PDA

View Full Version : clown fish laying eggs


steve fedyk
12-08-2008, 01:51 AM
My wife and I were putting up the christmas tree and I looked in the tank. Saw the anemone was high up on the rocks with the clow fish laying they eggs. I think the little male isn't old enough but he is sure trying.
I was reading in the a clown fish book for how to take care of the eggs, but I think they good food for the coarls.
Any good input would be nice. I will try to post pictures.

truperc
12-08-2008, 02:40 AM
the fry will go over the overflow if they don't get eaten first. Good food for the tank but you will have to separate the fry out of the tank if you want any chance of raising them. There is lots of info out there if you are interested. It is a lot of work, I know from experience, but definitely possible. Congrats.

Troy

Alberta-newb
12-08-2008, 09:25 PM
Congratulations! :biggrin: I hope you don't mind I hijack this thread a little and ask a few questions.

At what size do ocellaris clowns reach sexual maturity (ie. start spawning)?
Do they require an anenome to spawn or are they comfortable with surrogate hosts?

My pair are currently only about 1.5" long and were sold as a true pair which I believe is true. One is slightly larger and is the boss (female?) but they are not aggresive to each other (she does on some evenings push him out of their host). They have ignored my torches and frogspawns and decided to host in my giant featherdusters instead.

Thanks for letting me bud in:redface:

Keri
12-08-2008, 09:34 PM
Congrats! My clowns just started laying eggs as well, it's really cool. Just wait until days 5, 6 and 7 when you see the tiny eyeballs inside the eggs!! I have looked a little into raising the fry but an unable to find a reasonably-close source for a rotifer culture plus am currently unable to commit that kind of time!

Post some pics?


To answer the poster above me (to the best of my abilities)

1) My clowns are between 2.5-3" or so and have grown considerably since I got them 11 months or so ago and they have just begun to spawn but I have heard of cases where the pair is several years old before they decide to spawn. (or not at all)

2) An anemone is not required, a surrogate or none at all is fine. (I believe in the commercial setups spawning occurs in a fairly bare tank with a flower pot or tile to lay eggs on)

3) The larger one would be the female, yes :)

Hope that helps! (I'm no expert but I've been doing a lot of reading lately)

mike31154
12-08-2008, 10:08 PM
Nice, lucky you. What type of clownfish? I have two Maroons that I paired over a year ago and they're hosting in a GBTA. No sign of spawning yet although according to Joyce Wilkerson's book 'Clownfishes' all the signs are there. Female is huge compared to the male and I often see them cleaning up around the anemone. Once in a while they'll go for a little swim about the tank but mostly they hang out very close to the nem and both are in there during lights out. Could be the blue devil damsel that's holding up or delaying the actual spawning. Mama clown often has to chase him out of her territory. No contest though, although the blue devil can be a tough customer despite his smaller size, he's no match for Miss Piggy.

Alberta-newb
12-08-2008, 11:13 PM
Steve: Looking forward to the pics!

Keri: Thank you so much for the information! My google searches haven't helped much, it's nice to get the info first hand from someone's that been there and done (doing) it:biggrin:

Francis

mike31154
12-09-2008, 12:10 AM
Steve: Looking forward to the pics!

Keri: Thank you so much for the information! My google searches haven't helped much, it's nice to get the info first hand from someone's that been there and done (doing) it:biggrin:

Francis

I mentioned Joyce D. Wilkerson's book "Clownfishes" earlier in the thread. A very worthwhile purchase if you're planning on breeding the little guys. Much more info I suspect than you'll find by google search.

Alberta-newb
12-09-2008, 12:42 AM
I mentioned Joyce D. Wilkerson's book "Clownfishes" earlier in the thread. A very worthwhile purchase if you're planning on breeding the little guys. Much more info I suspect than you'll find by google search.

Thanks Mike, guess what I'm putting on my Christmas wish list!:mrgreen:

k2damax
12-09-2008, 01:54 AM
I was doing research and found out that all clowns start out as males then when its time to breed the bigger male's hormones start changing into a female and then after the female dies then the next big male turns into a female and so on and on.:mrgreen:

steve fedyk
12-09-2008, 02:12 AM
here's a link to the pic's.:biggrin:
<a href="http://s431.photobucket.com/albums/qq32/stevefedyk/clown%20fish/" target="_blank"><img src="http://i431.photobucket.com/albums/qq32/stevefedyk/clown%20fish/IMG_0757.jpg" alt="stevefedyk/clown fish" border="0" /></a>

Keri
12-09-2008, 02:24 AM
here's a link to the pic's.:biggrin:
<a href="http://s431.photobucket.com/albums/qq32/stevefedyk/clown%20fish/" target="_blank"><img src="http://i431.photobucket.com/albums/qq32/stevefedyk/clown%20fish/IMG_0757.jpg" alt="stevefedyk/clown fish" border="0" /></a>

Here is that link in a working format ;)

http://i431.photobucket.com/albums/qq32/stevefedyk/clown%20fish/IMG_0757.jpg