true perculars pair lay eggs every month

[Godsmack00]

As the title says, they are very unclown like with their random egg laying. They are 4 1/2 years old and I have had them since 6 months. They first laid eggs this year in Jan and immediately ate them. Every laying since, the female slowly picks them off and eats them. The biggest clutch I have seen might have been 100 eggs; however they are all gone after 36 hours. I have read hundreds of forums on clown fish and haven't seen anything about clowns NOT laying eggs every 11-13 days when they actually start laying. My male is missing a pelvic fin from birth (birth defect I guess) and am wondering if maybe he can't get the job done. "œOh a real Nemo" gets very old. So I guess I am wondering if anyone has a similar experience. I am not necessary looking for answers but wondering if this is normal. Tank parameters are all very good in my 29 Biocube. I would love to try to raise the fry if the eggs ever last that long. Thanks for any info"¦ First time long time by the way"¦

 

[Cleancoupe]

My old pair would lay them and they would hatch in 8 days. After they hatched they would lay them again in about 2 or 3 days.

 

[OrionN]

What are you feeding them? For clown fish to lay eggs regularly and have good eggs (well develop or they will just eat the eggs that are not going to hatch) they must have a well round diet, most of which should be variety of dry food. I feed them 2 times a day before they lay eggs like clockwork and the eggs will develop until hatch.
Other people use frozen food also but I mostly use dry food.

 

[Godsmack00]

I am only feeding dry food, Formula One Flakes by Ocean Nutrition about twice a day. I use to feed all sorts of frozen food but I had a little hydroid problem that blew up when frozen was used. What do you use/recommend for dry food? I only have one other fish, a chalk bass so I can adjust my feeding with little issue. Thx

 

[Cleancoupe]

I feed them a mix of frozen brine, krill & mysis. I also feed them dry pellets.

 

[Godsmack00]

Mine won't touch Krill, clams, or anything with veggies in it. I wanted to try Rod's Food but no one sells it around here and the shipping cost is more then the food.

 

[saltyjo]

My true percs did not lay eggs until November of 2011 when they were also a bit over 4 1/2 years old. several of their first clutches were eaten by the male and I never thought they would have a viable nest. But finally in February of this year their clutches seemed like clockwork. So I got rotifers ready and I tried to raise 2 small clutches that were fertilized and hatched. I have one that has survived and is about 3 1/2 months old now and in a nano tank. I have drooled over other peoples posts of first time sucesses that have raised 20, 30 even 100 fry. Since the last batch that i managed to raise 1 little clown, the adults havent had a clutch make it 8 days or even look fertilized. I feed extremely well, frozen, live (brine shrimp, rotifers), pellets, and flake all with selcon and garlic added. Tons of variety. Still nothing. I would mix up their diet and check your temperature. They seem to do best around 80-81 degrees.
I hope you have better luck that I did.
Jo

 

[Godsmack00]

Thank you saltyjo

My temp runs at 81 to 82. My clowns are now 4 1/2 years old and started laying eggs at 4 years of age. It's encouraging to hear it took a while for your clowns to finally get a good clutch even when feeding them well. As we speak, my pair laid another clutch but the female ate them within minutes of attaching them to the LR. I plan on ordering some new food to see if a varied diet helps, because since I gave up feeding frozen about a year ago, they have only had flake food. The love the flake food and have great color too! Thx again