First Clown Eggs

[Oscar]

After 2 1/2 years my clown pair have laid eggs. I first noticed the white mass 5 days ago. They have now turned brown and I think I might be able to see their eyes.

The clowns have been hosting my frogspawn and the eggs are attached to the solid frog spawn stem.

What are the next stages in development I should look for? Anything I can do to encourage survival of the young?

[mike31154]

The young will not survive in the display, they'll be food for your other critters in short order, or get captured in whatever filtration system you're running, overflow, skimmer etc. To raise the young you need to be set up well ahead of time with a breeding tank, phytoplankton, rotifers. Even with the right set up, there's generally a high attrition rate. When they first hatch, clownfish are considered larvae. It takes a few days to a week for them to reach a 'metamorphosis' stage after which they start looking like little clownfish with red colour etc. The metamorphosis is another point where there are high losses.

My Maroon pair has been spawning regularly for well over a year now. Pretty much 7 days from spawn to hatch like clockwork, then a few days break before the next spawn. Once you start seeing the eyes, kind of silvery, hatch is imminent, usually a few hours after lights out.

The book Clownfishes by Joyce D Wilkerson is a great resource if you're interested in breeding the critters. Sicklid in Kamloops has quite the production going, he can surely provide some excellent advice. I've been meaning to set up a breeding tank myself, but too much other stuff on the go.

[FishyFishy!]

Realistically unless you have a full marine breeder setup, they won't make it. Very difficult to make them hatch and survive under regular tank conditions.

Look up clownfish breeding, and check out the setup most have. They are pretty extensive. Last one I saw buddy had 6 different stages/tanks from hatching to growth.

[Oscar]

Realistically unless you have a full marine breeder setup, they won't make it. Very difficult to make them hatch and survive under regular tank conditions.

Look up clownfish breeding, and check out the setup most have. They are pretty extensive. Last one I saw buddy had 6 different stages/tanks from hatching to growth.

Well I am definitely heading in that direction. Curious to see if now that they have started they will continue breeding.

[josie]

my clownfish lay eggs every month now...
at first we wanted to get equipe to breed them but realise how complicated it was.. time consuming and needed equipment...

but we tried one time to see the alvins better, so at day 6 after the spawning we got the eggs out in a little tank and got to see the babies...
They survive about 2 days... we tried to feed them rotifers but failed...
at least the lived a few days more then if they were born in the main display...

here a video of them:
http://www.youtube.com/v/3Uur7Ia8Hxg?

[Timbits]

The book Clownfishes by Joyce D Wilkerson is a great resource if you're interested in breeding the critters. Sicklid in Kamloops has quite the production going, he can surely provide some excellent advice. I've been meaning to set up a breeding tank myself, but too much other stuff on the go.

Excellent book. Definetly a must read. It has helped me in my success in raising the clownfish.

[Oscar]

my clownfish lay eggs every month now...
at first we wanted to get equipe to breed them but realise how complicated it was.. time consuming and needed equipment...

but we tried one time to see the alvins better, so at day 6 after the spawning we got the eggs out in a little tank and got to see the babies...
They survive about 2 days... we tried to feed them rotifers but failed...
at least the lived a few days more then if they were born in the main display...

here a video of them:
http://www.youtube.com/v/3Uur7Ia8Hxg?

Thanks for the video.