steve-s Posted April 19, 2006 Report Share Posted April 19, 2006 Hi Guys, I have just moved over to NZ from Perth, Western Australia and I am so pleased to find this site. I was concerned that my move to NZ would be the end of my reefing hobby. I have been into reefing now for just over 2 years and had 3 tanks set up back in Perth. A 20 Gal nano-reef, a 48x18x24 reef and a 48x24x16 shallow reef which gave a great top-down view. I have successfully bred & raised a variation of black ocellaris clownfish which can only be found in Darwin Harbour in the Northern Territory, (unfortunately quarantine laws prevented me from bringing the parents with me), but my corals were my passion. Breaking down my tanks was the most heartbreaking part of our move. I am now planning to set up a small nano over here before the withdrawals kick in and will be looking for advice on where to go to get equipment and livestock so any help would be greatly appreciated. Here is a pic of my old nano back in Perth: Cheers, Steve Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pegasus Posted April 19, 2006 Report Share Posted April 19, 2006 Real nice of you to join us Steve.. Welcome to New Zealand Lots of interest here in the Saltwater section, so you should find lots to read and perhaps find a few local contacts. Must have been shattering to leave your gear behind.. but hopefully you will be soon licking the salt off your fingers as you set up again Fantastic pic BTW. Bill. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LYNDYLOO Posted April 19, 2006 Report Share Posted April 19, 2006 Hi steve-s, WeLcome to the FNZAS Forums, great to have you here, you will meet lots of wonderful people here, full of knowledge about Fish Keeping, and only to Happy to help with any questions you may have. Must have been really hard for you to Break down your Tankies, my that is one Pretty Pikky you got there. Hope all goes well and you are getting into the swing of life in little old NZ. Good Luck with your New Tank setup. :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: Lynda Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trinity Posted April 20, 2006 Report Share Posted April 20, 2006 Hi Steve Welcome to the forum :bounce: :bounce: Sorry you had to leave your black ocellaris clownfish parents behind as they are in great need over here in NZ. I oneday would love to go into breeding clownfish, hopefully I can get some knowledge off you for this. Is that one of your clowns as your aviator? Eve Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fay Posted April 20, 2006 Report Share Posted April 20, 2006 Nice to have you on board Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steve-s Posted April 20, 2006 Author Report Share Posted April 20, 2006 Thanks guys for the warm welcome. Is that one of your clowns as your aviator? Yes Eve, that's the mummy clown as my avatar nuzzling down in it's host anemone (stychodactyla gigantea). I am on a 3 year contract over here with work so I have some friends babysitting them for me, hopefully if/when I return I will get them back. I am in the process of writing an article on clownfish breeding for the reefpedia which is a wikipedia based reefing resource affiliated with the forum I frequented back in Australia called Reefing The Australian Way so I would be more than happy to share my experiences with anyone keen to breed clowns (not that I would consider myself an expert by any stretch). Cheers, Steve Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mustcooktea Posted April 20, 2006 Report Share Posted April 20, 2006 Welcome along! Sorry you had to leave your beautiful tanks behind. Hope you enjoy your time in NZ! MCT Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caper Posted April 23, 2006 Report Share Posted April 23, 2006 Hi Have fun here...the people are awesome...I'd be lost without them...and so would my fish :-? Take care, Caper Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caryl Posted April 24, 2006 Report Share Posted April 24, 2006 Hi Steve and welcome. Sorry for the late reply but I have been away for 12 days with no Net access except for being able to quickly download emails to stop the mailbox filling. Only about 650 emails to go through now. Hate to think how many there would have been without the spam filters! I am editor of the FNZAS Aquarium World magazine and am always on the lookout for items of interest and articles. If you would be willing to send me articles I would love you forever . Especially marine ones as I do not keep marines and know little about them. The marine keepers here don't seem to want to help Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steve-s Posted April 25, 2006 Author Report Share Posted April 25, 2006 Hi Caryl, I would love to share the article with you when it is completed, I'd have to check it out with my fellow reefpedia editors first though as the reefpedia uses something called copyleft and I have to admit to not being sure of the implications of reproducing any of it's material (even if I was the original author). Unfortunately the draft is on the hard drive of my desktop pc buried in the middle of a 40ft sea container which is somewhere between Western Australia and New Zealand currently. As I was about 70% completed I am somewhat reluctant to start again (and really regretting not loading it onto the laptop before everything got packed) but I will be straight into it when it gets here (probably another 4 weeks yet). I'll keep you posted (no pun intended). Cheers, Steve Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
suphew Posted April 25, 2006 Report Share Posted April 25, 2006 welcome steve, nice to have another reefer in Wlg there are 5-6 of us locally, im about 20 minutes away from you. couple of us have gotten close to breeding clowns, mine have just started laying again after a tank move, but we have problems getting rotifers in NZ which makes breeding pretty hard Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caper Posted April 25, 2006 Report Share Posted April 25, 2006 I have been away for 12 days I was wondering where you were Caryl Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steve-s Posted April 26, 2006 Author Report Share Posted April 26, 2006 =we have problems getting rotifers in NZ which makes breeding pretty hard Ah, tricky. I had very limited success with just naupili, I found I could get some larvae onto them around day 5, the stronger of the larvae could make it to day 5 without any nourishment apart from their original egg sac. This could only be achieved in very limited numbers though, ie 2 or 3 survivors to metamorphasis out of a hatch of 200-300. I also tried rotifer-sized golden pearls but due to their lack of movement the larvae show little interest in them. I found generally universities were a good place to look for rotifers back in Aust, have you tried this option? Cheers, Steve Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skippy Posted June 7, 2006 Report Share Posted June 7, 2006 Hi Steve Welcome to the site (a bit late but better than never!) I've got a pair of fire clowns (red saddlebacks) that are laying eggs and being very stroppy to boot. would be interested in anything you (or anyone else) can pass on about getting the eggs from, well, eggs and into fish! I'm probably not set up for breeding them but it would be interesting to find out what is involved Cheers Skippy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steve-s Posted June 10, 2006 Author Report Share Posted June 10, 2006 Hi Skippy, The book 'Clownfishes' by Wilkerson is somewhat of a bible of Clownfish breeding. I got my copy from Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1890087041/sr=8-1/qid=1149938303/ref=pd_bbs_1/102-3262136-1745704?%5Fencoding=UTF8 I would certainly recomend it, as it contains a lot of information on different species, my experience has been limited to ocellaris and whilst the general process is the same in most cases, things like larval periods etc varies by species. My experiences were documeted at the time in a reefing forum I used to frequent back in Aust and can be found here: http://www.masa.asn.au/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=156692 A thread which I never got around to updating very often ( especially after finding out we would be moving to NZ) so it's not quite the full story but you'll get the idea. I still need to spend some time on the half-finished article I have promised before but I have been very busy lately at work (new job,new country etc) but I'll get there eventually. Cheers, Steve Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skippy Posted June 11, 2006 Report Share Posted June 11, 2006 Cheers Steve Will have a look when I get the chance to. Thanks for the advice. Finally tracked an anenome yesterday (not to easy to get up in Northland) so my clowns are making fools of themselves in it at the moment Cheers again Skippy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trinity Posted June 11, 2006 Report Share Posted June 11, 2006 my clowns are making fools of themselves in it at the moment Cheers again Skippy :lol: :lol: It is so much fun to watch clowns playing in Anemones. I remember when I got my first pair of clowns and didn't have an anemone. They would just swim in one spot and looked a bit lost :roll: When I got an anemone for them, they didnt even wait for it to be in the tank fully they launched into as I was placing the rock that came with it. Same thing happened with my maroon and its anemone (didnt come with a rock this time) as I was trying to find a nice rock for it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skippy Posted June 11, 2006 Report Share Posted June 11, 2006 My clowns laid a new set of eggs again this afternoon. It was the first time that I have actually seen them doing it (felt like a bit of a voyeur actually :oops: is it wrong to watch :roll: Actually quite a cool thing to watch. It is a shame it will all be a waste of time for them but they seem happy enough :lol: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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