Clown breeding

[mark97r6]

Hey guys,
How many of you guys are clown breeders? Just wondering what the host/spawning site of choice in breeding tanks?

Thinking about the terracotta plant pots. These just seem a little more 'private' than the tile. What do you all use? Do different species take to different things?

Cheers
Mark

[Mikey]

I used terracotta pots - they were cheap as chips from B&Q (good, seeing as I had to smash them up to get bits the right size).

You can use plain ceramic tiles too.

Just make sure that the surface is somewhat rough, so the eggs can grip (ie, use the back of a tile, not the glazed front etc)

Species shoudl be unfussed, the trick is getting them to use the substrate in the first place!!

[Gouri]

How do you go about spawning clowns? Do they need to be in a separate tank? Do the parents need to be present once the eggs are hatched? What do you feed the fry?

[mark97r6]

Gouri, generally speaking a happy pair of clowns will spawn in your tank! Though this may be a couple of years.
Once the eggs are hatched the parents and any other tankmates will eat the young.
The young like most marine fish have a larval stage, which is the tricky part. Their first food will be rotifiers (rots). this is a subject all in its own and there is plenty of info on it out there. As they grow they are weaned onto brine shrimp then dried food.
Thats it in a nutshell!

Mark

[Scott D]

What is some typical behaviour of a pair that is preparing to breed/spawn?
My clowns have been in the tank since new - december 2004. A nem was just put in about 3 weeks ago. Smaller clown (male I presume) has begun showing very territorial behavior (I know these are by nature territorial) around the nem. Both seem to be keeping a small cave cleaned of crab-poo and other bits near the nem. Both seem to be cleaning rockwork in the cave. The smaller one has developed a darkened (almost black) colour on the top. I read on here that this blackening was attributed to breeding???.
Does this sound like a breeding pair - approx 20 mts old?

Thanks

[Scott D]

Any thoughts?

[Mikey]

Certainly sounds like they could be a pair.

First off the bat, the darkening is not related to spawning. Just colouring up, which can take a long time. It happens later in clown life too.

Territorialism certainly increases when a nest is laid, or preparation work for a nest is put in, and also, "site-cleaning" is also a good sign that breeding may be on the way in the near future.

For the time being, concentrate on providing a safe, secure environment that will encourange spawning, and also on the pair's diet. The better they are fed, the better eqq quality you will get.

You can try and "help" things along by increasing the lighting period slightly (say an hour over a few weeks), and also by whats called saturation feeding. This is where you get stimulate a food bloom and feed say, brine shrimp, so it swarms the tank. They can then feed until content. Be careful though, try it in smaller amounts first, you dont want to pollute the tank.

Other than that, let nature take it's course :)

[Scott D]

Cheers Mikey. I have the following comments posted on another thread but would welcome your thoughts
"Have had my clowns for approx18 mts now, bought them when they were about 25mm long - both from seperate shops. About a month ago I noticed some weird behavior occuring. Both clowns appear to be, what I can only describe as 'fitting'. Both seen quite happy and active, still going in their nem, feeding well.Bit of battling going on between them occasionally.
Also Noticed the male (think its male as it is a tad smaller) 3 hours ago opening and closing mouth very widely (no it wasn't yawning) and quite quickly".

Thanks

[DannyW]

I have three clowns that live in a Amemone. Two are a breading pair while the other will help protect the eggs. Is this normal for three to be living in harmony....

[Mikey]

Danny - if the group was formed properly, then it's normal :)

Scott - the "fitting" is not directly related to breeding per se, it is the way clowns establish and re-affrim pair bonds and dominancy. The shaking is commonly seen at the start of a new pair bonding period, and will eventually tail off to occasional at best.

After a bit of tustling, an initial dominancy is created, and this is signalled by the weaker (who will be if not already, the male) by the "shimmering".

After the bond is established and grows stronger, you will not see this behaviour much, unless the female thinks the male should be doing something (like nest guarding) or she sees fit to scold him, then again, he will show this behaviour to signal less dominance and alomst it seems remorse for not being a good husband :D

So although at times, say a female wants the male to start nest cleaning and he ignores her efforts, she will scold him and he will shimmer then start nest cleaning, it may appear to be so, but is not directly breeding behaviour.

As for the gaping mouth thing, providing there are no other symptoms of illness, it seems like the harmless "open mouth bluster", and again, apparently another signal of hierarchical dominance/submission.

If clownfish are a real interest to you, I would recommend the book "Clownfishes" by Joyce Wilkerson - highly recommended.

[cajen]

unless the female thinks the male should be doing something (like nest guarding) or she sees fit to scold him, then again, he will show this behaviour to signal less dominance and alomst it seems remorse for not being a good husband :D

So although at times, say a female wants the male to start nest cleaning and he ignores her efforts, she will scold him .

Why does this sound all very familiar? :p

[Scott D]

Why does this sound all very familiar? :p

Cajen,
I think my missus would like me to behave this way.

Mikey
Thanks for your comments mate, always appreciated.

Scott