HELP. trying to breed clownfish

[sako818]

i want to start breeding my Ocellaris clownfish. is there anything specific that i need to know or follow? thanks in advance

[Arati]

feed shrimp and lobster.. Oyster too!

turn the lights low.

maybe put a lil D'Angelo on the speakers.

from there its kinda on them ;)

[tvoydan]

IMO, they are the easiest fish to breed. Basically, if you have 2 of them in a tank, they'll eventually pair up and start breeding.

My suggestion is to look for a large clown and 2 smaller ones. I like to get them from different sources to ensure they're not from the same clutch (i.e. they're not related). They'll spend some time shaking and shimming at each other until they sort out who's the boss. Eventually you'll end up with a pair. You can also just do this with two, or look for a pair locally. I find many people locally selling mated pairs for various reasons.

You will need to maintain a stress free environment and good water parameters before they'll start to breed. After a move, a breeding pair may take several months to get back in the "groove". And a healthy diet is important to.

It's also best to set them up in their own tank with no distractions. A 10g bare bottom tank works for occy's. I used drilled tanks and ran them with a sump. Place a few flat tiles in the breeding tank to make egg removal easy and hatch the eggs in their own separate 5ga tank (cycled with a sponge filter). Once they lay the eggs, remove the tile and replace it with a new one. The clownfish will lay another clutch usually within a week.

You'll have to get good at culturing rotifers to raise the babies. Reed Mariculture is the place to get phyto and rots. I here some people are using a small copepod breed instead of rots with success. I'll ahve to find the name. But rotifers are tried and true method.

The biggest problems is waiting for them to start breeding. It can takes 6 months or more. Even with a know mated pairs.

[sako818]

i have 2 clowns now in my 55g that are doing the shaking/seizure deal. do i have to move them in another tank or they can stay there.

[tvoydan]

They'll eventually breed in your display tank. Catching the fry when they hatch is a pain and you have no control over where they lay their eggs. Again it can take months for them to start laying and moving them will kind of reset the clock. If they lay behind a rock, you might not know they even laid eggs.

If you just want to try your hand at it. Leave them where they are and try raising a batch of the fry when the time comes. They'll hatch at night after lights out and you collect them with a flash light and syphon or cup them out.

Setting up a breeding tank can be a lot of work. You have a second tank to maintain and like I said, I had mine tied into a 50ga sump with 4 other tanks.

Once they start laying, don't sweat the first couple batches, they usually keep laying every 10 days or so.

And you can actually order the rotifers overnight with phyto to grow the rotifers before the eggs hatch. But plan on $100 or so. Or you can usually get starter rotifers from a local reefer cheap.

I wouldn't say any of it is very hard, but it is a lot of work and commitment to raise a batch eggs.

[tvoydan]

Oh and this is a good book to get when starting out.

Clownfishes: A Guide to Their Captive Care, Breeding & Natural History (http://www.amazon.com/Clownfishes-Captive-Breeding-Natural-History/dp/1890087041)

[sako818]

thank you so much. i just hope they can lay eggs now

[sako818]

wow that book is so expensive

[tvoydan]

wow that book is so expensive

Yes, I agree. It's not that great a book IMO, but a good start.

Hang out in the fish breeding forum here on RC and also there are a couple marine breeders web sites too that will get you more specific information. And the latest breeding tricks.

[sako818]

awesome. thanks again

[OrionN]

wow that book is so expensive

A good clownfish is atleast 75.00 Twice the price of the book. If this book is what help you raise 100's of fish. it is not expensive.
I can tell you that you likely invested in 500.00 or so at least to start raising babies in addition to having a spawning pair of clown fish.

Start out with the best stock that you can. Regular Ocellaris and Percula will only result in finacial loss. You cannot move them at the price to cover for the expense. If you want to breed clownfish, you got to start with desirable clowns, that way you can cover your cost. You won't make any, or much money.

If you want to raise babies just to see if you can do it, and don't mind the cost or time spend, then ofcourse any clown will do.

You will need to get rotifer culture start, food for the rotifer which is froxen plankton or live culture of plankton. Good heater with accurate themometer (at least 4) Fish tanks atleast 4-6. Air pumps, light timers ect.... $500 plus