Breeding my clowns!?

[brittanysmith18]

I just added a green bubble tip anemone two days ago. I have a pair of clowns that have been together for 3-3.5 years. One is definitely larger than the other (denoting the female), so I would like to breed them. I don't know where to start exactly or what other conditions to give them. I'm completely new to breeding, but I heard it's not extremely hard. Any advice would be great!!

 

[rssjsb]

As I said yesterday, if you just want them to spawn as an interesting behavior, you can leave them where they are. However, if you want to raise the babies, you'll need a separate tank dedicated to this purpose. If the clowns are in your community tank, you might be able to set things up so that they lay eggs on a piece of tile or something that you could remove to a separate grow-out tank. I think you might have to have the parents with the eggs until they hatch, then take them out so they don't eat the babies.

I think ocellaris are among the easiest to raise, but you have to be prepared and dedicated to get them to survive and to avoid abnormalities that can result from poor water quality at various stages of the process. It's a challenge to keep them fed and keep the water quality up.

I've never done this myself because after reading about it, I decided it was more than I wanted to take on. There are lots of people around here who can advise you over on the breeding forum if you decide to go ahead. You should ask over there in any event because I might have some of the particulars wrong. It's been a while since I researched it.

 

[Gary Majchrzak]

I'm completely new to breeding, but I heard it's not extremely hard. Any advice would be great!!

breeding Anemonefish is easy: a mated pair will do all the work as long as you feed them well and provide a good environment.

Raising the broodstock is another matter entirely!

Refer to the EXCELLENT AND FREE Anemone and Clownfish FAQ stickied to the top of this forum for details.

 

[Tmoriarty]

If you want them to spawn here are a few factors you can adjust to help entice them to get to it.

-increase tank temperature to 81-84 (simulate summer temps)
-increase lighting cycle to 12-16 hours (simulate summer photoperiod)
-increase feeding

If everything else is already in place, as in the clowns are old enough (depending on variety of clown, female age of 2-2.5 yrs, male age of 9mnths-1.5 yrs) then they should eventually spawn.

When you get to that point raising the fry in my experience is not all to difficult. I would be happy to give you more information but you can look through some of my thread to get a good portion of it, hope it helps

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2231699&page=1

 

[brittanysmith18]

Thanks! The tank is at 81 degrees right now. I feed once a day. I added some base rock to the tank and now the two fish are sticking really close to each other with the male kind of following the female right near her back tail. The actinic lights are on for an hour, then the daylight is on all day so probably around 8-10 hours, then another hour of the actinic light before I shut it off for the night. I feed once a day to minimize ammonia and nitrate levels. I do want to get the pheromone releasing food for them. How often should I feed?

 

[nemoboy1]

Thanks! The tank is at 81 degrees right now. I feed once a day. I added some base rock to the tank and now the two fish are sticking really close to each other with the male kind of following the female right near her back tail. The actinic lights are on for an hour, then the daylight is on all day so probably around 8-10 hours, then another hour of the actinic light before I shut it off for the night. I feed once a day to minimize ammonia and nitrate levels. I do want to get the pheromone releasing food for them. How often should I feed?

I wouldn't stick to just one feeding per day. Feed as much as your fish can consume in 5mins and siphon out any uneaten food. I would say atleast 2 times I myself try to feed them min of 3 meals a day.

Good luck

 

[Tmoriarty]

Get an auto feeder and feed them pellets a couple extra times a day (if you can't feed them your self from home) Set it to only feed a little but that will help.

If your lights are not on timers that can affect them as well. The lighting needs to be consistant and turn on/off at the same time every day (to give them a proper day/night cycle)

If the lights are turned off different every day it will not be as easy for them to settle into a cycle. Do you have any pictures of your tank? Are they currently associating with the anemone?

Also I wouldn't bother with any pheromone food, just give them normal feeding and such and you should be fine.

 

[brittanysmith18]

The lighting is not on timers, but I do wake up and go to sleep around the same time everyday, so it's fairly constant. They are not hosting in the anemone as the anemone decided it was most comfortable hanging upside down under one of my rocks, probably because it's high up in the tank, closer to the lighting (t5HO). They've hosted before in a rose bubble and a condi. Those were eaten by bristle worms though ( I watched them devour it ).