I have have a pair of orange ocellaris that I have had for 6-7 months old, the female is about 2.5-3 in. long and male is about 1.75-2 in. long. I also have a black ocellaris pair that I have had for 4 months and they are the same size as the orange pair. I want to try to have them laying eggs by May so I can spend the summer raising the babies. They show signs of spawning but they have yet to produce eggs. Please help.
Clown fish breeding help
- Thread starter frizzo98
- Start date
HowManyClowns
New member
From what I understand they normally don't start spawning until the female is at least 1.5 - 2 years old in most cases. Male can be as young as 6 months.
some things you can do are:
Feed, a LOT and do it consistently (same time, etc).
Bring temps up to 80-84 (assuming it wont negatively affect other life in the tank)
Keep good water params (and consistent)
Make sure they feel safe (places to hide, no bully tank mates, etc)
Keep your hands out of the tank as much as you can
Regular light cycles
I would also add a pot or tile now near where they sleep that way they can get used to it and hopefully lay eggs on it when they do start.
some things you can do are:
Feed, a LOT and do it consistently (same time, etc).
Bring temps up to 80-84 (assuming it wont negatively affect other life in the tank)
Keep good water params (and consistent)
Make sure they feel safe (places to hide, no bully tank mates, etc)
Keep your hands out of the tank as much as you can
Regular light cycles
I would also add a pot or tile now near where they sleep that way they can get used to it and hopefully lay eggs on it when they do start.
I think the organe pair is a little over a year old, what I said early is how long I have had them. Same with the blacks except they are probably around a year old give or take a month or two. I am not constant with my feeding though. My temperature for the tanks stays within 78-80 but I don't run a heater so I'm not going to add one when the temperature stays in a good range. All my levels I test for are at zero except my nitrate which it's the highest level I test which 160 ppm. My ph is always at 8.2. The tank has a pair of breeding coral banded shrimp which can me kinda aggressive but don't hurt the organe pair. One of the perks of them is they eat the extra food on the bottom. I have one pot for each pair. The black pair only one sleeps in the pot and the other right next to it. The orange pair goes in the pot but don't usually sleep in it (I think it's because of the coral banded shrimp).
HowManyClowns
New member
Those nitrates are very high, you want them at 60 max, I run biopellets to keep mine down
HowManyClowns
New member
Regular water changes are your best bet, biopellets need careful attention if u have corals especially and a good skimmer. You also run them in a biopellet reactor.
I wouldnt recommend it if you are just getting started
Increase water changes and be careful of over feeding
I wouldnt recommend it if you are just getting started
Increase water changes and be careful of over feeding
_shorty_
New member
Yes - algal growth lowers nitrates (assuming another form of nitrogen is not in abundance - aka NH3 or NO2). However, it should not be your only form of maintenance on your system. As Mr. Clowns points out, Regular water changes are going to be necessary in keeping an healthy system. You also want to develop routine maintenance to eliminate detritus buildup in your system. Even if your algal grown were to decrease your NO3 and PO4 down to acceptable healthy limits - your trace elements need to be replinished with fresh salt mixes.
I personally, recommend that you check the 'advanced' forum sticky about ATS - 'algae scrubber basics' as well. This is an easy and enexpensive DIY form of algal growth filtration that is very affective. They typically out-compete refugiums for purpose of N and P reduction... however each has its + and -.
I agree - 1st about the water changes, and also about carbon additions being more of an advance method. Also a skimmer is probably necessary if you are running any carbon additions (not to be confused with passive Activated Carbon - filters or bags). I'm pretty curious as to what PO4 would be in a system with NO3 that high, which is why I asked. We should realize that when we add carbon to our systems we are increasing all bacteria, not JUST that bacteria that eats up N and P. Certain bacteria is bad for corals, and ceratain bacteria is bad for the breeding process and eggs. I speculate that this is what I am dealing with right now with my own breeding pair in playing with carbon dosing a little while back.
Another speculation (as I have never run bio pellets), is that they MIGHT be a little different/safer because the reactors somewhat contain the bacteria and can be fed directly into your skimmer.
Last edited:
Back to the breeding part, I have I 40 gal grow out, two brood stock tanks one 20 and one 10, and I have one 10 gal fry tank, I'm thinking to get a 20 long and split it so I can have two pairs in one and use the that 10 gal as a second fry tank. Is there anything I'm missing that I might need?
You will need round tubs to raise the fry at least through metamorphosis and I usually leave them in the tubs for the first month and a half depending on the size of batch, but there are many different ways but I have succeeded 80%+ survival doing it with round tubs and you will need many more things rotifers algae to grow the rotifers air pumps fish that are laying eggs and lots of patients .there is lots of information out there to get the job done some of it makes it lots more complicated then it needs to be.
_shorty_
New member
i've read other people using the round tubs too. Why do you think this is any better than a glass fry tank?
You can get a better waterflow with air stone and the fry are not getting caught in corners they have a lot less chance of hitting the side of the container before metamorphosis.
I buy the horsefeed containers at Murdochs the dark Green Color you do not want anything but dark obviously so the fry are not trying to hit the side of the containers. I drill a hole in the center of the tub then I run three-quarter inch PVC up so I can attach my heater and air stone to that.
I will see if I can take a picture and get it on here I have not done that in a long time
I buy the horsefeed containers at Murdochs the dark Green Color you do not want anything but dark obviously so the fry are not trying to hit the side of the containers. I drill a hole in the center of the tub then I run three-quarter inch PVC up so I can attach my heater and air stone to that.
I will see if I can take a picture and get it on here I have not done that in a long time
Similar threads
