Surprise to me I think I have a pregnant clown

[extremeshannon]

Hello everyone,
I am new to having clown fish and my wife noticed how fat the female is. She is quit round. I think she maybe pregnant and I don't know where to start. I have a mated pair of ORA Black Ocellaris (Amphiprion ocellaris).

What should I do? I am researching now to figure this out.

 

[D-Nak]

Hello everyone,
I am new to having clown fish and my wife noticed how fat the female is. She is quit round. I think she maybe pregnant and I don't know where to start. I have a mated pair of ORA Black Ocellaris (Amphiprion ocellaris).

What should I do? I am researching now to figure this out.

Start by reading threads here:

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=86

:thumbsup:

I think more clowns are breeding in people's tanks than we think. Getting the female to lay eggs is the easy part. Raising the young, not so much. If you want to do it "right" be prepared to spend quite a bit of time and money to get a breeding and grow-out rack going, which not only includes the tanks with filtration, but also a rotifer culture and possibly phyto cultures, though I think newbies should use RGComplete.

 

[Azedenkae]

One thing you can do, which I like to do, is let the fish be. If they're a pair and she is 'pregnant' then they'll figure it out. My suggestion rather than frantically scurrying around organizing this and that, just watch it all unfold and see what happens.

They may not succeed the first time laying eggs and raising their young, but it'd be nice to watch anyways, and eventually they'll succeed.

Just be sure that she is 'pregnant' rather than suffering from some disease. Like bloat.

 

[shifty51008]

Have you noticed them picking at ar area around where they hang out? They will usually start cleaning off an area to lay their eggs.

Check out the breeding forum, there is alot of good info there, thats what i used along with reading the book clownfishies by joyce wilkerson when i started to breed my clowns.

Dont worry about trying to hurry to get everything setup if your planning to try and raise the fry as you will want to let the first few batches go, but once they start they will usually lay new eggs every 10 days.

 

[shifty51008]

One thing you can do, which I like to do, is let the fish be. If they're a pair and she is 'pregnant' then they'll figure it out. My suggestion rather than frantically scurrying around organizing this and that, just watch it all unfold and see what happens.

They may not succeed the first time laying eggs and raising their young, but it'd be nice to watch anyways, and eventually they'll succeed.

Just be sure that she is 'pregnant' rather than suffering from some disease. Like bloat.

Just thought i would point out the parents dont raise the fry, the parents lay the eggs and care for the eggs but once they hatch the fry are on their own and the parents will eat them if they get a chance.

 

[extremeshannon]

Thanks for all the good info. I did not plan on breeding. I will see what happens. I have a Warasse in there that will eat anything that comes in the tank. If they start laying eggs maybe I will set up a breeding tank or something.

 

[deangelr]

clownfish do not become 'pregnant'… External fertilization, so the term is 'gravid'