most prolific Clownfish species?

[Gary Majchrzak]

Breeding Clownfish are great for providing an aquarium with a natural source of zooplankton (food).

Which species is the most prolific?

[^CelticReefer^]

Gary,
My false percs breed approx every 2-3 weeks, have been doing so since October. Their spot never stays empty from eggs for more than a few days. The last batch released this morning and the female already looks like shes going to explode! Its funny that they lay their eggs under a colony of my shrooms, I am sure you have seen pics, but the shrooms don't bother the eggs what so ever.

Brian

[Gary Majchrzak]

I agree, Brian. My ocellaris are ready to lay a new clutch the morning after all the previous eggs have hatched. They must rank right up among the most prolific.

[Guy]

I think it's Gold Striped Maroons.

Not only do they have thousands of eggs instead of hundreds, they seem to overlap batches fairly often (ie. lay more eggs before the last batch has even hatched).

[Gary Majchrzak]

Thanks, Guy. I knew Clarkii and Maroons layed bigger batches of eggs, but I had no idea they would start laying a new brood before their other eggs hatched!

[sschafer]

Gary,

I remember seeing a few juv clowns and/or cardinals in your tank at one point. Did they hatch in the main tank and survive off of the phyto/zooplankton already in there?

-Steve

[Gary Majchrzak]

Baby Cardinalfish can survive on food in my aquarium for as long as they can avoid fish predators.
Larval Clownfish only last the first night of hatching, if even that long. They require a high density of rotifers to make it to metamorphosis. You need to remove them from the reef aquarium as quickly as possible and already have rotifer and greenwater cultures established to have a prayer of raising them.
Guys big lagoon might possibly afford the luxury of enough bugs to feed a lucky Clownfish larvae...