friends needs assistance and I don't have the answer

[teapartyfans]

I have a friend who is just starting a saltwater tank. He has blue devil damsels (mind you the store said they were blue) and they are making a clearing in the rocks. He was wondering IF they spawned in a tank how old do they need to be before they can successfully spawn. Same thing about clowns. I have 2 clowns tat are making a clearing and I just wanna know if it is normal

[Jorgens]

great questions..ill tag along!

[cdangel0]

What do you mean by "making a clearing"?

[michaeldaly]

Even if they spawned it's unlikely that he would raise the fry, especially since he is just starting out.

[rustybucket145]

"making a clearing"

Yeah, I'd like to know this as well.... from your post it sounds like they are chiseling out a spot on the liverock...

From my guess I suspect that your friends tank has a ton of hair or other type of algae and that's what you're saying they are 'clearing'.... If so there are other issues at hand and you shouldn't even be considering if the fish are breeding.

[WaterKeeper]

Many people are raising Damsels these days. You cannot reliably tell males from females so they are usually placed in a small shoal. Breeding pairs do clean a flat smooth area to deposit eggs. The eggs adhere to the cleared rock and hatch in 4-7 days.

Now the fun begins. The fry are sure to be fish food in a community tank. They need to be removed to a rearing tank. Next, their main food will be rotifers at birth, so you need to find a supply or they will starve. They grow and soon move on to newly hatch brine and then to consuming gut loaded, adult brine. It can be a task if you are not set up for it. You might check our Breeder Forum for more info.

[teapartyfans]

What I was actually meaning about making a clearing is that they are going through the rocks and in a small tunnell they are best way i canexplain it is they are making waves in the tunnell and clearing the coral out of the way so it is a small level area. hope this makes sense. thanks

[WaterKeeper]

It may be they have already laid eggs and are fanning them. The eggs are very small and hard to see.

[teapartyfans]

if they have laid eggs how will we know and how long for them to hatch?