Wanting to learn about breeding clownfish
- Thread starter Nikkimei
- Start date
Jmck
Reef enthusiast
IT would be amazing :) One of our members here, bifferwine, had been trying to breed them, but couldnt get it going. It is quite difficult.
Are your clowns laying?
Are your clowns laying?
little_fish
Moderator
The first step is to get clowns that lay eggs, and it not as easy as you think. Also raising the fry takes quite a bit of dedication and work.
But if you are up to the task, it is very cool!
But if you are up to the task, it is very cool!
Jmck
Reef enthusiast
Breeding Clownfish - A short description
By William Berg
of Sweden, for aquaticcommunity.com
Aquarticles
Thanks to Disney's Motion Picture 'Finding Nemo,' almost everybody is familiar with clownfish.
Clownfish, or Anemonefishes, from the family Pomacentridae, are one of the easiest tropical marine aquarium fish to breed. Clownfish regularly lay eggs in aquariums. They have quite large eggs and larvae, and since the larvae easily eat cultured live foods, raising them is somewhat simpler than it is with many other marine species.
You need to get a pair if you want to breed clownfish, and that's quite interesting - believe it or not, clownfish are all born as males! When they are adults, the largest and the most dominant fish of the group will undergo a sex change and become a female. The second largest usually becomes the breeding male, while all the other fish remain juveniles and gender-neutral. If the breeding female disappears, the breeding male will change to a female, and so on. Buying an established pair may be a reasonable way to go, but it is often better to have a group of juveniles growing up together. If you choose to buy a pair you should look for a pair that goes around together. Sometimes you can be lucky enough to get a pair already spawning. Anyhow, establishing an adult pair can be a little tricky; and you need to keep your eyes on them to make sure that the female doesn't kill the male.
The next thing is to set up the tank. The tank should be large enough, approximately 200 liters for the breeding pair. It is better to keep a pair alone in an aquarium when trying to spawn clownfish.
The aquarium should be furnished with a nice anemone, a few live rocks and other rocky substances with a vertical surface, a layer of coral sand on the bottom, bright lighting, good filtration, and a protein skimmer. Your clownfish should be stress free, which means no aggressive tank mates and good water quality. As for feeding, clownfish need a mixed diet of fresh raw seafood and vegetables. A good diet includes prawns, mussels, and squid. It is best to feed small bits at regular intervals.
Spanning can begin 1 to 12 months after the fish have settled into their new home. When the fish are ready to spawn, they become very aggressive. The male clownfish will dance up and down in front of the female (also known as "clownfish waggle"). They will also start to clean their selected rock by robustly biting it. The spawning itself usually occurs in the afternoon or early evening. Once the spawning is complete (within several hours) the male takes on responsibility for attending the eggs, whereas the female acts as protector of the eggs and supervisor of her male.
Spawning is likely to occur again at intervals of 12 to 18 days. The eggs should be left in the care of the parents and not removed, unless the parents are known to be egg eaters. At first the eggs are a bright orange colour, but after several days this diminishes and the eyes appear. Hatching usually takes from 6 to 15 days, depending on temperature.
The most critical stage of the fry is the first 10 days of their larvae span. If you can get your fry to survive this period the rest of their raising should be easier.hopfully this helps a little
By William Berg
of Sweden, for aquaticcommunity.com
Aquarticles
Thanks to Disney's Motion Picture 'Finding Nemo,' almost everybody is familiar with clownfish.
Clownfish, or Anemonefishes, from the family Pomacentridae, are one of the easiest tropical marine aquarium fish to breed. Clownfish regularly lay eggs in aquariums. They have quite large eggs and larvae, and since the larvae easily eat cultured live foods, raising them is somewhat simpler than it is with many other marine species.
You need to get a pair if you want to breed clownfish, and that's quite interesting - believe it or not, clownfish are all born as males! When they are adults, the largest and the most dominant fish of the group will undergo a sex change and become a female. The second largest usually becomes the breeding male, while all the other fish remain juveniles and gender-neutral. If the breeding female disappears, the breeding male will change to a female, and so on. Buying an established pair may be a reasonable way to go, but it is often better to have a group of juveniles growing up together. If you choose to buy a pair you should look for a pair that goes around together. Sometimes you can be lucky enough to get a pair already spawning. Anyhow, establishing an adult pair can be a little tricky; and you need to keep your eyes on them to make sure that the female doesn't kill the male.
The next thing is to set up the tank. The tank should be large enough, approximately 200 liters for the breeding pair. It is better to keep a pair alone in an aquarium when trying to spawn clownfish.
The aquarium should be furnished with a nice anemone, a few live rocks and other rocky substances with a vertical surface, a layer of coral sand on the bottom, bright lighting, good filtration, and a protein skimmer. Your clownfish should be stress free, which means no aggressive tank mates and good water quality. As for feeding, clownfish need a mixed diet of fresh raw seafood and vegetables. A good diet includes prawns, mussels, and squid. It is best to feed small bits at regular intervals.
Spanning can begin 1 to 12 months after the fish have settled into their new home. When the fish are ready to spawn, they become very aggressive. The male clownfish will dance up and down in front of the female (also known as "clownfish waggle"). They will also start to clean their selected rock by robustly biting it. The spawning itself usually occurs in the afternoon or early evening. Once the spawning is complete (within several hours) the male takes on responsibility for attending the eggs, whereas the female acts as protector of the eggs and supervisor of her male.
Spawning is likely to occur again at intervals of 12 to 18 days. The eggs should be left in the care of the parents and not removed, unless the parents are known to be egg eaters. At first the eggs are a bright orange colour, but after several days this diminishes and the eyes appear. Hatching usually takes from 6 to 15 days, depending on temperature.
The most critical stage of the fry is the first 10 days of their larvae span. If you can get your fry to survive this period the rest of their raising should be easier.hopfully this helps a little
Jmck
Reef enthusiast
https://www.livingreefs.com/biffy-breeds-tomato-clowns-t22893.html
Also, here is Biffs thread on breeding clowns, it woul be very good for you to have a read if you have an interest because she will have encountered most of the problems you will have
Also, here is Biffs thread on breeding clowns, it woul be very good for you to have a read if you have an interest because she will have encountered most of the problems you will have
little_fish
Moderator
You dont need a nem for them to breed though
Jmck
Reef enthusiast
hahaha, well ive had my clowns for a year and they are not breeded, i bought them together wild caught, but they have not mated. A mated pair will go for over 800 dollars because it is really hard to get one that is breeding or get them breeding. Thats your first and biggest step
little_fish
Moderator
It can take many years for them to pair up and start laying eggs, if at all
cms722
Reefing newb
Can you breed different types of clowns? Or does it have to be two of the same kind? Just curious.
Jmck
Reef enthusiast
Different clowns are different species, so you can only breed the same type of clowns
Bifferwine
I am a girl
Well, there are a couple species that produce hybrids, but those are rare. In general, they will only breed with the same species.
My clowns were paired up for over 4 years before they laid their first clutch of eggs. That was about a year and a half ago. Since then, they lay eggs every 10 days like clockwork.
I did try raising the fry but ran into trouble with the food sources for the baby clowns. You need to culture live phytoplankton, live rotifers and live brine. These three types of food (the phytoplankton feeds the rotifers, and the rotifers and brine feed the baby clowns) took up quite a bit of space, and were difficult to all keep going at the same time without running out of one or the other.
Your baby clowns will need their own tank system set up for them (they will not survive in the main tank), and you have to saturate their system with so much food that you will have to do water changes every day or twice a day on their system.
It is A LOT of work, and I give props to anyone that can stick it out!
My clowns were paired up for over 4 years before they laid their first clutch of eggs. That was about a year and a half ago. Since then, they lay eggs every 10 days like clockwork.
I did try raising the fry but ran into trouble with the food sources for the baby clowns. You need to culture live phytoplankton, live rotifers and live brine. These three types of food (the phytoplankton feeds the rotifers, and the rotifers and brine feed the baby clowns) took up quite a bit of space, and were difficult to all keep going at the same time without running out of one or the other.
Your baby clowns will need their own tank system set up for them (they will not survive in the main tank), and you have to saturate their system with so much food that you will have to do water changes every day or twice a day on their system.
It is A LOT of work, and I give props to anyone that can stick it out!
cms722
Reefing newb
Oh ok. I thought I had read somewhere where someone had mixed two different types of clowns and gotten results. Wasn't sure if it was the same as mixing different kinds of dogs ya know? Lol
Jmck
Reef enthusiast
Well biff just added something i didnt know, that there can be some very rare cross breeding to make hybrids, interesting that
cms722
Reefing newb
I'll have to look for the link. It was on another forum where the person breeding them had experimented with a black and orange clown pair. She said the result was a really dark orange baby. It was interesting to read.
Jmck
Reef enthusiast
Maybe that makes tomato clowns? :D
Bifferwine
I am a girl
Clowns of the same species can be different colors -- that's like the dog breeds you mentioned. A black ocellaris clown and an orange ocellaris clown are still both ocellaris clowns.
cms722
Reefing newb
The way she was talking was that they were the black clowns and then a regular clown. I don't remember what they're called? Are they still the same species?
Bifferwine
I am a girl
I don't know -- there are many different types of clowns, so I'm not sure what a "regular" clown would refer to. And many types of clowns come in a black variety as well as their normal color morph.
cms722
Reefing newb
I think I'm talking about a Percula Clown when I say regular clown lol. Sorry I'm sounding so confusing. Maybe they were the same just different colors. I have a maroon clown right now. Can he only breed with another maroon?
