I would like to breed my clownfish, but I have a question. The clowns are the same age, and they have established male from female, but one is a True Percula, the other is False Percula. Can they mate and lay eggs, or no? They've been together forever and they get along great! I mean some clowns that have different species in one tank will fight, but these guys are perfectly fine together. I really want them to lay eggs..... so is it possible??

it is possible absolutely, called a percularis, though that might be the easier part :p harvesting the eggs and successfully raising them is where it gets hard. need a dedicated tank (tanks?) to do it AFAIK. I think bobZ does this.

That's awesome!! I would love to be able to do that, it might be hard, but I will try. Any more tips??

That's awesome!! I would love to be able to do that, it might be hard, but I will try. Any more tips??

Go in the breeder's SIG forum and read Bobz's posts. Lots of good info there!

Ok, thanks!

Will giving them an anemone increase the chances of them laying eggs? Or should I just trade one of them for a different clown (i.e- trade my ocellaris for a true perc, or true perc for ocellaris?) so that that will also increase the chances...?

eh, I wouldnt sell on of my fish. chances of the clowns breeding is fairly small, successfully harvesting and raising them is even smaller. it can be done of course, and if its something your interested in grab some books on it, it requires a fair amount of additional equipment to specificly house the hatchlings and feed them and all. its not a natural process at all. more common that youd buy a proven breeding pair to be put into a dedicated aquarium specificly maintained for breeding and structured so that eggs can be harvested(removable peices so you can get everything out, a rock structure isnt going to work)

Ok. So my best bet would be to get another pair, and then let them breed and lay eggs??

For starters. Then you have to harvest the eggs and raise the babies. This is a task better left to the experts for now.

Ok. Are there any books on percularis??

Ok, well, it's all a big misunderstanding. My true perc is an ocellaris. For sure.

may see them breed some day then. may have anyway, but I guess its fairly hit and miss. if its your goal, you'd skip the chance and buy a pair that DOES breed, but most of the time, breeding is just free food for your tank. harvesting the eggs and raising them can be tough, time consuming, and clownfish are relatively inexpensive anyway, take some volume to make it back.

I know Ive seen bobz post about watching the tank all night for hatching so he can harvest the baby fish, thats alot of work lol.

and you have to feed them many times a day as well. so much for working!

Ya, but if it's something that I wanna do, I am gonna try again and again. It's a trial and error thing. So I will keep trying. But that does sound like a lot of work, so probably not right now for me. Maybe sometime else, but I will try and do it.
Thanks for all the help!

I beleive you have to feed phyto to them as babies. so maybe start there. working on phyto cultures. you can feed them to your corals in the mean time.

Hmmm... thanks! That's a really good idea. See, this is what I need. Someone to kinda guide and get me started on this.

Here they are. Aren't they both ocellaris??
http://www.atlantareefclub.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=17143&d=1243448763

look like it to me. they are harder to tell apart as juveniles, but they look old enough that differences should be apparent.

percs have alot more black on them.

Ya, that's what I thought. But the person who sold them to me told me the female was a true perc and the male was ocellaris.....

it happens. as juveniles it is really hard to tell them apart.

Ok. But mine aren't really juviniles. They have mated. Just no eggs yet.... I know they have mated for a fact, though. The one near the filter (in the back) is the female, the one closer to the camera is the male.

you like to watch eh? kinky...

not juveniles now, i was presuming your purchased them as juveniles, if they were adults at that point, the seller may just need glasses :p or maybe he caught the wrong one in the net, who know :) time will tell if they produce eggs, or if you see them.

Ya! I guess so. I was actually thinking about getting picassos or snowcassos..... they are beautiful. But so expensive. I would want to get a pair, and and RBTA, their colors would totally compliment each other! Don't you agree?

I do, I have a picasso and a snowflake myself, searching for that perfect RBTA still. the snowcassos are insane, but impossible to find. but all clowns are so fun to watch.

Im curious to see what would come of mating them, though I will not likely go through the trouble to make it happen. short of them laying eggs on some rubble in the sand, and me driving it to bobz like a madman to let him do the work :p

Ya, but if your clowns do lay eggs, I would love to take some babies if they survive. RBTA's are insane, but so expensive. I am probably gonna get a GBTA.

Radha

From the picture, both of those fish are Ocellaris clowns. Hard to tell though. Percula eyes generally have an orange iris, although that is only a good tell tale. Perculas and Ocellaris can definitely be crossed and some suspect that they are different variants of the same species.
I have many pairs in which both fish are the same age.
An anemone definitely helps in the security of the pair and therefore their willingness to breed. That said, some of my pairs spawn on flower pots, tank walls and PVC pipe. They will even adopt a heater or return pipe as a hose. Nemo is not the brightest fish. Pretty, yes, Bright, no.

There are a variety of successful ways to rear these fish. You can remove the eggs from the substrate and hatch out in a tumbler (My preferred method). You can remove the substrate on which the eggs are laid (day seven) and hatch by passing air over the egg mass in a separate container while the light are out (not my preferec method, although probably the most recommended. You can let hatch in the tank (this will happen about 10 min - 1 hr after lights out on day seven after spawn). In this case, collection can be done with an air line siphon or more elaborately in a specialized larval snagger. The siphon method works quite well, these fish are alot tougher than people think and the siphon is like a water slide for them.

After hatchout, the fry (babies) are fed rotifers. The rotifer cultures are fed algae. There are many in the area that can provide you cultures of both when you need them, including me. Rotifers are the food of choice for the first 3 - 5 days. As the fish grow, they can eat a bigger food, freshly hatched brine shrimp. Finally after 7 - 12 days, they can be fed finely powdered flake or pellet foods (I mean FINE powder).

Most people use a 5 gallon (or so) fish tank for rearing the young. I use a 2 or 3 gallon, round (flat face) fish bowl with a single bubble air stream at one end to create circulation. I also jump start the feeding several days before hatchout by adding green water (algae) and rotifers to about 2-3 per ml in the fish bowl. By the time the fish hatch, the rotifers are abundant and the fish have the required feed concentration of about 10 rotifers per ml. This "green water" technique is common in rearing marine fish and the relatively dense algae helps to reduce the nitrogen loading that will occur in concentrated fish cultures.

So, yes, your fish will eventually breed, given the conditions in the tank and feeding regime are acceptable. The fry are probably the easiest in the marine fish world to breed and rear. They are fun to grow. The rotifer and algae cultures are not difficult to maintain.
If I can do it, anybody can!

Hope that this helps some.
John

Radha

From the picture, both of those fish are Ocellaris clowns. Hard to tell though. Percula eyes generally have an orange iris, although that is only a good tell tale. Perculas and Ocellaris can definitely be crossed and some suspect that they are different variants of the same species.
I have many pairs in which both fish are the same age.
An anemone definitely helps in the security of the pair and therefore their willingness to breed. That said, some of my pairs spawn on flower pots, tank walls and PVC pipe. They will even adopt a heater or return pipe as a hose. Nemo is not the brightest fish. Pretty, yes, Bright, no.

There are a variety of successful ways to rear these fish. You can remove the eggs from the substrate and hatch out in a tumbler (My preferred method). You can remove the substrate on which the eggs are laid (day seven) and hatch by passing air over the egg mass in a separate container while the light are out (not my preferec method, although probably the most recommended. You can let hatch in the tank (this will happen about 10 min - 1 hr after lights out on day seven after spawn). In this case, collection can be done with an air line siphon or more elaborately in a specialized larval snagger. The siphon method works quite well, these fish are alot tougher than people think and the siphon is like a water slide for them.

After hatchout, the fry (babies) are fed rotifers. The rotifer cultures are fed algae. There are many in the area that can provide you cultures of both when you need them, including me. Rotifers are the food of choice for the first 3 - 5 days. As the fish grow, they can eat a bigger food, freshly hatched brine shrimp. Finally after 7 - 12 days, they can be fed finely powdered flake or pellet foods (I mean FINE powder).

Most people use a 5 gallon (or so) fish tank for rearing the young. I use a 2 or 3 gallon, round (flat face) fish bowl with a single bubble air stream at one end to create circulation. I also jump start the feeding several days before hatchout by adding green water (algae) and rotifers to about 2-3 per ml in the fish bowl. By the time the fish hatch, the rotifers are abundant and the fish have the required feed concentration of about 10 rotifers per ml. This "green water" technique is common in rearing marine fish and the relatively dense algae helps to reduce the nitrogen loading that will occur in concentrated fish cultures.

So, yes, your fish will eventually breed, given the conditions in the tank and feeding regime are acceptable. The fry are probably the easiest in the marine fish world to breed and rear. They are fun to grow. The rotifer and algae cultures are not difficult to maintain.
If I can do it, anybody can!

Hope that this helps some.
John


Thanks so much!! You are like a fish breeding legend!! I always see your insightful posts on MOFIB, so I really appreciate the help. I do have most of the equipment you said I needed (I have a 10g, 5g, flower pots, ect.), but I'm not that far into the game yet. They are mated, and there is very much an establishment of male vs female, but no eggs yet. I think it might take a while, but I do want to get an anemone. Is there anything else I can do to stimulate spawning?
Again, thanks SO much! I so appreciate your input!

Radha
Thank You for the complement.:blush:

An anemone almost always helps the fish move towards spawning.
In our broodstock system, it seems that when one pair spawns, the rest start to get in the mood.
However;
We have tried soft music and mood lights. Does not work.:roll:
John

Radha
Thank You for the complement.:blush:

An anemone almost always helps the fish move towards spawning.
In our broodstock system, it seems that when one pair spawns, the rest start to get in the mood.
However;
We have tried soft music and mood lights. Does not work.:roll:
John

Lol. I want an BTA, so I'm gonna go hunting for that perfect one. I haven't tried soft music or mood lights, but it could still help!! That would be awesome if one pair spawning triggered everyone else to spawn. Like a dominos affect. :) But what are some nems that would fit into a 20g, and a clownfish would host it??
Thanks sooooo much!!

You could try a small bta. Our percs liked theirs. But if you have ocellaris.... there is no telling what they like. But it can not hurt to try.
Hope that helps.

Tina

Cool! And you're John's wife? What about sebae? I had one..... but it died....
Thanks!!

I am not sure if a sebae would work. John might know better but he is out of town this weekend for his daughter graduation from high school. That means I have to take care of the fishy business. Had a hatch-out of ocellaris last night and expect a big cinnamon hatch-out tonight.

Tina

Ok. Do you know how to do the whole hatching/raising process?

I know the basics. Just enough to keep going through a few days.

Aaaahhhh.... That's cool!