Selecting clownfish for breeding

[PaysonReef]

Hello all,

This is my third and final (for now) post on the topic of clownfish breeding.

I am wondering if anyone can help me select the clownfish I would like to try to breed. It will be a while before I do this but I am looking to figure it out now so I can truly plan what I would like to do.

I want to breed ocellaris/percula clownfish and am looking for information on a couple different things.

First, does anyone have a favorite type? Include pics and tell me why they are your favorite.

Second, I am thinking of purchasing a larger (around 2.25”-2.5”) clownfish and pairing them with a juvenile so I can be relatively sure that they will be a male and female. I know the female has to accept the male and they have to bond, this takes time before they would be mature enough to breed, etc. I am wondering if anyone has experience doing this and can share their knowledge with how to increase the possibility of success and any successes/failures you had.

Is there a better way other than purchasing an already breeding pair (which also seems to have its own risks)?

Thank you for your help

 

[Big G]

Bump

 

[Peace River]

In order to breed clownfish I would encourage you to buy a couple of books: (1) Clownfishes: A Guide to Their Captive Care, Breeding & Natural History (Wilkerson, 1998), (2) The Complete Illustrated Breeder's Guide to Marine Aquarium Fishes: Mating, Spawning & Rearing Methods for Over 90 Species (Wittenrich, 2007), and possibly (3) Conditioning, Spawning and Rearing of Fish with Emphasis on Marine Clownfish (Hoff, 1996). Additionally learn everything you can about marine water chemistry and raising live foods.

To answer you question about getting a pair. You can start with two small fish or you can start with one mid to large fish and another small fish - either will work and they both come with different challenges. Either approach will virtually always give you a male and a female. Unlike most species that don't have the benefit of changing their reproductive plumbing, clownfish are uniquely designed to find a pair with just two fish. I would recommend that you start your breeding process with a few pair of basic clownfish so you aren't learning on $200-300 fish. After you have started to master managing the breeding process, then you may consider moving to high end designer clownfish and spend the money on your breeders with the hope that you will well more than make up the cost from the offspring.

Remember, when breeding fish it is the fish keepers role to create the space for the fish to thrive and then they most likely will. Right now you need to focus on learning everything that you can about how to create that space for the clownfish to thrive. Good luck!

 

[PaysonReef]

Thank you. That will help. I have the Clownfishes book on the way. I will get the second one you mentioned too. Then we will go from there.

Thank you for the advice and help. I am sure I will have more questions but that seems like a great place to start.

 

[Purplelobst92]

I really want to get into this too, my female oscellaris just started displaying her ovipositor so i think she may drop some eggs soon.

 

[PaysonReef]

How exciting! Good luck on that. I would love to hear more about it when it happens.

 

[Peace River]

I really want to get into this too, my female oscellaris just started displaying her ovipositor so i think she may drop some eggs soon.

That's great! Are you going to let nature take its course with the eggs or do you have plans to attempt to raise the fry? Either way, you must be doing something right if they are getting ready to spawn - good job!

 

[Purplelobst92]

I am contemplating attempting to raise the fry. I haven't decided for sure yet though, my clowns are a Wyoming white female and a male naked clown, they started displaying some odd behavior next to their anemone recently, like wiggling and twitching next to one another, then my females ovipositor popped out and its been that way for a few days now so I'm not sure if they are getting ready to spawn or if they already have but either way I'm keeping an eye on them to see if they select an egg site, it all seemed to start after I started feeding them selcon soaked foods not sure if the added nutrition has a factor to play in this but its worth noting.

 

[specwar]

I am like you and looking forward to the future on these two once all the DANCING is over.