clownfish babies?

[silva218]

Okay so it is clear that my two clownfish have been a pair for some time now. They are always showing mating signs but I have yet to see them lay eggs. Like a week ago I looked in my tank in the middle of the night and saw some critters swimming along the glass and it looked like clownfish fry. Although i'm not entirely positive that it was clownfish fry . So does anyone here have any pictures of their fry post hatch (like hours later)?

I did manage to catch one and put it into a container where i could see it better. The front half was orange and the tail was clear. And i could see two black eyes. BTW its a oscellaris black/white and a oscellaris orange/white. Could they be clownfish fry?

 

[Tahoe Reefer]

They are really hard to photograph the first few days, heres one from google:

The eggs are tended by the male for 6-8 days prior to hatching. If you see him "nose diving" into the same spot, check for eggs.

The larvae themselves are mostly shiny, silver around the eyes. If they have color that early on it is usually thier stomach that shows it.

 

[silva218]

thank you for the response tahoe reefer. I think that is what i saw inside my tank, but im not totally sure. I wish i had some sort of camera that could have photographed what i saw.

Have you ever looked down on a fry in the first couple of hours? It looked like the eyes were looking up at me. the front end had an orange tint. and the back end was clear. It also was attracted to light and swam in short bursts(no real swimming motion).

 

[Tahoe Reefer]

That sounds like the tail curl and flick that clown fry use to hunt until they metamorph. Clown larvae are attracted to light sources very early on. It is very unlikely that any larva would survive in a regular tank. I would keep a close eye on your clowns. Does the female plump up every 14 or so days? Does the male stay near his host site even when food is available? These are a few signs they are spawning. If you can find the eggs then you will be able to tell when they will hatch and possibly catch them and raise the larvae.

Have fun!

 

[silva218]

Okay so its been about 7 days exact since i spotted the little critters. So it takes like 9 days for the eggs to hatch? So that means any day now they should be laying a new batch. I can't really tell if the female is any bigger or smaller than the past few days, but i will keep a close eye on the female to see if I notice any changes.

I will keep my eye out for the female getting plump. The male seems to hang out around the frogspawn all day but comes up to eat the food then goes back to the frogspawn. Still havent found eggs though.

 

[silva218]

looking in my tank last night i noticed more of these things. I took a few out with my turkey baster and viewed them under a light and noticed that they looked more like little shrimp. I noticed that the tail split off like a shrimps tail. I guess I have some baby shrimp? I have one blood shrimp and one cleaner shrimp, so im not sure where these are coming from.

 

[Tahoe Reefer]

They could be a small invert, an amphipod or a copepod ect. That would seem to fit more so than clown larvae.

 

[silva218]

I have seen both of these along with looking up pictures of them. It seems to be neither, it looks more like a baby shrimp. It also doesnt look like brine or mysis.