Clownfish breeding behavior

[pdisner]

Clownfish will do this, usually in an anemone or coral they are trying to use as a host.

Can you explain why a female would twitch like a male showing submission?

 

[Humblefish]

Can you explain why a female would twitch like a male showing submission?

Is she doing it to another clownfish? If not, could be parasites or worms inside the gills causing her to twitch.

 

[pdisner]

Is she doing it to another clownfish? If not, could be parasites or worms inside the gills causing her to twitch.

Lol, no and it’s not that frequently. I’ve only noticed it when the male does it. She’ll do it as if in response. I’ve seen this behavior on you tube only. These pair that did it had the title “clown spawning behavior” if you’d like to search and view. These aren’t my clowns. This is a Clarkii pair

These aren’t my only pair of clowns By the way, but I’m a fairly new clown owner. I’ve never been interested because everyone else had one and I did t understand how interesting they were until I had this Clarkii pair. I had video of this pair doing it, but idk what happened to it. So what do u think? Spawning behavior?

 

[pdisner]

Is she doing it to another clownfish? If not, could be parasites or worms inside the gills causing her to twitch.

To answer your question more specifically, it’s the same twitch the males do.

 

[Humblefish]

To answer your question more specifically, it’s the same twitch the males do.

If she's doing it to the male then it's probably part of their "dominance dance." The female twitches, and then the male twitches back showing his submission.

 

[CJRIZZOTTI]

Can you explain why a female would twitch like a male showing submission?

Dude they're pairing up mine did it the other day and now they're pecking around my anemone i think ill have eggs soon good luck i wouldn't worry but still keep a eye on em

 

[pdisner]

Dude they're pairing up mine did it the other day and now they're pecking around my anemone i think ill have eggs soon good luck i wouldn't worry but still keep a eye on em

Ahhh man am I jealous! I have a BUNCH of ROTIFERS COPEPODS AND BABY BRINE all ready to go! I even have 3 Types of Phyto growing so I can save money on food plus increase quality. How old do u think your clowns are? I won’t keep an anemone. It’s too risky in my tank. But from what I’ve read, an anemone can speed up the maturation of some types of anemone fish. I’ve been reading THE book on clowns by Joyce Wilkerson

 

[pdisner]

If she's doing it to the male then it's probably part of their "dominance dance." The female twitches, and then the male twitches back showing his submission.

I thought that the female pecks at him then he twitches, not usually the female at all from what I’ve seen from this pair. From the pics, can you guys tell how old she is? At least do you think she is sexually mature? I’ve been noting that both her and the little male have darkened in color as time went on. I’ve only had them for about 6 months. But I know that Clarkiis can get average of 4inces for female. I think that she’s about 2 1/2- 2 3/4

 

[pdisner]

Dude they're pairing up mine did it the other day and now they're pecking around my anemone i think ill have eggs soon good luck i wouldn't worry but still keep a eye on em

They’ve been “paired” since I’ve had them. They’ve slept in the same area for awhile. I recently got a Frostbite pair. I’m still learning a lot from this completely differently species’ behavior. Much more tame and calmer than my Maroons and the Clarkiis. Clarkiis seems more wild than tank raised although I know the opposite to be true. Here a pic of my Frostbites who both look mature I think???

the female is exactly 2 3/4 nose to end of tail.

 

[ChrisOFL]

I had my ocellaris/snowflake pair for over 2 years before they started breeding. Proper feeding is the most important factor for them to start breeding in my opinion. I feed a large chunk of frozen food daily and this has kept them very healthy and spawning regularly. Your pod populations should be a good source of live food to forage between feedings. The best way to tell that the female is mature and will likely start laying eggs is to look for a tube protruding from her abdomen. Cleaning of the underside of a rock is a good sign as well.

As far as your female twitch, I think this is normal as I've seen my female do it over the years but it does not look like the same "dance" the males do, much shorter/less violent.

Here is a video of my female laying eggs, you can see the tube I'm talking about coming out of her abdomen.

 

[pdisner]

Dude they're pairing up mine did it the other day and now they're pecking around my anemone i think ill have eggs soon good luck i wouldn't worry but still keep a eye on em

Did you get eggs right after that?

 

[pdisner]

I had my ocellaris/snowflake pair for over 2 years before they started breeding. Proper feeding is the most important factor for them to start breeding in my opinion. I feed a large chunk of frozen food daily and this has kept them very healthy and spawning regularly. Your pod populations should be a good source of live food to forage between feedings. The best way to tell that the female is mature and will likely start laying eggs is to look for a tube protruding from her abdomen. Cleaning of the underside of a rock is a good sign as well.

As far as your female twitch, I think this is normal as I've seen my female do it over the years but it does not look like the same "dance" the males do, much shorter/less violent.

Here is a video of my female laying eggs, you can see the tube I'm talking about coming out of her abdomen.

So the tube or “ovipositor” starts protruding when exactly? Like immediately before, like shortly before, or did I start showing days or weeks before? Is this a permenant thing when they are in “spawning mode”??

 

[pdisner]

So I’ve read, and still reading, many books on breeding marine fish, have multiples or pairs of a wide range of marine ornamentals, with emphasis on clownfishes. They’re a unique fish as a whole, each species even unique and not the same. Different personalities and temperament. I started collecting and building my setups the end of last summer. I’m still building and finishing what I had planned. It hasn’t turned out exactly as planed so far, but it’s functional for the moment. I have many many questions. I have read that most clownfish, if born and raised in captivity, will usually spawn between 3-6 mos, whereas wild caught is 12-18 mos. (Conditioning, Spawning and Rearing of Fish with Emphasis on Marine Clownfish” by Frank Hoff).
I know that the Clarkii pair that I’ve been talking about were aquacultured. They MUST be sexually mature by now. It’s been almost a year that I’ve had them. In late February, I added a Spotscinctus Clown pair. Theyre a beautiful fish. This pair had several clutches according to its previous owner. I knew beforehand that it was very possible that they would stop spawning, sometimes permenantly. Does anyone have experience with conditioning successfully? I know all the usual stuff like a 14/10 lighting schedule. Feed different quality foods at least three times a day. Also mix in between some live feedings when poss of BBS, worms or some sort of live food. All that normal stuff. I want to know what my issue is. Those aren’t my only pairs of clowns. The only thing I have spawning is peppermint shrimp & cardinals which are the guppies of saltwater.
If anyone can lend some advice I would be grateful.

 

[Tahoe61]

What is the specific gravity of the system? I am certain that I read in Clown Fish that lowering the salinity can help.

 

[pdisner]

What is the specific gravity of the system? I am certain that I read in Clown Fish that lowering the salinity can help.

Hi!! How are you!! You’ve been in my thoughts a lot since we spoke last. Hope you are good! Yes, I guess by lowering the spec grav, changing the temp up or down by a couple degrees and feed the hec out of them it’s supposed to trigger spawning behavior. Ive also read that you can simulate both Phyto and zooplankton “surges”. Lighting should be 14-10. Live food is important in triggering the egg production and maturity. All this is supposed to mimic their environment like springtime, when the normally spawn in the wild. Anenomes aren’t necessary. I’m keeping water quality as pristine as poss. Although I do have some low nitrate and phosphates that really should matter....but I’m doing something wrong if I have all these fish but no spawn, even from the 5+ pairs of clownfish.

 

[Weichenthalc]

Never seen the ovipositor in person, anybody tell me if this is it? She’s 3 yrs old with little mate. They paired up right away and twitching to each other but no cleaning.. so i wouldn’t think it would be the tube but let me know what you think thanks.

 

[davocean]

I've seen both twitch many times as they are going through the process of figuring things out

 

[Weichenthalc]

I've seen both twitch many times as they are going through the process of figuring things out

Yeah I understand the twitch that wasn’t my question.. is that or is it not the ovipositor?

 

[davocean]

[QUOTE="pdisner, I’ve only noticed it when the male does it. She’ll do it as if in response. I’ve seen this behavior on you tube only.

I'm referring to this comment.
Ovipositor is a tube shaped organ that distributes eggs.

I'm saying that I have seen this a number of times in my own clowns even when it was obvious which was, or which would become female, just seems to be a period of confusion during the process of sorting things out.

 

[Amoo]

What is the specific gravity of the system? I am certain that I read in Clown Fish that lowering the salinity can help.

Any chance you can find a source on this Tahoe? I've known breeders who keep SG lower for cost, but outside of that I had not seen anything about changing SG to promote breeding. I know you can sometimes bounce SG to get BTAs to split, but I would think a bounce in SG from the normal would count to the clowns as a change in environment and would have the opposite effect?