Can newborn clownfish fry eat cyclopeeze?

Answer 1

Maybe.

The most popular source for hobbyist answers about clownfish care and breeding is Clownfishes by Joyce D. Wilkerson. She gives an entire chapter to the requirements for culturing live foods, of progressively larger size, to support the fry through the larval through juvenile stages.

When hatched, clownfish larvae are approximately 3 mm in length. For them to feed, they require

* very small animals that fit into their tiny mouths * slowly moving prey that they can detect, track and capture * remain free-swimming (don't sink to the bottom or rise to the surface) * soft and easily digestible * can be easily cultured Wilderson recommends rotifers as the ideal first food for captive rearing of clownfish larvae, to be followed by newly hatched brine shrimp at about day 6 (or slightly later).

She does describe, however, some successes that have been achieved using non-live foods. She doesn't mention Cyclop-eeze* specifically, but does indicate that any substitute foods must be very small (100-200 micron range). Frozen Cyclop-eeze is, however, in the 750-1200 micron range (according to their websites: http://www.freezerbar.com and http://www.cyclop-eeze.com/product_info/12-21.html ). Using their dry "flake" variety would allow you to further grind the food to a smaller size using a mortar and pestle.

Newly hatched clownfish require excellent water quality. One disadvantage of any alternative to live rotifers is an increased need to clean any excess food from the rearing tank before it can decay; uneaten live rotifers will survive in the tank, providing a longer feeding period for the fish.

Tank cleaning, especially in the first few days of life, can be challenging since the fry are so small that any type of siphoning or even a sponge filter can easily "toss the baby with the dirty bathwater" (so to speak). A manual pipette, eye dropper, or small turkey baster will provide a more controllable suction. Tank cleaning is further complicated by the inability of the newly hatched fish to tolerate very strong lighting so even finding the excess food (as well as any non-surviving larvae) may difficult.

* Cyclop-eeze is a trademarked name for a (biologically engineered decapod) aquarium food product from Argent Chemical Laboratories.

It should be noted that Argent has also introduced another dry product called 'AP' (for 'artificial plankton') that is of a more appropriate size (50 - 150 microns). See: http://www.argent-labs.com/argentwebsite/feeds.htm Other manufacturers have also introduced new foods specifically for larval rearing.