breeding clowns?

caligal

caligal

Member
i have a mated ocellaris clownfish pair, been together for well over a year now, ther not in a bulb anemone now, but if i isolate them with a bulb tip, do you think mating/laying eggs would be sucessful rather quickly? i understand its something you dont rush and it mayb take a couple of tries but id like to try it out and see what happens!
 
leslie

leslie

Member
I have had a pair of clowns for 4-5 yrs and they have never laid eggs. Now my cinnamin clowns lay eggs. Maybe its because we have two specicies of clowns in the same tank is why my "nemo" clowns have never laid eggs. IDK????
 
caligal

caligal

Member
thats an awesome site, thanks for that! theyv been doing that little seizure dance and nipping for almost a year, and i bought them as a mated pair as well, mayb ther just not the egg laying type :| ?
 
ddelozier

ddelozier

Well-Known Member
PREMIUM
RS Ambassador
Clowns dont "require" a Nem to spawn. It just makes em happy and lets em feel safe. I've a friend successfully breeding 3 diff types of clowns wihtout any nems. He has each pair in their own 20g tank, on a central sump. Lights are on 8.5 hours per day. Tank sides are painted black on 3 sides, and light in the room is a red bulb like a dark room. The tanks are bare bottom, painted white underneath. His pairs lay eggs regular as clockwork. The key is to feed them a high protein, diet. Mysis shrimp, frozen squid etc. The tank temps are 81F and they have unfinished tiles leaned against a corner of each. He raises the eggs in their own grow out tanks.
 
SAMAN

SAMAN

New Member
MY CLOWNFISH EAT EGG AT DAY3 AND 4 AND 5 :( I CAN EGGS Early separation of eggs from parents?
I CAN EGG separation at day 3 or 4 ?
 
Uncle99

Uncle99

Well-Known Member
Assuming your pair laid eggs on a moveable piece of rock, or better, clay pot, move the pot to a separate tank when the eyes go "silver" which is somewhere around 14-18 days from lay, and 7-10 days from hatch. but keep a good watch as time does vary between species and environment. The goal is to leave them in with the parents as long as possible as they provide great care in fanning the eggs and picking out the bad ones, but not too long that the hatch and are immediately consumed.

The other separate option which I have used successfully for the last two years is a divider in the (I use a 10G tank for Larva) breed tank with 2 millimeter holes (like a screen) big enough for larva to pass, small enough to keep out parents. At night, as eggs are always layed about 1-4 hours after light goes out, place a small flashlight on the other side of the divide, so that when the eggs hatch, they will swim to the light, through the holes and be protected till morning....then make sure you feed right away and keep a constant supply of food in the water....your can move the parents back for another round anytime.
This process works good but all sides of the tank, except front must be painted black with a 1" square at the bottom which is not painted so the light can shine through this hole. Works great with skunk cleaner shrimp breeding as well.


If you moved them before hatch, You need a small airstone which is placed near the eggs so the water gently massages the eggs and keeps them clean. Once hatched, flow is virtually zero as they can't swim well until metamorphosis occurs, to much flow will damage them, or they will not be able to catch their Rotifers, keep light dim for at least a week. Feed some phyto in the tank to keep Rotifers alive.

You will need a good supply of Rotifers, which have been feed phyto plankton and Selcon, 4 hours before you put these in with the new hatch, new hatch can survive only a couple of days without this food, it must be Rotifers for at least 7-10 days, then transition to pulverized flake.

Good luck and have fun, it takes a bit of learning, keep note of the days before hatch, they are usually very timely..
 
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