Odd Clown fish Behavior

J

John_A

New member
I have had 2 clowns in my tank for awhile now good year atleast and the past few weeks they both have been hiding inside my rocks never see them come out untill lights go out.Then they come out and just swim around the lil cave they hide in.Tonight the smaller one was twitching around in the water while the bigger of the two stayed by this rock both never really leaving the rock they hide behind during the day.I have wondered if they were trying to mate or something but have never had this happen.Any ideas? Only fish are the 2 clowns,few snails, and 1 hermit.:fun2:
 
The shakeing is a sign of submission. It should be the smaller of the two submitting to the larger one. The largest, most dominant becomes the female. Clowns are hermaphordites. I cannont remember if they are born as males or just sexually immature, but they will turn into females only if the most dominant in a group. I believe that they may be able to turn into females if they are solitary for a very long time, but that I cannot back up with anything that I have read recently. They are more than likely attempting to court or establish dominance at the least. It is normal.
 
ah Ok Was just wondering as they have been together for awhile now and just seem to hide all day Like if you didnt look on the side of the tank through the rockwork you wouldnt know I had any fish at all but then they come out at night they stay together going in and out of there little cave and yes it is the smaller one doing the shaking and twitching the bigger one just kinda swims close by and watchs
 
Check if there eggs in the hole. The twitching is just the male showing off to the female. Trying to show her who's the boss. But most of the time the male will take care of the eggs. And when the female come to over fanning them the male don't like her to take over. And will start twitching. Hopefully you have some eggs.
Mine lay eggs every 2-3 weeks.
 
I've thought bout checking only thing that has stopped me is I would have to remove a few piece of rock to get to the hole might do that tomorrow if I dont find anything I read somewhere that its a good idea to put a piece of tile in the tank for them to lay them on so they can be removed but with them being the only fish in there would I have to worry about moving them?
 
ameares8 said:
The shakeing is a sign of submission. It should be the smaller of the two submitting to the larger one. The largest, most dominant becomes the female. Clowns are hermaphordites. I cannont remember if they are born as males or just sexually immature, but they will turn into females only if the most dominant in a group. I believe that they may be able to turn into females if they are solitary for a very long time, but that I cannot back up with anything that I have read recently. They are more than likely attempting to court or establish dominance at the least. It is normal.
Click to expand...

I agree with this to. But I bet there's egg in the hole.
 
I will have to check tomorrow then! This is exciting! :D will suck if they are just doing a lil dirty dancing tho hahaha
 
John_A said:
I've thought bout checking only thing that has stopped me is I would have to remove a few piece of rock to get to the hole might do that tomorrow if I dont find anything I read somewhere that its a good idea to put a piece of tile in the tank for them to lay them on so they can be removed but with them being the only fish in there would I have to worry about moving them?
Click to expand...

Yes they will eat there young to.
 
oh darn hmm now I gotta figure out if i do find eggs where to put them doh! heh Zef do you notice any change in the eating habits when this happens? I would guess it does change somewhat
 
Not much just the male fans the eggs while the female goes up and eats. But I have 10 other fish in the tank. I would say just the male don't eat much.

Best thing to use for them to lay eggs on is a small ceramic flower pot
 
ok say that I find eggs is there a certian size tank they need to go in or can i just get a 10 gallon tank to use
 
A 10 gal is good. But it's alot of work. And need to do water change every day and start a green water (Rotifers). There's alot of forums about this and Matt from SA is always on one of them. Can't remember witch one.
http://www.breedclownfish.com/forum/clownfish-breeding.html
The link above I got alot of help from people.
Good luck if you try.
And I got some eggs looks like ther going hatch Friday or Saturday. I'll let you have.
 
The website matt is on is MOFIB. That is where I started going to study breeding. My male breeder died, so I gave up that pair. Hopefully my other pair will start the jig soon. Do not expect to keep this batch alive John. The first few clutches will have low numbers of healthy larvae and if you are already not prepared for them to hatch by the time they lay the eggs you are usually too late. If you are interested in breeding them check out MOFIB and get ready to read for several hours. Good Luck! :D
 
The biggest downfall of raising the Fry is the cost of all that you need to raise them! I had Fang Tooth Blennies laying eggs and after i found out how much the foods are i just forgot about trying to raise them.
Bill
 
Yup, costs around $200 to start your rotifer cultures and to get the Nnanochloroposis and/or Pavlova to feed to them.
 
Well I have Sad News to report this morning After Getting up and checking out my tank Like I always do before lights on I noticed my Male had passed in the night and was stuck to the intake of a power head :( Still No sign of the female as I'll have to check for her after lights on
 
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