Clownfish Breeding

[kubora666]

my dads clownfish have millions of eggs!
they are a good pair, well established for about 2 years. the female is over 4" and big and suprisingly nice coloured for a common clown.

now what?
will they care for the eggs like cichlids and rear the young?
or must i interwene ?
i am just finding out for my dad

 

[SkiFletch]

Heh, sadly they do not take care of their young. Furthermore, the fry will hatch at night and will likely be consumed by the filter and/or other fish when they hatch if you don't intervene. Trouble is, intervening will often disturb the clownfish from laying further clutches for quite some time. The real trouble though once the young are set up in a seperate breeding tank is having enough grown phytoplankton and then rotifers to feed the tiny tiny fry...

If you really want to breed them, get a book called Clownfishes by Joyce Wilkerson as it's pretty much the bible on the subject. And wait for the next clutch or two AFTER you've got lots of phyto and rots growing. The clowns will continue to lay eggs on a weekly or bi-weekly basis.

 

[kubora666]

Heh, sadly they do not take care of their young. Furthermore, the fry will hatch at night and will likely be consumed by the filter and/or other fish when they hatch if you don't intervene. Trouble is, intervening will often disturb the clownfish from laying further clutches for quite some time. The real trouble though once the young are set up in a seperate breeding tank is having enough grown phytoplankton and then rotifers to feed the tiny tiny fry...

If you really want to breed them, get a book called Clownfishes by Joyce Wilkerson as it's pretty much the bible on the subject. And wait for the next clutch or two AFTER you've got lots of phyto and rots growing. The clowns will continue to lay eggs on a weekly or bi-weekly basis.

thankyou!
id like to add the tank is about 4 years mature and a reef tank, so i assume it has the right plankton etc.
id have to ask my dad but thankyou for the advice!

 

[ben1987]

i think they hatch on the 8th day after lights out.
So you could leave this batch of eggs in the tank and put a tile of some sort in their nest for next time they lay, so you can remove them in one go on the 8th day. Or iv heard shining a flashlight on the surface after lights out on the 8th day will attrct the newly hatched fry to the surface.
Dont remove them before the 8th day though as they incubate the eggs.

 

[ben1987]

take a read of this...i found it very interesting
edited link

dont know if its against rules to post a link to another forum....sorry if it is!

 

[SkiFletch]

It is, sorry Ben. But I'll take care of it for you

 

[ben1987]

my bad

really hope when i finally get set-up i can get some clowns to spawn.

 

[Musho3210]

Heh, sadly they do not take care of their young. Furthermore, the fry will hatch at night and will likely be consumed by the filter and/or other fish when they hatch if you don't intervene. Trouble is, intervening will often disturb the clownfish from laying further clutches for quite some time. The real trouble though once the young are set up in a seperate breeding tank is having enough grown phytoplankton and then rotifers to feed the tiny tiny fry...

If you really want to breed them, get a book called Clownfishes by Joyce Wilkerson as it's pretty much the bible on the subject. And wait for the next clutch or two AFTER you've got lots of phyto and rots growing. The clowns will continue to lay eggs on a weekly or bi-weekly basis.

thankyou!
id like to add the tank is about 4 years mature and a reef tank, so i assume it has the right plankton etc.
id have to ask my dad but thankyou for the advice!

Unfortunately, no matter how mature the tank is, it doesnt have enough to raise hundreds of larvae into "baby" stage, plus when you add corals (if you have any) filters, protein skimmers, uv sterilizers, fish etc. Something will be there to kill it.

Not the easiest things to raise unfortunately, but there is money in it, if your interested, get the book ski mentioned, and wait for me to pm you with some more information on breeding marine fish.