fish breeding something in the air

Breeding fish release pheromones which is one of the reasons I don't run carbon in my parent system. We also noticed the phenomenon of no pairs laying eggs to 5 pairs laying within 15 days of each other. When I asked Matt Whittenrich about this when I saw him at MACNA last year, he told me about the pheromones.
I've also read a study that links an increase in water pH to the olfactory sensitivity to pre-ovulatory and post-ovulatory ovarian pheromones
 
always good to hear from you!

always good to hear from you!

thanks for chiming in here, Randy.

The ocean is so big and our aquariums so small. I have a difficult time believing carbon is going to significantly impact pheromones to the point fish will or won't breed.

The change in pH theory I'll buy. It's pretty common for a change in water chemistry to trigger a spawn. I keep windows open in my house whenever I can. We've had those pH discussions in this forum over the years.
IMO/IME the Cardinals got the big spawning boost from eating larval Clowns.

As previously discussed over the years in this forum, a food like PE Mysis boosts teleost levels in fishes and will often cause spawns...(along with cyano outbreaks LOL)
 
I doubt carbon would remove all the pheromones, but I'd put money on it removing some. Pheromones are very powerful. Running carbon should be a decision based on your goals. If you're running a breeding system, running carbon should probably be avoided. If you are trying to control organics and purify the water of you mixed reef, carbon would probably be a good idea.


I run carbon in my reef tank that has a pair of clownfish in it. I do not run carbon in my breeding setup (8 pairs of clowns) though.
 
i do have a 2lf reactor with about a cup of carbon running, but the pheromone thing sounds like it could be a reason, that and maybe the ph, i am going to monitor the ph on the days i do turn the a/c on and when i have the windows open, it has to be more then the eaten babies as one of the pairs wouldnt get any of them into their tank, but they are in the same water. so the other 2 suggestions might be the answer.
 
NirvanaFan said:
I doubt carbon would remove all the pheromones, but I'd put money on it removing some. Pheromones are very powerful.
Click to expand...
no doubt about it and that's why I think carbon should be removed as a suspect.

It's never made a difference in any of my breeders.

That these fishes shared the same water is a clue that pH (and/or possibly pheromone levels) played a part in a synchronized spawning.

I'll buy pH affected the breeders... but STILL... there has to be fuel to reproduce... and that would come from foods.

There's another yet to be mentioned possibility: if the quantity/quality of the foods didn't change... there's also a possibility that reproduction was being SURPRESSED. Could low pH surpress reproduction in marine fishes?
 
How old are the clowns in question? Is it possible they finally reached maturity and it was "their time?" If they're anywhere from a year to two years old, maybe they finally reached maturity, and pH, pheromones, and increased feeding had nothing to do with it.

I'd bet that the cardinals started breeding because of the nutritional boost they got from eating the clownfish larvae. Considering bangaii tend to feed at night (why they have big eyes), they could have easily eaten a bunch of the larvae.

Provided that the pH isn't very high or very low, I don't think it will suppress spawning. You would see problems in a mixed reef for sure. I haven't ever tested my breeding setup for pH, and there is plenty of spawning going on.
 
The clowns are about 2 years old and currently this is their second batch of eggs due to hatch wed night.

And both sets of cardinals this was the first time they decided to breed as well, one set is only about a month old, those are the ones in the same water but isolated from the display,, and the display cardinals are about a year old they were bought very little in size when i first got them.
 
Last night i did notice the male in the display no longer had eggs in his mouth, i try to not feed as much while they are holding as to not tempt them, but i guess the little bit of food i did feed tempted him too much, i did strip the eggs from the isolated pair and i have them now in my diy tumbler, hoping to avoid the same outcome as the display pair.

I have read it is not uncommon for males to spit or eat the first couple batches of eggs, so we will see what happens in the future batches.

As of now i have a batch of about 25- 30 eggs tumbling and hopefully they all hatch.
 
Yeah i am gonna try and get them goin in a 5 gallon then i have 3 other 10gallons i am plumbing into my 40 breeder to try and raise them,, if i can keep them alive, i also plan on using these tanks for the cardinals as well, maybe 2 for the clowns and 1 for the cardinals
 
The clowns will be fine in a 5 gallon for a while. You'll have to watch for aggression after a month or so though. Once they get past meta and start to have personalities a bit, they will start to fight.

Good luck!
 
Yeah i figured after meta i would move them to 10 gallons then when i had 2 i would put them in my 40 breeder
 
question for anyone who has don the clown breeding before,,

my clowns layed eggs last week tuesday, so i was under the impression that wed they should have hatched,, well it is friday night now 2 day slater and they still havent hatched, they are still there big silver eyes the clowns keep taking care of them but no signs of hatching, i have had all lights and pums off for over an hour and still nothing,, last night i left all lights and pumps off for over 4 hours, but still nothing.. is this common?

what should i do?
 
well they are hatching now,, this is harder than i thought, im only able to scoop out like 3 or 4 at a time they keep darting away from the specimine cup lol.. i think i am going to be here all night collecting these babies.
 
Crap i got to get that book to you. Gets tricky or u need a big dose of luck. When to transfer, farting with salinity, green water density. Its truly amazing that fjsh survive at all.
 
yeah i was using a flash light.. i have about 30 dead right now, so i just siphoned them out of the bottom of the tank, the rest are swimming around like crazy!
 
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