Stop Breeding Clown Fish!

[Barrie]

Hmmm, more accurately, that should read 'Stop Breeding, Clown Fish!!'. Seriously though, I have a pair of oscellaris clown fish that lay eggs every three to four weeks like clockwork. They tend to the eggs, the eggs develop, hatch, the babies swim around for a day or two then disappear. I know the babies are being eaten by the tank inhabitants, unfortunately, but we're not in a position to deal with the raising of the babies. Anyway, will these silly fish spawn themselves to death? We can't separate them practically, no where to put them, don't want to get rid of them, just not sure if we should be doing something to discourage the constant breeding. Thoughts?

[ibenu]

refugiums are reasonable from what I have read, why not move babies in there?

[fkshiu]

Just remove whatever they're hosting.

[Canadian_Aqua_Farm]

I wish I had that problem, for some reason my pairs of clownfish refuse to lay eggs. No harm will come from continued spawning. They are just doing what they would be doing in nature. If you want to stop them a shortened photo period will often break the cycle.

[Pamela]

How about trying one of those air driven external breeding boxes that hangs on the outside of your tank? I believe that there is a group buy going for them now, but I don't know if it might be too late for you to get in on it.

External breeding cage, now available in Canada! SWEET!!! | Tankspiration

[Barrie]

ibenu - it's a 20gal nano with no refugium so that won't work!

fkshiu, well, that would work if we strip the tank, I think - they're hosting the frogspawn right now, but the female is trying to convince the male to move to the duncan -- she even spends time hosting the star polyps. This female would probably host a rock if that's all that was left!

Canadian Aqua Farm - we've tried all kinds of lighting options with this tank - it's LOADED with corals, including some colorful acros that seem to quite like the longer cycle. Our other pair (perculas) could care less about breeding though they've been hosting a leather coral for almost a year. *shrug* guess the oscellaris are just determined!

Pamela, thanks for that link! I'm going to check that out! It seems such a shame that the fry always end up disappearing and this would solve that problem. Hope I can get one!


Pamela,

[Sargasso]

I've got a simple "clip-on-the-side" internal breeder box that I sometimes use to house small fry... Picked it up at Roger's in Surrey and it works great.

[Mferko]

How about trying one of those air driven external breeding boxes that hangs on the outside of your tank? I believe that there is a group buy going for them now, but I don't know if it might be too late for you to get in on it.

External breeding cage, now available in Canada! SWEET!!! | Tankspiration

i think the group buy got cancelled, i really want one of these tho so we should get one going.

[Barrie]

I looked at the internal ones, and there just isn't room in that tank for it (or anything else at this point!! (note to self - must win lottery so I can set up the 120g sitting empty in the basement! lol).

Mferko - that would be awesome - they're certainly cheap enough.

[MadgicBug]

If you want to breed them. You will need to remove the eggs and artificially hatch them. If the are laying it on a piece of live rock, simply put one of those small 2" dia clay pots there. They will start spawning in the pot. Remove the pot a few days after the spawn and put it in a very small tank with a bubber. Get you rotifer culture going. Once they hatch reduce your water, as it is easier for them to fine the food. Use a coffee filter or paper towel to strain the rotifer. So you get a high concentration. Prepare to do this 4 to 6 times a day for a week or two. Transition the to bbs soaked in seldom. Without the selcon they won't make it. Then gradually transition them bigger food. Keep soaking the food with selcon until the get to around 1".

If you want to stop them from spawning. Cut down your feed and don't soak you food with HUFA additives.