Clownfish getting ready to breed ?

[Alfie424]

My female clownfish keeps staying near this spot in my tank and earlier the male and female were having a little fight for some reason but I’ve looked closer at the male one and he has a little spike on his stomach . Could this mean they are getting ready to spawn ? I’ve had them since November last year .

 

[DeniseAndy]

Clownfish (if ocellaris or percs) will be ready to spawn by 3yrs old for sure. Others can take a bit longer/shorter depending on species. Anyway. The male and female will clear a patch to lay eggs on. This can be a rock, a tube, the glass, etc. They just want it clean and smooth. Then they will consider laying and fertilizing. The female will lay the eggs (you may notice her get fat and have a little tube coming out under her) - male apparently also has protrusion, but I have not noticed it on mine.

The male will care for the eggs. Normally they just hatch after 8-11 days and everyone in the tank eats them up.

Mine always spawn around dusk.

 

[Geebs19]

everyone in the tank eats them up.

Free meal I guess.

 

[Alfie424]

Clownfish (if ocellaris or percs) will be ready to spawn by 3yrs old for sure. Others can take a bit longer/shorter depending on species. Anyway. The male and female will clear a patch to lay eggs on. This can be a rock, a tube, the glass, etc. They just want it clean and smooth. Then they will consider laying and fertilizing. The female will lay the eggs (you may notice her get fat and have a little tube coming out under her) - male apparently also has protrusion, but I have not noticed it on mine.

The male will care for the eggs. Normally they just hatch after 8-11 days and everyone in the tank eats them up.

Mine always spawn around dusk.

Ok thx

 

[davocean]

I've had them spawn at about 2 years old several times, the obvious sign they are about to spawn would be scrubbing a rock or surface extremely clean to lay on, when you see that happen it should be a few days away.

 

[Alfie424]

I've had them spawn at about 2 years old several times, the obvious sign they are about to spawn would be scrubbing a rock or surface extremely clean to lay on, when you see that happen it should be a few days away.

Ok thx for the info

 

[Alfie424]

I’ve just realised that the clownfish who I think is male looks rlly fat

 

[Alfie424]

 

[Alfie424]

 

[Alfie424]

Sorry for the bad quality lol

 

[davocean]

The bigger should be the female

 

[Alfie424]

Yh ik but there is only half an inch size difference so maybe the smaller one is the female ?

 

[davocean]

Yh ik but there is only half an inch size difference so maybe the smaller one is the female ?

It would be the first time I've heard female was smaller

 

[Alfie424]

Oh ok

 

[Baldguy]

I've also only noticed the protrusion on the females belly. The female has always starting depositing eggs an hour or two before lights out. The male follows her to fertilize the eggs. It would be unusual for the male to be larger but if he changed before your pair got together it could happen. After the eggs are laid it will be the male that tends them.

 

[Alfie424]

Hopefully that’s the case

 

[VTBig053]

Did you feed them heavily recently? Both of mine will eat until thry get really swollen. Probably not the case but just eliminating the obvious.

 

[Alfie424]

Did you feed them heavily recently? Both of mine will eat until thry get really swollen. Probably not the case but just eliminating the obvious.

Actually for 3 days I had to feed them pellets because I had ran out of frozen food so maybe that’s it?

 

[Flexin]

Once they lay the eggs, you will see them stay in a spot and fanning to keep circulation over the eggs. I think there was a conference here in Michigan on breeding them. One pair of clowns in my bio cube were breeding at the one year mark of the tank, and I'm guessing they may have been a year old when I got them, so two years would make sense. They bonded with a purple tip frogspawn. Also depends on your tank and how well it's going. In my other tank that has been slow going, I'm guessing that pair their will take longer. They haven not bonded with anything, which I think is my fault. I put a tube anemone in there because it was beautiful, and it stung the crap out of them. They leave all corals alone now... Where is the face-palm emoji..

 

[Alfie424]

Once they lay the eggs, you will see them stay in a spot and fanning to keep circulation over the eggs. I think there was a conference here in Michigan on breeding them. One pair of clowns in my bio cube were breeding at the one year mark of the tank, and I'm guessing they may have been a year old when I got them, so two years would make sense. They bonded with a purple tip frogspawn. Also depends on your tank and how well it's going. In my other tank that has been slow going, I'm guessing that pair their will take longer. They haven not bonded with anything, which I think is my fault. I put a tube anemone in there because it was beautiful, and it stung the crap out of them. They leave all corals alone now... Where is the face-palm emoji..

How big were your clowns when u got them ? I’ve had my clowns since last November and I’m not sure how old they were when I got them . Thx for the info.