Maldives Anemonefish

[JimmyBoy62202]

Anthony,
I recently purchased 2. Was told that they are quite rare and I might be successful in breeding them. Well after about a week and a half the female (larger one) is pretty much staying in one spot with the light on, with the male comming over every once in a while. I thought she might be sick but she will move for food and isnt breathing heavy. At night she goes with the male to their night spot and they are exhibting some weird behavior, both will shake their back fins like mad and stay really close. It almost looks like the male is kissing her as weird as that sounds, she stays really close to the sand too. Was wondering if any of you know if this might be some kind of mating ritual. I hope it is cause I would love to breed them, paid 60 bucks for the pair!!
Thanks,
Jim

[Anthony Calfo]

Is this in your QT tank?

Either way... do check out the fab saga and education here:

http://archive.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=684888

the story ends with the clownfishes breeding in the Qt BTW

[JimmyBoy62202]

Yes it is, i think i will just let them stay there :)
thanks for the links.

[Marc Daniels]

Jim-

If you're talking abou A. nigripes, then yes they are one of the rarer clowns in the trade. One of the reason they are so rare is that the are horrible shippers...easily one of the most sensitive to shipping stress.

The shaking that you are describing is a domimance/submissive display. Very similar to a dog exposing it's belly to another dog. It is very possible that they may not have been a "pair" until they were thrown together.

Every now and then you can find a tank raised specimen, but as far as captive breeding goes they are one of the more reluctant breeds. May of 2003 I was in San Diego for a conference and during a down time went LFS cruising. I found a small store that had 19 tank raised juvenile A. nigripes, and I bought all of them. Anyways, a buddy of mine that breeds has 3 pairs that I brought back and they have never shown the slightest inclination to breed. But ,there is a guy fairly local to me (Bay Area) that has a breeding pair.