A.Chrysopterus advice

[robbieowens]

I have a pair of A.Chrysopterus, the most beautiful clownfish IMO, the female is about 3.5" and the male about 1.75". They live in my gallon tank and have a large Gelam anemone as their host.
My question is, recently they have started to act very strange- hiding then swimming out of the caves kind of wiggling their bodies- they only do this periodically. They have also being biting the rock work near the anemone.
I beleive this is courtship behaviour as all the other fish are ok and the water tests fine. If it is, does anyone know of this species breeding captivity- if so what advice would you give. I am considering setting up a breeding tank just for them, but dont know the specific requirments.

I have ordered Clownfishes by J.Wilkson (spelling?), but that wont be here for a few days.

Sorry for the long post,, any advice welcome.
Thanks

[robbieowens]

Sorry Num lock wasnt on, tank is 60 US Gallon

[firechild]

That is definitely courtship. I would recommend reading as much as possible about clown breeding and I don't think there would be much if any difference between breeding habits of clowns.Spawning in the tank is fine but beware when the fry hatch they will be eaten by the parents so when they hatch (at night, at full moon if I remember correctly) so must be removed quickly. It would be a good idea to have a brine shrimp hatchery ready to feed the fry.

[eco-tropic]

Gone

[Maximus]

I just recieved a pair of chrysopterus and they are really sweet. They're from Fiji and are doing extremly well. Love the blue stripes:)

[Dan]

So where did you get A. chrysopterus clowns? I have been trying for years to obtain a healthy pair. Got any offspring available?

Dan

[eco-tropic]

gone

[eco-tropic]

Gone

[Dan]

Eco-Tropic,

Nice clowns :). I am pleased to hear that you are trying to culture some. I am also going to try my hand at culturing some other species of anemonefish. I had some A. nigripes and gold bar maroons which just started spawning last year, and the A. latezonatus looked like they might start. Unfortunately, I have changed jobs, moved, and completely disrupted my aquariums. I still have many of the fish I had previously, so I hope to get back to the situation I was in before the move.

You can get my email above. Keep me posted on your endeavor. Good luck.

Dan

[Maximus]

Dan,
As soon as I here from Mary, I'll let her know. You have the A. latezonatus? Nice. I heard they need colder water since their from Lord Howe Island. How are yours doing? Please let me know if they ever spawn.

[Maximus]

Dan,
Mary said she should have some more in Jan. She is opening up a online store called CICROP and it should be open for biz at the beginning of next year. Ill keep you updated.

[Metaphase]

I'm looking into getting the clownfish book too, I have one from Tullock, it's not so hot. Robbieowens, ow much did you pay for them? Where did you get them? They sound challenging, but I'm quite interested in them. Besides the ethical issues of keeping an anemone, what would their host be?

[bcjm]

Got three "orange fin" clowns from LFS 2 days ago. One 4", one 2.5" and 1 1". I have couple of questions.

1. The person who works at the store has three pairs. He told me the MALE is larger normally than the female. He said the large one I bought is definitely a male. Is this true?
2. I am trying to pair them up in a 50G tank. Would you keep all three together? Large one with the medium one only? I was told one male stays with more than one females in the wild. How would you do it?
3. Joyce Wilkson's book mentions that this clown and pink skunk produce "white bonnet" skunk. Anyone has any experience with this kind of cross?

Thanks.

[eco-tropic]

Gone

[bcjm]

I am attaching a picture of my clown fish here. Is this the same kind of clown? I notice that mine has orange tail instead of white. The strips are light blue (did not show very well in the picture). All the pictures of A. chrysopterus in Joyce Wilkerson's book have orange color tails. This is also called "orange-fin" or "blue-stripe" clown isn't it?

[eco-tropic]

Gone

[bcjm]

Thank you very much to confirm that. I went back to the fish store this morning to ask the origin of the fishes. They told me that these orange-fins are indeed from Fiji.

I have the two larger ones together in a tank. They seem like each other very much. The female( I assume my LFS was incorrect about the MALE being larger) stirs the sand once in a while to make the nest deeper like all my other clowns. The male is still a juvenal with just a little tail band.

The little one is in a separate tank by itself. It has most of the fins in dark color. I assume that the fins will eventually become yellow. I almost bought a female orange skunk for it today. :D

BTW, I paid $100 for all three. Do you think it is fair?

[eco-tropic]

Gone

[bcjm]

I have not added the juvenile together with the other two. I am worry that it will delay the development. Assume that the largest one is the female and the medium one develops to be a male. What will happen to the smallest one? Become a male or female? Or stay in the juvenile as mentioned in Joyce's book. I might find anothe orange-fin to pair with this little one.

[eco-tropic]

Gone

[IslandJohn]

I enjoyed reading the info here about these clowns. Glad to see others out there who also like A Chrysopterus. I will get some pics and send the to see if they pass the clarks test

john

[IslandJohn]

here is the female in my 90g
John

[IslandJohn]

And the male. sorry I couldn't get both in a good shot.
John