Yes! Our inter-racial clowns layed eggs!!! Oh my - what to do to keep them alive....

[ocfishaddicts]

we are very excited our orange & white clown (percula) and black & white clown (ocellaris ) have been paired for a while and laid eggs yesterday. they laid them on a shell that we can easily remove and try hatch/raise the babies...

i am torn on trying to raise them and nervous that i'll kill them in the process, but then again the alternative is rather bleak if i don't. soooooo, i am going to try and do it... will be doing research and also our fish maintenance guy/LFS just had their same pair lay eggs yesterday too! will be getting the baby special food from them....

anyway, i am open to suggestions, support, advise and well wishes.

warm regards,

ocfishaddicts

 

[bartek101]

congratulations!!!, the babys will be very interesting, good luck....

 

[Lariviere]

Congrats for the eggs !

But i think your orange one is an ocellaris too. Not really sure, but he looks like a. occelaris. Perculas are little darker next to the white bands.

 

[ocfishaddicts]

btw, we joke about the "inter racial" as she also hangs out a maroon on the other side of the tank --- she even went over to him during her spawning... she is very funny and friendly. i have a video of them spawning, but seem to be unable to post here or youtube. will try and figure it out. thanks for letting us share and your interest/support.

 

[ocfishaddicts]

thanks for the replies... it will be very interesting to see what the babies will turn out like... both parents have very nice markings - black one has a solid black face and the orange has great black line... and yes, i am not sure of whether she is a percula or an ocel ... was checking http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clownfish for the "easiest" way to distinguish the two species is the fact that A. percula has 10 spines in the first dorsal fin and A. ocellaris has 11, which is a more reliable distinction than color patterns. The A. Oscellaris does not have thick black edging outlining the fins.[2] bottom line conclusion, she is a silly orange and white clown that likes both black and maroon clowns =)

 

[DJREEF]

Jungle fever. That's what you got. Jungle fever.

DJ

 

[bues0022]

While counting the spines is the most definitive determination, there are color patterns on your orange one that make it almost certainly an ocellaris. First, the brownish coloration is typically seen in hypermelanistic ocellaris fish. You can think of it like a suntan - gets darker under our high powered lights. Also, the eye appears "muddy" and lacks a clearly definable black pupil with bright orange surrounding it. Both of these characteristics have a sliding scale to which you can see on each fish. Sometimes it's very obvious, othertimes not so much. On your fish, it's quite obvious, and is an Ocellaris.

 

[ocfishaddicts]

well... that mystery is solved - orange ocellaris she is besides being one of the friendliness switch hitter girls! thanks RC... so does anyone have any experience with what black and orange ocellaris produce? any pictures? =)

 

[krak256]

Look up Sanjay black photon clownfish. I think he had percula x Darwin ocellaris. They may look similar

 

[davocean]

Most people let the first couple/few batches of eggs go, as they seem to be healthier after a few spawns, so maybe let this one pass as food for the fish while reading up on breeding.
I hope that maroon doesn't become an issue.

 

[ocfishaddicts]

this actually is their third batch - the other two were on foundational rocks and hatched on their own... planning on moving the shell on the 7th day before they hatch

i hope the maroon doesn't become and issue either. the three clowns have been living together for approx 3 years with no problems... history - the orange was paired with the maroon and we had two black ones that paired (all were younger, no eggs, just hung out together on separate locations and they all would visit and hang out nicely together as well). unfortunately the female black died with change of tank maint guys and then the orange paired with the black boy and still would visit the maroon. i actually have video of them spawning and her going over and visiting the maroon for a while and then going back to spawn more.... one big happy family.

i am nervous on trying to hatch them, but our fish maintenance guy's store just had their mixed clown pair lay eggs the same day, and his partner has been trying to raise them a few times as well. so we are going to try and work together and hopefully one of the batches will live. i am going to take his lead and he will be sharing the food portions he is growing right now. i got the equipment (separate container with small hole with micro filter, air stone) and plan on using my 60 gallon sump with clamp light (low watt) for housing the baby container and have my black bucket for the fyrer phase hopefully we make it that far...

thanks for the support =)

 

[ocfishaddicts]

btw, his clowns (black and orange pair) have been spawning for a year or so and their eggs almost tan... where our eggs were more orange - is that an issue or indication of what predominate color they will be?

 

[ocfishaddicts]

p.s our girl is approx 5 years old and the boy is approx 3 years

 

[josh27]

Here is a pic of my mixed breed orange and black occ. They are just starting to turn black on the top half of their bodies

 

[ocfishaddicts]

how they are - absolutely adorable!!! did you raise them yourself? how old are they? thanks for sharing...

:fish1::fish1:

 

[josh27]

Got them from a LFS that I have been going to for a while. The owner has a pair that have been breeding. Not quite sure how old they are though but I'm also hoping to breed these at some point.

 

[dmStewy]

Congratulations :beer: I can't wait to see how things trun out

 

[ocfishaddicts]

nursey being setup - pics of eggs day 1 - 3...

nursey being setup - pics of eggs day 1 - 3...

ok... have been doing more research - so much to learn! ditching the idea about using our 60 gallon sump for putting in a hatching box for them and raising in a separate 5 gallon black bucket... went ahead and bought 2 10 gallon tanks to use for hatching and raising fryers (craigs list for $10 each - what a deal - got the second just as a backup if we are successful and windup with another batch right afterwards)

so, things are falling into place with the nursey being setup on a nice counter with 1 tank in the hall around the corner from the big tank for easy water changes. the food is being cultivated by our fish guy and ready to pick up friday (day 7).

now the waiting game - i'm doing more research :reading:, dad is being so attentive on caring for the eggs and mom keeps splitting her time between hanging out with him and sometimes visiting/hanging out the maroon.

here are the chronical of eggs pictures so far... Day 1 - Day 3.

thanks for looking!

 

[jbax]

Congratulations:beer:

i decided to start trying to raise my clowns offspring a month ago. the eggs were laid sept 9th and hatched on the 17th. now i have a tank full of babies you can't nail down. and the parents laid another batch on the 28th. if you haven't already bought the Joyce D. Wilkerson book "clownfishes" i would do so. it has everthing you need to know.

 

[ocfishaddicts]

thoughts....

thoughts....

thanks so much! what beautiful clown fish... thanks for the suggestion, will definitely buy book...

my eyes are tired from trying to make my way through the very long breeding forum / black and white clown thread - it is soooo informative - copying and pasting info into a word document for future reference as well... have only made it through page 20 of the 40 page forum. my conclusion so far ---> this can get out of control real quick!!!! scary to read his story on how fast additional tanks, equipment, food cultivation, time / trail and error, etc... and of course, the eggs keep coming with the each hatch/babies growing at different sizes / containers until approx 4 to 5 months before able to sell.

this obviously is a labor of love and dedication with spare $$s --- i am hesitant to say i am ready for the long haul commitment of full blown aqua cultivation, and yet i am not ready to be resolved to accept/watch the repeated doom of eggs/babies being eaten....

thanks for letting me share my thoughts and learning. i will try this one batch and we'll take it one batch at a time after that. they definitely are adorable and look so cute with all their fussing and good parenting.

tired, crossed eyed from reading - going to bed...
:hmm5: