Wild Percula Clowns Doing Fishy Dance of Love?

[Pier Pressure]

Hi, everybody.

Last night I noticed that my two wild caught percula clowns appeared to be flashing and chasing each other. The smaller male was also shaking his body in front of the female. They remind me of my african cichlids before they started spewing out babies left, right and centre. Is this likely what is happening? If they have eggs will they have them in their anemone?

If I ever get lucky enough to get babies, would it work the same as the freshwater fish, i.e. I would have F1 clown babies?

Thanks for any replies!

[Der_Iron_Chef]

The male's quivering is its way of showing its submission. Are the fish newly introduced to each other? Once this sort of relationship begins, and they form a pair, they will start spawning relatively quickly (as I understand it, anyway!).

They will generally lay eggs in very close proximity to the anemone in which they host (ie. in the "shade" of...) When you see them picking clean a particular area, watch for eggs :)

[Pier Pressure]

Sweet! I guess it does not matter whether the water is fresh or salty - the love dance is the same.

I actually bought them together out of the same coral tank at the same fish store. They were both tiny and all beat up looking and I felt sorry for them. They did not even know how to eat pellets when I brought them home but they picked up on the NLS thing right away.

Now they are happy, healthy and beautiful. They have been together for about six months in my tank. And hosting a white sebae anemone for about the last four months.