Tired of my clowns spawing...

[Pool_shark]

I recently bought my first sw tank used, and it came with several fish including two clowns. I don't know the exact species, but they are your typical nemo looking orange/white ones. One is twice the size of the other, so female and male, and they have been together for 2 or 3 years. I aquascaped a good sized LR cave at one end of the 90 gal tank, and that is where they have chosen as their home.

What I have seen is that they spawn so frequently, CONTINUALLY actually, that we never even see the male because he stays inside the cave tending to the eggs, which we can see stuck to the side of the LR. The male almost never comes out, not even to eat, with the rest of the fish when I feed in the mornings. The female spends about 80% of her time in the cave also, but comes out to eat daily. Not only is this anoying because my two young girls want to see the clown fish, but I don't know how the male survives since he does not come out to eat. I even added an anemony, but they pay absolutely no attention to it.

This has been the case for a good 2 months now. Is this normal?

 

[Dapg8gt]

Yeah pretty much it is. Usually it is a wanted thing in a captive tank. But I know where your coming from kinda. Not the part of not seeing them but mine (ocellaris) have been spawning for years and they are pretty rough on anything that is hosting them. To the point of making my RBTA move away from the abuse. Once I removed the anemone they chose to have a torch coral host them that they killed.. Now they have taken to a large hammer coral that is not opening up due to them constantly biting it and ramming it. I've fragged a piece of the hammer and put it in my frag tank to save a piece of it but I know once they kill it they will be going after my pearl bubble coral. Actually I already see the female scoping it out. Don want to get rid of the clowns as they are over 11 years old but I have come to the conclusion that I prob won't be having any Coral that have tentacles in the future.

So long story short yeah it's normal LOl. Sorry for the rant

 

[Sugar Magnolia]

Easy fix, remove one of the clowns.

 

[Pool_shark]

I have also heard that removing/rearranging the cave structure might break the cycle, but then again, the entire tank was recently torn down and re-assembled and they began/resumed this behavior in the new environment within about 30 days...

I take it that it's pretty easy to get a pair of clowns to breed?

 

[Dapg8gt]

It's really not all that easy to get them to spawn. Some do and some don't. I have a friend with a pair of gold bar maroons that are almost as old as mine and have never spawned.

 

[Pool_shark]

Just my luck. Thanks for the info!

 

[larac]

My female Perc is very sensitive to changes. Rearranging her rock work, having lights on longer than normal for maintenance etc.
It causes her to stop laying eggs for a couple of months, which is fine with me since she's too aggressive when spawning.

 

[BayouCorals]

Sell them! I am sure some one in your area would pay extra for a proven spawning pair. Then buy a new younger pair from your lfs. Everybody is happy.

 

[ehaleyjr18]

Pool shark, I would love to have a spawning pair. If you are desperate, contact me and we'll see about a swap. I have several pairs that are smaller.

 

[Anemone]

Easy fix, remove one of the clowns.

Yeah, you could do that. Or, get a Bible and marry the pair. Shortly thereafter, they will stop all spawning behavior. Really.





Kevin

 

[SSprince]

I've never had a spawning pair! Consider yourself fortunate...Try closing the cave?

 

[Zagzoo71]

I have a pair of Clarkii's, had them for about 1 yr, had to move them to a new tank.. within 1 month in new tank, they spawn now every 13-15 days. Also they beat the crap out of the RBTA to the point it basically shrivels up into nothing.. then inflates later in the evening when the actinics come on.

 

[jscarlata]

Yeah, you could do that. Or, get a Bible and marry the pair. Shortly thereafter, they will stop all spawning behavior. Really.





Kevin

You sure as heck got that right Kevin!

To the OP, what about putting the cave in the fornt of the tank where you can see them easily? When i re-scaped my tank to make a spot for my Gigantea, i made sure to make it in the front of the tank where it would be easy for all to see. Luckily, the lighting and flow were righ, and the gig hasnt moved, so now my pair of clowns are in their nem right in front of the tank...the rockwork corves behind the nem so they should have plenyt of places to spawn