Clowhfish egg/larvae question...

[afboundguy]

My clownfish finally started breeding a few months ago and I have been keeping notes on when the eggs hatch in hopes of starting up a breeding setup in the basement. I'd say they're on their 5th or 6th batch. I have been letting them try and tend to the eggs on their own so they can figure out what they're supposed to do on their own and I'm in no rush to try and start trying to raise the larvae. The past few rotations the eggs have been hatching on day 12-14. The last time prior to yesterday's breeding it was on day 13 and the female looked like she was in danger of becoming egg bound as she had nowhere to lay the eggs and she wasn't swimming properly. I was going to manually removing her eggs the next morning but thankfully overnight the old eggs were gone off the rockwork and she laid the eggs on the tile I placed in that evening (had been planning on trying to transition them to laying on a tile anyways just in case).

Yesterday I noticed that on the tile in the tank the old eggs (day 13 or 14 IIRC) were still on the tile and the female had laid a fresh batch of eggs on the same tile just below the old eggs. Today I checked and about 75% of the old eggs were off the tile and I'm assuming they either hatched last night and the rest will hatch tonight or the male just ate/cleaned them off.

My main concern is in regards to the eggs hatching well past the normal 8-10 days. Is this indicative of the male not doing a good enough job tending to the eggs and if I move towards trying to raise them should I remove the tile and tend to the eggs myself via an airstone in a separate tank? The eggs have the distinct silvery look with clearly visible black eyes for 5-6 days.

 

[ThRoewer]

There is nothing wrong with your fish or the eggs. This happens when the eggs take a little longer to hatch (usually when the water temperature is kept lower) or if the female is fed too well and gets ready to spawn again too quickly. I had that as well with some of my pairs. These clarkii did it on a regular basis:

There are a few ways to deal with this:

1. remove the tile with the eggs a day earlier and transfer them to the larvae tank (make sure to aerate them well enough and evenly so that they don't die).
2. let them lay the new eggs on the tile with the eggs ready to hatch and then transfer it to the larvae tank to let them hatch. In the morning (or sometime in the night) transfer the tile with the remaining new eggs back into the care of the parents.
3. feed the female a little less so that she needs longer to lay the next batch.
4. raise the tank temperature a few degrees.

I have done 1. and 2. and those are the ones I would recommend.

 

[afboundguy]

Awesome thanks for the reply. I figured #1 would be the answer and I do have 2 different tiles so I may just try that after I take the plunge and start trying to raise them...