Could our Clownfish possibly have mated?

[JusJim]

I have a fairly new tank, which has had two clown fish for about 5 to 6 weeks now.

The larger of the two fish has by far been the "weirdest" of the two. Early on it had a white film on it's body, which cleared up fine within a couple of days.

A few days ago it was "hosting" in our featherduster.

All afternoon and tonight it has been "hovering" under a rock ledge. It did dart out one time during feeding time.

There are no appearant spots or anything on it. It doesn't seem to be breathing heavy, or anything weird other than hovering under the rock.

All other fish, and water params are fine.

Is it possible that the clownfish have mated and it is protecting the eggs?

This is the larger of the two, and I realize that there is virtually no chance of them (the eggs/babies) surviving, but just curious if this could be what is going on.

 

[CarmieJo]

You might want to ask this in the Anemone & Clownfisf forum...

 

[Amphiprion]

I doubt it. The two should be picking at a particular rock, cleaning it. You should be able to see both of them doing it (primarily the male [smaller one]). The eggs would also be visible as bright orange or greenish eggs.

 

[Konadog]

If they had a clutch of eggs, you would probable see them, they are very easy to spot, bright orange. Usually a day or two before they lay eggs, they will spend time preparing the area that they are going to lay there eggs by biting and washing the area.

It sounds like your clown is just acting weird

 

[Toddrtrex]

The eggs would look similar to this. (from my GSM pair)

or like this, this was taken during the middle of the spawn.

HTH

 

[Cprowler]

I agree with the last three posts.

 

[jer77]

The female will lay the eggs first and then the male fertilizes them. They may be exibiting some pre-spawning behavior though. The female usually acts more aggressive towards the other males.