Cinamon Clown Babies

H

Hingeback

New member
Hi,
Last night noticed some free swimming baby clowns. This was totally unexpected as although the clowns have played out spawning rituals many times they have never actually laid any eggs ( or so I thought ).

The parent clowns have not at any time looked after the eggs as they have gone on with there normal daily habits. My computer is next to tank so I spend a lot of time watching and would have noticed any behavioural changes.

Anyway the tank is the 60 g sps reef in my sig. The clown fish are the only fish. There are no shrimps, crabs ect. The parents do not appear to be looking after them or bothiring them and as you will appreciate it will be impossible to get the babies out.

So!!!. I have been feeding Gamma Nutri plus by TMC. This is a liquid food made up of rotifers, copepods, microalgae and artemia. They do appear to be eating this. They have quite rounded stomachs which were originally empty.I have some brineshrimp eggs started. What else can I do ????.

I do appreciate I will probably lose them all but I have to do what I can to give them a chance. Will try to get some photo,s.

Thanks and best wishes
 
I would love to see a pic if you can get one... How many do you see? Are momma and papa eating them?
 
This is going to be an interesting one. I have never seen or heard of a sucess story where the clowns have hatched in a DT and lived to be adults.

I think that it seems you know what you are doing.

Just keep us updated of course. But other wise keep doing what you are doing.
 
It does not appear that the parents are eating them. Most of the young are congergated behind some live rock, luckily to the side which I can see. The parents do not go there at all.
It is going to be extremely difficult to get a picture as the place where they are the glass is coated in algae and coraline algae and without moving rock it will be impossible to clean glass. I will try to get some photo,s though.
I also have a feeling that some have gone into sump via the overflow. I am going to carefully have a look later tonight.
 
Hi - I just wondered about an update? This is so interesting to me. How old do you think they are?
 
Hi Kimsie,
Thanks for your interest. The babies are still alive although they are becoming more reclusive. The all appear to be in the same vicinity, which is a crevice at the back of a live rock. The slightest movement and they scoot back into the crevice. I really don't know how many there are at the moment.
As for how old they are ?. They will be probably about 5 days old, it takes about two days for them to use yolk sak and as I found them on sunday as mentioned 5 days in total. They could not have survived long without food after using yolk sack.

Best wishes
 
Oh I'm very interested! Please do keep us updated on this! I'm sure others are just reading along and following...

I'm very excited for you! As someone else said and it sounds like you already knew - the chances of them surviving is low - but you seem to be doing the right things!

When you have time - I'd love to hear the other things you have in the tank? Is it just the 2 fish and SPS? Can you post any tank pictures even if you can't see the babies?
 
Hi cl2ysta1,

They are definately baby clowns. There is nothing else in the tank that they could possibly have come from.
I have bred enough fish over the last 30 years to recognise a baby fish when I see some.( not being rude ) I have also bred a few other types of clownfish in the past but only ever managed a few babies from each spawning. As for babies looking like clownfish they can start to colour up at 8 days of age.
I am trying to set a video camera up to record the activities of the babies but as mentioned the location is quite difficult. Then I need to find out how to post the video.

Hi Kimsie
It would be my pleasure to keep you updated and I will also take some pics of my tank tonight, once I have spruced it up a little. Hey!!!! if the world is going to see it, its needs to be nice. :) :)

Best wishes
 
Last edited:
Great Hingeback!

I can't wait to see some pics... Know I'm wishing you continued good luck with these little guys!
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12580149#post12580149 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by MJI
Mysids....??
Click to expand...
I tend to agree. Description of both brood pair and fry behavior does not sound like clownfish fry. Mysis usually always come with live rock, but pics would defiantly help.
 
I've only witnessed/heard of this just once, but that was with a pair of damsels AND it was heavily dosed with rots, etc for them to grow up. And this is in a very large tank with other inhabitants (fish,inverts,etc). The little ones are in the vicinity of the parents which is very nice to watch, even tho they're just damsels, haha

Hingeback, clean that algae so you can post pics :)
 
Hi Kimsie and others who have replied,

I apologise for not being able to answer sooner but have been incapacitated for the last few days.
Just an quick update as I am still not too good.

There are about 6 young fish left by the look of it. They have now slightly coloured up. They are still hanging around the same crevice at the back of the live rock. I did take some pictures of the live rock structure and positioning in the tank so as to show you how difficult it was to get a photo of the babies themselves. I promise I will upload these pictures when I am feeling better.
Still feeding Gamma nutiplus and day old brine shrimp which I drop near to crevice via a very long syringe. My son has been very helpful with hatching the brineshrimp and feeding.

cbr600rri, Hi, sorry its not a case of just cleaning the algae. The live rock structure is in the back corner of the tank. It is against both the back and side of the tank. The rest of the glass is clean except for this bit which is inaccessible unless I move the rock.

FishnWishn & MJI deffinately not mysids or any other shrimp. Son brought a really good magnifying glass from college and def baby fish. I bred mysids for a while for my seahorses and baby mysids cling to objects like the rocks or the glass for about the first 2 - 3 days. They then become free swiming and tend not to congregate as a group. Any disturbance around them would scatter them around the tank

Best wishes to everyone.
 
Well - I'm sorry have gotten sick! That's no fun! I think it's amazing that you still have 6 alive! Congratulations on that!

Just keep us updated when you can - this is really interesting!

Kim
 
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