My clowns laid eggs. What should I do to save them?

[fishwonder]

I have a community tank. My clowns share the tank with 1 yellow tank, 1 coral beauty, 1 singapore angle, 1 dragonet. I saw my clown laid eggs under the rose bta. What do I do to save and keep the new hatched? What can I feed? How do I care? Do I have to catch them and bring them to another tank? I only have 1 tank right now. Thank you so much for help.

 

[msman825]

look around for joyce wilkersons book called clownfish very helpful book

 

[bues0022]

Congrats!

Joyce's book is decent background info, but it's 13 years old now, and new advances have been made in that time. I hope a new book comes out sometime soon so people can stop recommending such outdated information. Unfortunately, at this point there's nothing you can really do for the eggs for this batch. You don't have much of a chance to catch any live larvae in a community tank. If they laid once, they're likely to lay again - so the best you can do is get setup for next time. In a nutshell: you're going to need phyto and rotifers to feed the larvae. A rearing tank (or multiple for several batches). It's also easier to get the eggs into your rearing tank to hatch there if you can train your fish to lay their eggs on a tile. There's methods to do this, try searching for a thread.

That's some very basic info. If you search around this forum, you'll be able to find some really good threads on what people have done, and what works best.

Good luck, have fun, and the work will be worth it.

 

[phil519]

Congrats!

Joyce's book is decent background info, but it's 13 years old now, and new advances have been made in that time. I hope a new book comes out sometime soon so people can stop recommending such outdated information. Unfortunately, at this point there's nothing you can really do for the eggs for this batch. You don't have much of a chance to catch any live larvae in a community tank.

I think the joyce book is still relevant today. I also catch my larvae in a community tank with no problems. It's certainly harder to do but it's not impossible.

If you can get your hands on a rotifer culture and get that going - that would be ideal. You don't need a separate tank for rotifers- an empty salt bucket will work in a pinch. you will need to go out and get a 5g or 10g tank to house the fry.

The breeding forum has great info and threads there.

 

[tufacody]

If your interest is raising clownfish, be prepared for a lot of work, but it is very rewarding. Wilkersons book is still very relevant, although there have been some advancements in keeping rotifers w/o the necessity of green water.

If your interest is "saving" the eggs, be prepared for regular spawns now, about twice a month. Once clowns start, they are usually very regular.