Getting Ocellaris pair to spawn

[JoeW]

6 months ago, I bought a pair of Ocellaris at the LFS. The female is about 2.5 inches. Very healthy, I think, but not interested in spawning. They reside alone in a 100 gal Rubbermaid tub, plumbed into my 700 gal system. I have a mated pair of Maroons in the 400 gal community tank, who spawned regularly for several years. The female, who is quie old, is on her third partner that I know of. I haven't seen eggs in about a year, but they live amongst many rose anemones and stay out of site. Their habits suggest to me that they are spawning, but out of site. Maybe not. Years ago, I collected their eggs and got some fry to adulthood, but I just didn't have the time for it. Now I want to try again with the Ocellaris. Water quality is very good in the whole system. Corals in the community tank grow well. I have only one in the brood tank, the offspring of a leather that is 16 years old, 2-3 feet in diameter. The Ocellaris sleep in it, although not together. 12 hour photoperiod. Temp 77. Specific gravity 1025. Feed New Spectrum twice a day. Live brine shrimp every 2-3 days. Occasional frozen food. Sand and rock in community tank and brood tank. Lots of cyano and aiptasia in brood tank only. Have another bare bottom 100 gal tank, ready to receive Ocellaris (and maybe the huge leather) when and if I decide to move them. Where should I begin in order to get the Ocellaris to spawn?

 

[Wilrok_1]

You can read pickles guide to clown breeding very informative , I would separate in smaller controlled tank , raise temperature to around 80 , feed four times a day lots of protein so they don't eat eggs , and keep water as clean as possible .

 

[OrionN]

I would not use live Brine shrimps. I would feed them at least twice a day with flakes as much as they can eat. Alternate/add frozen Ocean Plankton to food some time. Dry food are much more caloric dense than frozen. For Clowns variety of dry foods also much more nutritious than any of the frozen food in term of the complete nutrient sources.

IMO, Live Brine Shrimp is an useless but very expensive food. I only use it to get hard to feed fish start feeding.

 

[ThRoewer]

I'm not the greatest fan of flakes, but feed them. They were invented with surface feeding freshwater fish in mind, so they aren't a great fit for the feeding habits of reef fish which feed more from the water column or the substrate.

I find slowly sinking pellets more suitable for most of the fish we keep. Nutrition wise they should not be much different.

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[CoralsAddiction]

12 hour photoperiod. Temp 77. Specific gravity 1025. Feed New Spectrum twice a day.

12 hrs is good. You should up the temperature to at least 80 to mimic spring time when clowns breed in the wild. That's what I read happens and have kept my tanks 80 degrees+ and it's working.

 

[OrionN]

I'm not the greatest fan of flakes, but feed them. They were invented with surface feeding freshwater fish in mind, so they aren't a great fit for the feeding habits of reef fish which feed more from the water column or the substrate.

I find slowly sinking pellets more suitable for most of the fish we keep. Nutrition wise they should not be much different.

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I thawed frozen food in RO water. Add flakes. Mixed them up and dumped into the tank. No surface food to go into the overflow. The flakes will stay in suspension far longer than pellets. The way I feed my tank, none of the food really settle into the bottom except for rare cases. In about 10 minutes all the foods are gone, so sign of the feeding other than full fishes and a lot of the invert get their share also. I do not turn the flow down. It just a free for all scramble for food.