2012 Project #3: Little Fish

[melev]

I think the groups of four is a better method, especially if you factor in the chance of a runt growing on either side of the barrier.

In the pictures, I see one powerhead. Make sure you can provide adequate flow to the other side since you've got it screened. When I did a test for growth of macro algae years ago, I used identical powerheads in a divided tank to maintain equal flow & oxygenation.

 

[little_fish]

ya, i will be picking up one this weekend. The filter is just what i had on hand when I set the tank up.

 

[little_fish]

Small update,

I am switching the mixed food group from Elite's mixed food to Rod's coral food. Most of the pieces in Elite's mix were too large for the clowns and they wounldnt eat most of the smaller pieces because i think they were mostly exoskeleton. So in a bit of desperation, i feed them some of Rod's coral food and they ate like gang busters, finally. The fish are also being feed 3 times a day.

Also now that every one is eating reliably, I will be doing the first weigh in on Sunday.

Also the clowns are in two groups of 4, divided by size. The largest 4 are only being feed brine, the smallest 4 are getting the Rod's food.

Here is what is in Rod's coral food if anyone is interested: Shrimp, Scallop, Oyster, Clam, Squid, Brine shrimp, Frozen red cyclops, Fish eggs, Oyster eggs, Golden pearls (all sizes), Garlic, Selco, Astaxanthin (Haematococus pluvialis), Beta-meal (Dunalliella Salina), Spirulina, RO/DI water, Freshly harvested rotifers, freshly hatched baby brine shrimp.

 

[hurrafreak]

Everyone remember to be taking LOTS of pictures and to document EVERYTHING!!! We will need all of this information later!!

 

[spracklcat]

I'm very confused by your grouping. You should have two groups of at least 3, which you do. but you should NOT divide the groups by size, or source, or anything--the division should be completely random. Otherwise, if you feed big fish food A, how do you know they grew less because of the food? Maybe they just grew less because they were nearing their natural adult size? See, you have to limit everything to a single variable--food--and everything else should be the same (or as close as you can get). I'd number the fish as you have, then put the numbers in a hat and randomly draw them to make up who goes in which food trial.

 

[little_fish]

That is how it ended up because originally the two biggest clowns were with the two littlest clowns and were beating the crap out of them. So I switch the fish around and the bullying has settle down. I understand exactly where you are coming from but what would the point of this be if two of the clowns died due to lack of food and bullying? I can move everyone around again if you think its that important.

 

[little_fish]

Sorry, I really didnt mean to sound rude in the above post.

I have three options at this point:
1. Leave everyone as is
2. Re-arrange at random and hope bullying doesnt become a serious issue.
3. Put back in the additional dividers and go back to groups of two.

What would you advise me to do?

 

[mpedersen]

Sorry, I really didnt mean to sound rude in the above post.

I have three options at this point:
1. Leave everyone as is
2. Re-arrange at random and hope bullying doesnt become a serious issue.
3. Put back in the additional dividers and go back to groups of two.

What would you advise me to do?

Percs are far more aggressive...ocellaris might have been a better choice. If you can get 4 compatible pairs, that is probably the better way to keep them...so group each large with each small is normally how you'd pair percs...so that might be the best way to curtail aggression. 2 pairs get feeding X, 2 get feeding Y.

 

[little_fish]

Well, the groups of 4 that I have now are doing fine. No serious bullying problems. I also though percs were a better choice because there is less size difference between the males and females, to try and eliminate that possible issue.

 

[mpedersen]

do you have a reference as to where you determined that male and female percs lack a size difference? In my experience, that is far from the case.

 

[little_fish]

That is what Zooid told me, he breed this guys. It seems to be mostly anecdotal evidence from my googlings.

Here is one thread about this
http://www.reefcentral.org/forums/showthread.php?postid=13099620

 

[little_fish]

Also, I got these guys because i knew they came from the same hatching and had been kept under the same conditions prior to me acquiring them. I thought was just a bonus, but if you guys think that it isnt true, then i will try to account for that.

 

[mpedersen]

Hmm..that RC thread you linked to a) is kinda junky and b) never says they're the same size...just says relatively to Maroons, the size difference isn't AS pronounced. No, indeed, there is still quite a size difference between male and female A. percula,that I can very much assure you of. However, these are small juvenile fish...having them all as the same age from the same batch is indeed the right thing to do. But, there will be size difference caused simply by social pressure...that's standard in A. percula.

That said, you need to understand that juveniles are all "males"...you won't have a functional female until the percs are closer to 3 years of age. Still, the dominant fish are going to grow larger because they eat more food and dominate out the other fish. If you wanted to eliminate social pressure influence growth rates, then the best would actually be to keep every fish singly.

 

[hurrafreak]

2. There would then be another 4 month period for you to actually get the experiment done. This would also give you the opportunity to create your formal project, as well as your formal project packet, including pictures, reports, etc. This should take us to the end of June.

------------------The judges would then judge all of the final projects and pick the winner. The winner will NOT be announced until all of the RHM and MACNA details are worked out.

Sorry for my non existance lately, it's been nuts on my end!! We are in the last phases of ths process!! You all should be in the middle of your projects! The end meeting in June/the end of June all of the projects need to be finished!

 

[hurrafreak]

Alright everyone, I have some great news!! First of all, you should all have a PM AND an email in your inbox's, please respond to that PM and/or email and we can move forward with what is needed.

Second of all, because of the news from RHM that is contained in that PM and email, we are able to give you a couple more months to work on your projects . This is great news as it gives all of you the chance to be in RHM AND a couple more months to make sure the projects are finished. So now, the projects will be due at the August meeting. We are working on an exact date/place for the August meeting and will get that to all of you as soon as we come to a conclusion with the host. Thanks, and again, please respond to the PM and/or the email