Clown fish

[Dunky019]

My clown fish are breeding right now but they're eating the eggs off the rock... This is their first time breeding, is it common for them to do this??

[uztaryn]

Yes, from what I understand (and I am no expert) they will eat the eggs if they feel they do not have a good chance of survival or if the eggs are threatened by a predator. If you want them to hatch you need to put them in a tank with no predators and make sure they fish have ample food.

[Dunky019]

Interesting... Right now there are just 2 blood shrimp in the tank. So i don't think its an issue of predation. I'll try feeding them more. Not that I'm going to even attempt to raise larvae ATM.... we'll see

[FMarini]

are you sure they are actually eating the eggs? do you see less eggs now and a few eggs floating away after the clowns are done?

I ask becuase what your prolly observing is the parental care male clownfish give to the nest, his job is to mouth the eggs, to remove any fungus and spoiled eggs, and ensure adequate oxygenation over the brood.

Have you purchased joyce wilkersons book on Clownfish yet? if not happy xmas-do so, esp if your interested in raiaing any clownfish in the future

[Dunky019]

Ya, I'm positive they were both eating them from the rock. No eggs are left. I have a gut feeling this is due to their diet. The eggs weren't bright orange (like i've seen in other pictures) so I'm guessing they were just getting rid of them b/c they didn't have a chance. I'm gonna try feeding a bit more. Right now I feed them really well once a day. I'll trying adding a few more foods to their diet and possibly feeding more than once a day, see how that goes.

I'm not really interested in rearing them ATM because I'm planning on a couple upgrades to the tank. It's more a matter of having healthy fish and I guess the eggs can be a good indicator of that.

[Jay F]

I have spawning Ocellaris clowns. I have a hundred and some larvae in a rearing tank right now.

If your eggs aren't bright orange it's all about the diet. I feed my clowns a mixture of fresh shrimp, mussels, oysters and dried seaweed. I buy it fresh from the seafood market, chop it all up and make "sushi bars" out of it. Then I vaccume seal them. when I feed, I grate the frozen sushi bar into bite size pieces. My clowns love it, and they produce a beautiful clutch. There are a few pictures i my gallery.