how common is clown spawning?

[PapaKlix]

i came home today to find my false percs spawning right next to their host BTA. just curious how common this is? should i do anything? i'm not expecting anything to actually hatch, should i?

 

[LukFox]

If you have a mature pair in a comfortable setting (no predators, good food and water, etc) then spawning is easy for ocellaris clowns. Now that they've started it should happen pretty frequently, and they'll figure out their own schedule. If you don't collect the fry as they become free swimming they will not survive. They'll actually hatch and you'll see little babies even if they're still stuck on their surface, but they'll become fish food in a display tank. You don't need to do anything unless you want to raise them. Do a search if you're interested, but you'll need special food and separate grow out tanks.

 

[ocellaris123]

My pair of black ocellaris also spawned today for the first time. Here is a picture

 

[NexDog]

I had a Clarkii pair for 3 years, never saw them spawn. Then one day I found the male on the floor. I got the female a new mate and introduced last May I think and they were spawning in October. So hit and miss again. My pair spawn every 3 weeks I think.

 

[PapaKlix]

If you have a mature pair in a comfortable setting (no predators, good food and water, etc) then spawning is easy for ocellaris clowns. Now that they've started it should happen pretty frequently, and they'll figure out their own schedule. If you don't collect the fry as they become free swimming they will not survive. They'll actually hatch and you'll see little babies even if they're still stuck on their surface, but they'll become fish food in a display tank. You don't need to do anything unless you want to raise them. Do a search if you're interested, but you'll need special food and separate grow out tanks.

thanks for your response... unfortunately, my wife is quite grossed out by this (don't ask). in a smaller tank (80 gal), could spawning be responsible for a drop in pH? i left yesterday at 12:30PM (MH on at 12:00PM) and came home at 4:30PM, pH was 7.9 when i left but had dropped to 7.6 when i got home. my tank hasn't seen pH this low since i was fighting my calcium reactor 2 months ago (dosing 2-part now). i re-calibrated the probe and it was reading correctly, here are the things that were different:

• wife was hosting a baby shower so there were about 12 women sucking the air out of the house
• there were 2 candles burning about 8 feet away from the tank
• clowns were spawning

i've since connected an air tube to my skimmer and put the end out the window, tank pH is back up to 8.0 and i expect it to rise to 8.2 or 8.3 but this isn't really a viable long term option for me. i'm going to post this in the reef chem forum too, but i was wondering if the spawning could somehow be responsible.

 

[snorvich]

Of the events you mentioned, the candles, if scented, could account for a pH drop; however, I would always suspect the pH probe first. The clowns spawning are immaterial although once they start, they continue about every two weeks. The 12 women "sucking air" are irrelevant to your tank; however if they were talking about you, there may be other issues.

:jester:

 

[LobsterOfJustice]

Having a lot of people over can certainly drop pH - big production of CO2 makes its way into the tank.

 

[danch]

Of the events you mentioned, the candles, if scented, could account for a pH drop; however, I would always suspect the pH probe first. The clowns spawning are immaterial although once they start, they continue about every two weeks. The 12 women "sucking air" are irrelevant to your tank; however if they were talking about you, there may be other issues.

:jester:

The candles will produce CO2, as will the respiration of a large number of people.

When we installed new windows, the pH of my reef tank dropped by .2 or so, simply because of slowed exchange of air with the outside.