why only one other person that I know of was able to rear them - Fernando at the Birch Aquarium at Scripps.

My results have been very discouraging. I have probably tried to rear 5 clutches out of the 15 or so that my pair have laid.

This most recent batch, I was able to remove the eggs for hatching and I probably had 100+ fry at hatch night.

After day 14, I had 10-20
At settlement, I had 4
At day 31 I have one.

Probably not worth the time and expense to try to keep rearing these, but they sure are cool! Any feedback on how to get better success is much appreciated.

Cheers
James

 

[reefland]

Even 1 is still impressive and a decent start.

 

[npaden]

Very nice James. It appears that the "cap" is already nearly in place as far as coloration goes. Good luck on raising the little guy and hopefully you will see better success in the future. I've had good luck raising my baby banggais in refugiums & breeders boxes that are inside the tank or sump and that way the water stays more stable and is less affected by overfeeding as a small hatchery tank would be and that has worked well for me. Banggais are about a zillion times easier to raise than clownfish, but it might be worth trying.

FWIW, Nathan

 

[eco-tropic]

James,

Great job. If your interested in a couple of suggestions on how to maybe improve your success rate send me an email. I have raised chrysopterus, nigripies, akindynos, sandaracinos, and a few others in a small, but commercial capacity. When we raised Amphiprion nigripies we had similar mortality rates. I was also wondering if you would be willing to sell me one of the nests? I invented a nest transport box in hope of collecting wild nests of Amphiprion mccullochi from Lord Howe Island. Never got the permits but the contraption works. Keeps the nest viable for up to 36 hours. If your near California I could drive/fly out and pick one up. Let me know either way.

Jeff.

 

[Anonymous]

jamesw-

wasn't aware that A. leucokranos was a hybrid.what are the 'parent' species?(anyone trying to breed those together?)

 

[jamesw]

Testing of the mitochondrial DNA for the A. leucokranos shows strong evidence that they are a hybrid. More information on this fascinating fish will be available in an upcoming article (I hope - if I can get it past our grueling editor and science editor... )

Eco-tropic: I'll put you on the waiting list to get a nest... You're right after Harbor Branch. I have gotten the clowns to lay on a piece of underwater epoxy that is easy to peel off their rock and remove.

For some reason they decided to lay their eggs all over the place this week. There are only about 20 on the epoxy and the rest are in a big line on the rock.

Here's some pictures of the next that my fry came from:

http://www.reefpix.org/modules.php?op=m ... all&gid=10

Cheers
James

 

[dizzy]

jamesw-

wasn't aware that A. leucokranos was a hybrid.what are the 'parent' species?(anyone trying to breed those together?)

According to Joyce Wilkerson A.leucokranos is probably a cross from the Clarkii Complex and the Skunk Complex. Clownfishes p. 65 Possibly A.sandaracinos and A. chrysopterus.

 

[jamesw]

However, they do breed true, so maybe we need to change our definition of species, eh? Welcome to the 21st century when we discover that all Acropora are the same "species."

Cheers
James Wiseman

 

[Minh Nguyen]

From the look of your baby. They do breed true. James, did you do the DNA analysis and write the article. Great. I am really looking foward to reading it.

 

[dizzy]

[

quote="jamesw"]Hi Guys,

Unfortunately, this is probably one of the most difficult clownfish to raise due to the fact that it is a hybrid. These fry have extremely high mortality which is probably why only one other person that I know of was able to rear them - Fernando at the Birch Aquarium at Scripps.

James I was just wondering how many of the A. leucokranos Fernando was able to raise and if they all bred true? I also want to add my congratulations and thanks for the tip on the removable epoxy as the larvae snatcher only has limited success. Joyce sort of leaves one with the impression that A. leucokranos have been bred before and that there is a lot of variety of colors and patterns in their young. Perhaps she was just speculating.

 

[jamesw]

Fernando's article on breeding these fish appears in the March/April 1997 issue of Aquarium Frontiers (Edited by Terry Siegel - who is now editor of Advanced Aquarist).

Perhaps we can get permission to reprint parts of the aritcle. I will certainly cite it in any future works.

No, it was not me that did the mitochondrial DNA testing, although I could do some w/ the help of friends. But why? This paper is pretty definitive.

Cheers
James

 

[eco-tropic]

Amphiprion chrysopterus X sandaracinos forms this fish. I have seen it with my own eyes while diving in Fabrina. I do have one pair that I have held out hope for. When Eco-Tropic was a functional business entity I did multiple experiments with trying to form the aforementioned cross. For some reason it ends in dead sandaracinos. The chrysopterus mating ritual is a bit different from other clowns in that it is a little on the violent side. Due to the small size of the sandaracinos they always end up mortally wounded. I have had one nest from this pair. They consumed within an hour and I was forced to move them a week afterwards. They have been settled for about two months and have been doing some heavy cleaning, so I am hopeful that a nest is on the way.