We're Parents!!

[jbishop]

We were sitting in our living room today and noticed that the clownfish were doing something crazy near their anemone. Come to find out they were laying eggs!! It was so cool.

We got a little clip of it but we don't know how to post it Can anyone help us out?!

Thanks!

 

[kotu100]

u can upload the clip to youtube. easiest way imo.

 

[jbishop]

Thanks for the quick reply i don't know why we didn't think of that.

Well here it is:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1Ph9ga5TGM

Mods feel free to move to the photography forum.

 

[JohnK]

Isn't that cool

Keep em happy and you'll probably see eggs every two weeks or so once they get going. The eggs will be orange at first, then turn silvery, then one day they will look almost transparent with little fry inside - they should hatch out that night a couple of hours after the lights go out (flashlight time).


If you're thinking of trying to raise some, here's two starter suggestions;
-keep track of how many days it takes for this batch to hatch, this will help for future planning.
-it's a good idea to start keeping a chunk of ceramic tile in the tank near their egg spot. If you can get them to lay a batch on the tile it makes it a whole lot easier to get some eggs out the day they are going to hatch.

 

[brezzy]

thats so cool

 

[Joel A]

wow... i saw my clowns doing that funny motion the other day. I thought of spawning because i have raised a few discus spawns and thats almost identical to what discus do, but i never saw any eggs. Weird, maybe they laid them and i just wasn't paying attention.

Although i seem to recall only the female doing that spawning motion, and if i remember correctly she wasn't doing it on a rock, but rather in the middle of my anemone?

 

[JohnK]

The eggs can be REALLY easy to miss.

Keep an eye on the male, he'll be the one "sitting on the nest" (taking care of the eggs).

I had seen behavior that made me wonder for a long time, then one day my eye focused on some half ripe eggs on a rock. Since then I've seen a dozens of batches, every other saturday.

Once you know what to look for (the brain knows what to recognize) you won't miss eggs, but..... Kind of like "red bugs", they are invisible until you see them once - but once you've seen them they are pretty easy to spot.

 

[Joel A]

maybe i should look for eggs.. the male has been hanging out underneath the carpet a lot lately... makes me wonder if something is under there =).

I'd be shocked if there was though, i only got these clowns a few days ago.

 

[JohnK]

i only got these clowns a few days ago.

That could be a different story. I had mine 2-3 yrs before I saw the eggs.

 

[Jennifer]

So very cool to watch, thanks for posting the vid. Good luck if you choose to raise the fry.

I used to watch my African Mbuna Cichlids spawn all the time. They are mouth brooders, the male and female would dance in circles. The female would lay an egg. The male would fertilize it and the female would scoop up the egg in her mouth while she laid another egg. They would just go in circles up to 25 times. Lasted a couple of minutes or so. I always enjoyed watching the display. Unfortunately I have not had that pleasure with Saltwater.