Clownfish breeding tank sizes

[ilvfsh]

Im looking to get a list of what tank size each species of Clownfish need to breed in. I have included all known species (even the questionable ones).

Here is a list of species, with tank sizes I have so far.

Percula Complex
A. percula - 10G
A. ocellaris - 10G

Tomato Complex
A. barberi - 20H
A. ephippium - 20H
A. frenatus - 20H
A. mccullochi
A. melanopus - 20H
A. rubrocinctus

Skunk Complex
A. akallopisos
A. leucokranos
A. nigripes
A. pacificus
A. perideraion
A. sandaracinos
A. thiellei

Clarkii Complex
A. akindynos
A. allardi
A. bicinctus
A. chagosensis
A. chrysogaster
A. chrysopterus
A. clarkii - 20H
A. fuscocaudatus
A. latifasciatus
A. omanensis
A. tricinctus

Saddleback Complex
A. latezonatus
A. polymnus
A. sebae

Maroon Complex
P. biaculeatus

 

[bexar]

clownfish breeding

clownfish breeding

We are breeding clownfish and we have 8 pairs in 5 gallon cubes - 40 gallon tank with a 40 gallon sump. So far, we have picassos, onyx, black and white ocellarius and ocellarius breeding in their cubes with a flower pot in each.

 

[ilvfsh]

We are breeding clownfish and we have 8 pairs in 5 gallon cubes - 40 gallon tank with a 40 gallon sump. So far, we have picassos, onyx, black and white ocellarius and ocellarius breeding in their cubes with a flower pot in each.

Thats great to know. Do you think they would breed in a standard 5 gallon tank?

 

[ilvfsh]

Anyone else have information?

 

[US Marine Coral]

Bexar can you post a pic of your cubes and how you made them. Sounds cool

 

[DeathWish302]

I have seen every breeding pair at Dick Perin's Tropicorium in 10 gallon tanks. He mainly had Perc and Occy variants.

Tomato Complex
A. frenatus - 20L, but best yield and reoccurrence when in 58gal.

Skunk Complex
A. nigripes - I had a pair for nearly 1 yr with no spawning action in a 100gal Rubbermaid. Gave up on Skunks as they really need a library type environment and I have to stare at the tanks and play with stuff too much.

Saddleback Complex
A. polymnus - Interested as I have an open tank possibly in the near future.

Maroon Complex
P. biaculeatus - Currently in a 50gal stock tank and awaiting first spawn. Pair previously resided in a 29gal and had a sucessful spawn documented on MOFIB by fishboy.

 

[Ron Popeil]

my nigripes spawn every two weeks in my 60 cube. i had two pairs of chrysopterus spawn in a 45 cube. im trying some tricinctus in a 45...nothing yet.

 

[zeeter]

I've got two pairs of ocellaris and one pair of perculas each in 20L, and pairs of fire clowns, clarkiis, maroons, saddlebacks, and tomatos in 29 all connected with a 27 sump which I hope to increase the size of in the future.

 

[madean]

Bexar- could you post pics of your setup. Curious to see how you have done this. Are your partitions dark plexi glass so the fish cant see each other? I have read a lot of people not having success with multiple clown pairs sharing the same tank- mainly due to aggresion, which leads to stress and no spawning.

 

[madean]

Bexar- what does your growout and larval set up look like? I would imagine with 8 breeding pairs if they spawn regularly you must have a lot of larval set ups. What are you using?

 

[jake levi]

The larger the tank, the less stress, and the more of a cushion in water quality. Perculas and Occellaris will spawn in 10s, I prefer 20Hs, Frenatus and maroons in 55s, all tanks BB, with some live rock and chaeto. I havent installed the 55s yet, working on the 20H stands, first one done will have another done in 3 weeks. Got some spring projects also going on.

my sump/refugia/DSB is a 75 gal rubbermaid stock tank, and will have an ATS.

Each 20 will have some live rock , and chaeto , more chaeto in the sump, carboard dividers between tanks so all they see is the wall on one end and the room from the other, tanks are long ways on the rack.

 

[Ron Popeil]

if you do a search for "daves clownhouse" youll get a guy from vancouver who started in a room of his house....and then built a whole additional building in his backyard for raising clownfish. its pretty impressive.

 

[madean]

Hey jake, how come you prefer 20h for breeding perc's and o's as opposed to maybe a 20l?

 

[zeeter]

Maybe Jake has a better answer, but my experience is that clowns don't venture too far horizonally. In fact, they don't venture too much vertically, either. Just for the sake of pure water volume a 20H might be better since it has a smaller footprint. Though I use 20L since it fits my platform better.

Edit: a 20L will have more surface contact with the air, though if using a sump system that might be a moot point.

 

[US Marine Coral]

Is there any truth to having more breeding success if the pairs are in the own seperate tanks versus being in a bigger tank that is divided?

 

[jake levi]

tanks

tanks

Right on both last two questions,

smaller footprint, can also build up some live rock in the tank,

and clown pairs do better when they arnt looking at other clowns,

just less stress, my 20s are side by side so have cardboard between the tanks.

 

[jeff@zina.com]

The larger the tank, the less stress, and the more of a cushion in water quality.

I handle this with a series of tanks on a sump. 10 gallon tanks for occelaris/percula, about the same amount of water in sump/refugium as in the total of all the smaller tanks.

Jeff

 

[US Marine Coral]

What do you think works better for functionality and keeping clean, drilling a 10g on the back or on the bottom glass?

 

[madean]

I guess I was looking at building a multi tier system, so a 20l would be better than a 20 h just because you gain some vertical space. All tanks would be turned so the length would not be an issue. Heck I have been thinking about buying glass in bulk and building my own tanks, specifically for the growout system.

 

[jeff@zina.com]

What do you think works better for functionality and keeping clean, drilling a 10g on the back or on the bottom glass?

Bottom is, in my experience, easier to clean and has less chance of cracking when you bump the plumbing. On the opposite end, it's harder to work with the plumbing and takes more vertical space.

There are any number of breeders that drill the fronts to make plumbing issues easier to deal with.

Jeff