Black "perc" -- Spawning time?

[Hyshnari]

Well, my black perculas are acting all funny...

 

The female has kicked the male out of the "host pot", and he's been sulking over by the back wall of the tank. She's been really pigging out lately, and the male hasn't been eating all that much.

 

And just now, my roomie and I noticed what looked like clownfish seizures. Kinda vibrating all over... The female is also attacking the male all the time if he even attempts to get close to her or the "host pot", which they consider their "anemone".

 

After closer examination, the female is FAT! She is definitely rounded out right next to her bottom fins. I mean, she looks like she's either loaded with eggs or has REALLY bad gas.

 

They haven't been bothering anything else lately, only beating up on each other. And I admit that the lighting these days hasn't been as normal lately -- I screwed around with the timer... And I thought a definite day/night cycle was supposed to be best for clownfish spawning???

 

Anyways, I hope they don't decide to do the baby dance while I'm on Thanksgiving vacation. That would suck. Anybody got some good clownfish breeding tips? Or are they just faking it?

 

-Jennifer

[reef hugger]

How big are they? If they are still juvi's then they might be deciding who gets to be the female by bulling the other. If they were courting then the female wouldn't have kicked the male out of the pot. My guess is that maybe the male is sick(?).

 

If they are actually spawning, then the eggs would hatch ~8-10 days after they laid them. If you are not setup to properly care for the fry now, then you don't have much chance of saving them. By setup, I meant green water, roti's, bbs, seperate tank,.....alot of time. HTH

[Tigahboy]

This link is pretty helpful: http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.p...threadid=240158

 

If you ever have babies...I'll buy some off you!

[Hyshnari]

Originally posted by joshnemily

How big are they? If they are still juvi's then they might be deciding who gets to be the female by bulling the other. If they were courting then the female wouldn't have kicked the male out of the pot. My guess is that maybe the male is sick(?).

 

The female is about 2", which is small, but given what I've gathered from ORA (they should be about 9 months), and me buying them in September (almost 3 months ago), plus them being in the LFS for a LONG time according to the guy at the fish store (not too many people felt like shelling out $80 to buy clownfish), they're probably over 13 months.

 

They're back together as of the night before last... The female has let the male back into the pot, so I guess she was just ticked at him for a day. They're still fighting though... (The female's biting at the male as I type)

 

However, they're starting to mess with the substrate. The female has dug a hole in the sand all the way to the bottom of the glass, right in front of the opening to the pot.

 

Both are eating normally... I feed Formula One as a staple twice daily, with a snack of Selcon/Zoecon enriched Hikari Mysis, PE Mysis, Cyclopeeze, and Baby brine every now and then.

 

I have seahorses, but my cultures are rather strained right now with my other fish... I've got 3 brine hatcheries and several greenwater cultures. No roti's, though. But I do have a spare kriesel-type tank which has circular water flow... Not sure that baby clowns would NEED a seahorse fry setup. I've got spare 10gallons and cycled sponge filters though.

 

The male is sick?? But isn't the female the one with the big gut...? If anyone were sick, I'd point my finger at her...

 

Here's a pic of her from a couple days that shows off her lovely poochy belly...

 

[reef hugger]

However, they're starting to mess with the substrate. The female has dug a hole in the sand all the way to the bottom of the glass, right in front of the opening to the pot.

I take back what I said, they are going to be spawning real soon. Since this is the first time that this has happened, the female was probably bullying the male into excepting her choosen nesting site. She gets to choose the site, even though he is the one that is going to be taking care of the eggs.

 

Sounds like you have most everything that you need for fry rearing, minus the roti's. A 10gal would be fine for clown fry. I highly recommend Joyce D. Wilkerson's book Clownfishes even for the basic care of clownfish and how to raise their fry.

 

What kind of seahorses are you keeping? I currently have a pair of ORA Kudas that are breeding but, having a hard time keeping the fry alive. In Dec I will be getting CB 4 erectus.

[Hyshnari]

Mmk -- I guess that means starting MORE cultures. The things I do for my fish.

 

I actually have one ORA kuda -- I lost my female about a month ago. I've heard things about kuda being too small for BBS as a first food, but not recognizing rotifers as a food since they're so small... There actually hasn't been much success with kudas -- even compared to reidi -- due to this fact.

 

No actual spawning yet, and perhaps there won't be, since I have to take the tank back with me over Thanksgiving break... They probably won't like the move... We'll see what happens -- I'll keep you guys updated.

[Moi]

Is it hard to spawn clownfish?

[reef hugger]

According to Joyce Wilkerson the ease of spawning goes like this:

A. Clarkii (Clarkii)

A. melanopus (Cinnamon)

A. ocellaris (False Percula)

A. percula (True Percula)

A. perideraion (Pink Skunk)

P. biaculeatus (Maroon)

 

It depends on the tank setup, age of the fish, tank mates. If you bought a mated pair it will take a couple of months before they will spawn again. They have to get settled in and secure in their surroundings.