Inducing clowns to spawn. how did you do it?

fishieness

fishieness

New member
okay. so i have a pair of ocellarus. ive had them for a few months.... since feb i think. anyways, before me, they beloonged to someone else for 2 years but never spawned.
currently they share by 40 gallon breeder with a mandarin dragonette (please dont say anything, i have 100 pounds of lr ). I have ben wanting them to spawn and try raising the fry, now taht i am out of school, i would have time to do it. The othe day my gf came over and was looking at my tank and asked when they will make "little nemos". I said i wasnt sure and was told it would jsut be a matter of time, but i want it to happen asap during the summer. I then made the mistake of showing her some of Oceana's clown pics when they are like 1/2 cm big and she went insane about them. I have always wanted the to spawn, and i think now is the time sinec i finaly would have time. Plus maybe she can approve of my hobby if she can see the "little Nemos" haha.
So I was wondering what i can do to help them spawn: In Joyce Wilkerson's book it suggests:
-increase photoperiod form 12 hours to 14 hours (i did this a few days ago and will elave it there for another month before i switch back)
-increase water temp to 80 degrees F (it is always between 78-80)
-decrease specific gravity to as low as 1.017 (not oging to happen because it is my reef)
-add a nightlight (i have 4 1-watt LED moonlights that are on every night)
-offer live adult brine to your pair at least twice per week (i have started feeding cyclose eeze twice per week, woudl this be okay?)
-flood the tank with newly hatched brine shrimp for three consecutive days to simulate a plankton bloom(i have thought of doing this but dont want to cause an amonia spike)
-make a significant water change of 40-50% (i dont want to risk shocking my sps
- increase water movememnt with a powerhead (in there now i have a HOB skimmer, a 300 gph filter, and 4 300 gph powerheads that are on a red sea wave maker, but a lot of the time, all 4 are on, so i dont have a flow issue)
-increase redox with KMnO4. im not sure where i coudl buy this. but i would assume that having a skimmer would provide all the oxygen i would need correct?


i was wondering if anyone has any tricks, hints, or tips to help me out here. if you have any questions about my system dont hesitate to ask.
thank you all so much!


PS: i know it will probably jsut take time, but im wondering if there is anything i can do to speed things up a little.
 
try target feeding to fatten them up, anyway if they have never bred before and you have only had them for 5 months they may not be ready yet. give them another 8-12 months tops and I bet they will breed for you like clockwork.
If you dont already have lunar lights get them, they are great and your corals will love them too.
 
Clownfish spawn in reef tanks all the time but it is not the ideal setting to hurry them to do it. As you can already see some of the techniques employed to encourage them are not consistent with reef keeping, ie massive feedings and simulated plankton blooms. I think you are doing just about everything you reasonably can and will just have to wait. You don't say what you feed them and how often. 3-5 times pers day with high quality fresh & frozen foods would not be too much. It's a case of reef or fish, which is more important to you? Are you willing to spend some $ and beef up the filtration so you can feed heavily and yet maintain reasonable water quality for your corals? You say you have a HOB skimmer, I can't think of any HOB on the market that is gonna do much for a 40 gallon tank except maybe the large Remora, if it's a cpr backpac I think your'e just kidding yerself :D
 
right now i have a coralife super skimmer rated for a 65 gallon tank. however, i am in the process of building a 30 gallon sump/refugium where i am going to put an ETSS evolution 500.
i am spot feeding them all different things 2-3 times a day: here is the list:
-they mainly eat life spectrum pellets
but i also feed a lot of:
-formula one flakes
-frozen mysis
-some krill
-squid
-formula one
-prime reef
-cyclose eeze
-and even once in a while the frozen stuff is beefed up with Zoe.

i do already have moon lights
and would it relay take another 8-12 months for them to be established in my tank? wow..... i didnt know it would take THAT long. The person before me had them for 2 years so i would imagine that they have reached sexual maturity? in 8-12 months ill be getting ready to go to college:(
thanks for the replys people
 
No one is saying it will take that long, just that it could or they may even never spawn. It's pair by pair, it's not really a science.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7597079#post7597079 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by David M
No one is saying it will take that long, just that it could or they may even never spawn. It's pair by pair, it's not really a science.
Click to expand...
yeah, i had known it owuld take some time and that they may never spawn, but i figured they would in the first year or never. I jsut didnt realize.
thanks for the help guys!
i think once i get my sump and new skimmer going ill try the live baby brine.
 
You have to think like a fish, they want to give their babies the absolute best chance they can to survive. Almost all fish spawn in the summer months. And any fish has to be fat and happy before it will release hundreds of miniature food competition into it's environment.

Seems simple, but my clowns started spawning about a month after I started thinking about it like this. Simulate summer, run your reef at 82 for a bit so there is a warming trend. The increased photo period is to simulate the longer days of summer. The plankton bloom means there is plenty of food for developing fry, this was the final "trigger" for mine....chasing live brine shrimp got them in the mood :D

Mine also had to have a "territory" or home. They use to be free roaming all the time, I rearranged the rockwork and made caves and crevices, and they chose one as "theirs" and rarely leave it much. Once they choose a spot (have they?) make sure there is something available for them to lay there eggs on near by like a nice flat rock, shell, tile, something.

Truth is, they'll spawn when THEY are ready. All you can really do is give them all the environmental triggers that tell them it's TIME to spawn. Tankmates can have an effect on them as well. If there is a fish that harrases or chases them a lot, or runs them out of a territory, it will affect them also.

You might play some Barry White and light some candles as well ;)

Jason
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7598844#post7598844 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by stykthyn
at 2 years they are just now reaching maturity, give them a little more time. all will be good
Click to expand...

I couldn't agree more. My pair JUST REACHED 2 years old. Like clockwork they spawned.

The first batch of eggs didn't last 3 days. One week later they laid the second batch. 8-9 days later, the eggs hatched. I'm not raising them, so they were food for the rest of the reef. However, like clockwork, about 3 days later they laid their 3rd batch of eggs. These hatched too. Then the 4th batch was laid 3 days after that. These eggs are the ones that are in my tank right now.

Ok, what can you do that I haven't seen listed here yet? My clowns searched the tank for the 'right' spot to breed. Clowns need a smooth surface to lay their eggs. Many people put a piece of ceramic floor tile in the tank. It's smooth, and the clowns seem to go for it. When the eggs are about 7 days old, the reefkeeper will take the tile out and put it in the hatching tank for the eggs to hatch there instead of having to catch the fry.

Now keep in mind, I have not done any of this. At this time I have no interest in raising fry. However, my clowns chose a 14" wall hammer to use as their 'egg carrier'. It is a smooth calcerous surface. For about 3 months before they laid their first batch of eggs, both clowns would spend hours just rubbing their bodies on the smooth surface of the wall hammer. They were apparently preparing it for their 'needs'.

When they were ready they did it on their own. No coaxing from me. However, if you wanted to soften the lighting, play some Barry White tunes on the CD, pour them a glass of wine and leave the room, maybe that'll help. :lol:

Good luck and don't try to rush mother nature.

swimmer
 
Do you guys think the 2 year mark is a standard?? I never got that impression from the Wilkerson or Hoff books and the only pair Ive formed so far from my own stock started nesting at 16 months. I always thought they were good to go anytime after the first year. I remember reading from Joyce something like "this years larvae are next years broodstock" :)
 
i will try putting a tile in. There is a smoother hammer coral right near it but a tile would be better.
This was something else i wanted to ask. Right now they are hosting a small piece of anthilia, but during the day, they dont stay in it. They jsut sleep in it and beg for food all day. haha. Even when their bellies are stuffed.
as far as anything else harassing them, the only other things i have in there are a mandarin dragonette, and a CBS. The CBS doesnt harass them at all, but does live in a cave right near their anthillia, could this maybe freak them out enough to not lay eggs?
thanks again for the time
and i actualy have said the barry white joke to a few people before;)
 
I would not say the 2 year mark is a standard. It could easily be coincidental that stykthyns' and my clowns spawn at similar times. Like I said, they were preparing their 'site' for a few months before the first spawn.

Good luck fishi. I don't think you can rush this process, just provide optimal conditions.

swimmer
 
well, i jsut walked in the room and they were hosting, i guess they just go out to beg for food which would explain why i always see them out.


and thanks guys. i was jsut wondering if there was something that i wasnt doing. Once i get the bigger skimmer and sump i will try the brine shrimp and maybe that will be the right conditions. and if not, then so be it.
thanks everyone!
 
The cbs will add pressure to the situation. The clowns will vigorously defend the nest by day but at night that shrimp is gonna have one thing on his mind, a nice snack :smokin: Not saying it has to go, my clowns bred regularly in a 125 with 6-8 shrimp, just saying it adds challenge.
 
yeah, he doesnt relay threaten them. he mosetly just goes around hunting for amphiopods and tries to pick up a pellet or flake or any other food that my clowns miss. At night ive seen him go up to them and the female was in his claws, but it almost looked more like he was cleaning her. He didnt hold onto her, she was just in between them. She just lazily swam away. Im not sure. if you think it will add too much pressure i could put him in my 29 and get a few sexy shrimp! ive always wanted some of those, but i have a very small dwarf lion and a valentini in my 29. The valentini hasnt done anything, but i bet the lion would if given the chance.
 
but im wondering, since his den is right nect to the anthillia, if maybe they wouldnt lay eggs because they thing he would eat them?


PS: my best friend's name is david M.....crazy....
 
My clowns killed my cleaner shrimp soon after they started laying eggs. I assume they killed it because half of its dead body was on one side of the nest, and half was on the other side of the nest. The two of them must have grabbed on and pulled in opposite directions! They are Ocellaris, so they must have been really mad!
 
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