They (clownfish) did it again...this is not cool

[nightOwl]

I moved this to this forum today from the anenome and clownfish forum in the hopes of getting more responses on what I can do to help fix the bad parents...


Hi all,
My clowns spawned again today. So this is the second time I have seen it. It has been 28 days though. After what I saw a few minutes ago I may have missed one time if following the 12-18 day rule. This time they did not even let the eggs set around. As soon as they were laid they were eaten by the male or the female. Then the dumb male did the fertilizing dance like there was something there. They ate the first clutch back on April 23 so I was expecting to see some different results this time. I was counting so this one would have been well over 50 eggs, but I gave up aftrer seeing what was going on. Is this normal behavior? When do these little buggers become real parents? Any tips on things I could be doing would help.

Thanks,

Henry

_________

 

[purplehaze]

What and how often do you feed the pair...

 

[nightOwl]

purplehaze,
I feed a variety of foods...flakes (color enhancing), pellets, frozen (mysid, mysis, brine ), cut-up shrimp, formula one, some carnivor food, a home made blend...I think thats all. Oh and i soak all food in selcon, garlic, and zoe. I try to feed them every other day (so basically mon - fri) the weekends I dont feed unless im bored. I have a auto feeder that feeds twice a day a very small amount. I only have 5 fish in the tank. A yellow head jawfish, yellow tang, the two false clowns, and a mandarin. So i try not to overfeed the tank.

Thanks,

Henry

 

[dcall]

I feed my fish 3 times a day. These are somewhat small meals, to keep from over feeding them.

 

[Ehudd]

i feed my fish around 3 times a day. Every night they have a big belly.

 

[nightOwl]

Mine are pretty greedy as well. currently they get 2 meals a day on monday, wed, and friday. The other days just one from the auto feeder. Are any of your clown fish spawning?

Thanks,

Henry

 

[CCall]

I don't have any clownfish spawning ( still to little) but I have a pair of firefish that are spawning.
I feed them different types of food for the 3 meals a day.

 

[nightOwl]

Firefish spawing I bet that is pretty cool. Have you raised any of the young yet? What type of firefish? Did you buy a mated pair or just lucked up and got a male and female?

Thanks,

Henry

 

[purplehaze]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9985011#post9985011 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by nightOwl
purplehaze,
I feed a variety of foods...flakes (color enhancing), pellets, frozen (mysid, mysis, brine ), cut-up shrimp, formula one, some carnivor food, a home made blend...I think thats all. Oh and i soak all food in selcon, garlic, and zoe. I try to feed them every other day (so basically mon - fri) the weekends I dont feed unless im bored. I have a auto feeder that feeds twice a day a very small amount. I only have 5 fish in the tank. A yellow head jawfish, yellow tang, the two false clowns, and a mandarin. So i try not to overfeed the tank.

Thanks,

Henry

Add some cyclop eeze if you can..and you should saturate feed your pair at least three times a day, five times would be even better.

 

[nightOwl]

purplehaze,
Oh sorry I have the cyclopeeze in two forms...i have some pellet like stuff that is is irregular shaped that has that in it and also some freeze dried...its cool because my corals love it too. I went home at lunch and looked and I also have some sinking pellets and floating pellets I feed from time to time. I don't like the floating ones too much since it makes then have to go up to the surface to feed but they enjoy them just the same. So about 3-5 times a day is what I am seeing everyone do how small are these feedings and are they targeted for the clown fish only or just general feedings?

Thanks,

Henry

 

[Coraldynamics]

Hi there NightOwl, I have a pair that started out that way too. The first six nests were consumed as fast as it was put down... No matter what or how much they were fed, they still ate the nest. Their tank is situated where people walking around the store were scaring them, I think. I covered the front of their tank with a piece of foam-core and waited to see what happened. The very next nest was placed with no eating of the eggs.

I think it might be the "Feed a predator and it will come back" theory. If they saw humans as predators in their area, they would eat the nest to deprive the predator a meal. Therefore it would be less likely to hang around... Just my opinion.

I left them covered for about 8 weeks, it seems to have stopped the cycle. I have had three successful nests since they have been uncovered, and they have stopped eating the nests... Maybe they just needed to have a few runs at it... they are a new pair to laying...

Just food for thought...
Enjoy

 

[nightOwl]

Hey Stephen,
That's a good thing to know. I could be the cause...lol. I sat my footstool right in front of the tank and started taking pictures...no flash though. I guess they are like he is big he brings us food and yet he wants to eat our young...lol. I got bored when I noticed they were eating them as quick as they were laying them though. Then began to get irritated when the male did the silly fertilizing dance afterwards. Maybe they saw me as the preditor if that was the case they were making sure I was not eating a thing...lol. I will try to feed them more as that seems to be another piece of the puzzle. I have done some research today and along with some of the posts and found out feeding more is part of the problem. The eggs should look plumper than than mine did which some say is related to under feeding. I am however getting a better idea of the day of spawning behavior.

Thanks again for all the input I am receiving this is really helping me see what tips and tricks will help me eventually be able to post that I am raising some fry.

Thanks,

Henry

 

[CCall]

Firefish spawing I bet that is pretty cool. Have you raised any of the young yet? What type of firefish? Did you buy a mated pair or just lucked up and got a male and female?

I have not seen any fry yet but watch the female get large and small. I get the chance to watch them doing the spawn dance. They are fun to watch. They are red firefish. We bought these 2 because they were the only ones we could find for our sons 7th birthday.

 

[nightOwl]

Thats a pretty sweet 7th birthday gift if I do say so myself. This hobby is so addictive and being able to see things reproduce is amazing.


Thanks,

Henry

 

[purplehaze]

Are your clowns spawning on a live rock? Can it easily be removed? If not you will have to wait until the larvae hatch and scoop them out...PITA...
Your clown are not eating the eggs because they are being disturbed..they need more food. You need to feed them until they won t take any more food (saturation feeding).
Generally they consume their first few clutches.
Are they in a reef tank?

 

[nightOwl]

purplehaze,
They are spawning on the live rock. Looks like they can be easily removed as they were eating them with what looked like little effort. I will up the feedings and not sit infront of them when they are layinging eggs. Yea the tank is a reef tank. I don't have an anemone but they are hosting my candy cane coral .

Thanks,

Henry