clownfish preparing to breed?

[FraggledRock]

I have two chocolate clownfish.

they have been in my tank for about a month.

they have been pretty picky with their sleeping locations.

tonight i noticed they were by a rock near front glass clearing a nice cave by whipping their tails to move the sand to create a cave/hole where the sand met the rock.

is this an indication they will lay eggs soon? or are they just making a new home?

they have been a bit aggressive with one another too and doing those strange spazz twitches.

any info is helpful thanks!

 

[Tango451]

That's exactly what mine do before they lay eggs, you'll also see them cleaning with their mouth by "blowing" water

 

[FraggledRock]

Nice!! Thanks for replying!

 

[FraggledRock]

Now i just gotta figure out what to do when they lay eggs lol

 

[Paul B]

They do that before laying eggs and just about any time. My fireclown is 24 years old and still cleans out his bottle continousely. He is still spawning but even if he is not, he cleans. Kind of like my wife. He also pulled up that gorg frag

 

[OrionN]

You can always tell when the clown pair in breeding condition and is about to spawn by looking at the female. She will be fat with swollen stomach. Even right after she spawned her stomach still large but it will be engorged the few days before she spawn.

 

[FraggledRock]

They do that before laying eggs and just about any time. My fireclown is 24 years old and still cleans out his bottle continousely. He is still spawning but even if he is not, he cleans. Kind of like my wife. He also pulled up that gorg frag

Lol lets hope she dont find this thread ;P

Wow 24 years old? Grats! Thats awesome!

 

[FraggledRock]

You can always tell when the clown pair in breeding condition and is about to spawn by looking at the female. She will be fat with swollen stomach. Even right after she spawned her stomach still large but it will be engorged the few days before she spawn.

They have pit on a bit if weight. Ill look closer later if she is preggo lol

 

[FraggledRock]

Photo update







Possible egg laying?

 

[ThRoewer]

Photo update







Possible egg laying?

Looks like it.

 

[FraggledRock]

Looks like it.

Im so excited!!

What do i prepare?

 

[OrionN]

Clowns always spawned in the late afternoon.

 

[rhdoug]

Im so excited!!

What do i prepare?

For now, prepare yourself by doing some research. There is a lot of info about raising them in the fish breeding forum. Don't worry about the first few batches of eggs. (They will lay eggs one batch after another, at least mine do most of the time.) Raising clownfish is not a casual or easy thing, certainly not like raising guppies. But it is really cool to do. Good luck if you decide to try it!

Here is vid of my experience:

 

[ginpang]

Wow Rhdoug...thanks for posting. Very cool video! Once upon a time I had maroon larvea... Never got to the guppy looking stage[emoji53]