Clownfish Eggs

Sortega · Jun 23, 2021

Wanted to share some photos of my two clownfish. I took a look at the tank today and found them hovering around some fresh eggs! I was going to begin cycling a 10 gallon tank. The plan is once the eggs actually hatch I was going to net them out into their own tank and start feeding them baby brine shrimp. Once they mature a bit, I was probably going to give them away to some local friends and my LFS.

For anybody who has spawned clownfish eggs before, any life lessons or words of wisdom that you could pass on? I would love to hear how others have handled this to maximize survival rate. I want to see if my planned approach is on the right track or not.

The current tank is a RSF 170 that has been going for about 2.5 years now. The clownfish fish are my original fish that I had since the tank first started.

Jeffcb · Jun 23, 2021

Caviar! The look good!

rhdoug · Jun 23, 2021

First of all congrats! Unfortunately if you net the larvae they will likely die, you will need to use a cup and a gentle touch. The eggs hatch after the lights have been off for a while, you will need to turn off ALL of the pumps before lights out on the night of the hatch. Make sure all the lights are off in the room as well. The larvae will be attracted to light, put a small flashlight near the surface so you can slowly scoop them out. Newly hatched clownfish do not look like clownfish, they are sooo tiny -- baby brine will be too large, you will need rotifers for the first couple of weeks. This is a labor-intensive effort that needs a special tank setup (sponge filter, no powerheads or live rock), I used a spare 10 gallon. I suggest reading up on it before you try, it took me several times before I figured it out. Good Luck, and your clowns will likely keep spawning abour once a month (if I remember correctly) so you will have plenty of time to practice. I have a pair of occelaris that have been spawning for 15 years.

Sortega · Jun 23, 2021

rhdoug said:
First of all congrats! Unfortunately if you net the larvae they will likely die, you will need to use a cup and a gentle touch. The eggs hatch after the lights have been off for a while, you will need to turn off ALL of the pumps before lights out on the night of the hatch. Make sure all the lights are off in the room as well. The larvae will be attracted to light, put a small flashlight near the surface so you can slowly scoop them out. Newly hatched clownfish do not look like clownfish, they are sooo tiny -- baby brine will be too large, you will need rotifers for the first couple of weeks. This is a labor-intensive effort that needs a special tank setup (sponge filter, no powerheads or live rock), I used a spare 10 gallon. I suggest reading up on it before you try, it took me several times before I figured it out. Good Luck, and your clowns will likely keep spawning abour once a month (if I remember correctly) so you will have plenty of time to practice. I have a pair of occelaris that have been spawning for 15 years.

Thanks for the pointers! I started doing more research after reading your post. I’m starting a rotifer grow out tank as I type this post

I figure I’ll give it a try. They are guaranteed to die if I just leave them in the display tank. At least this way there may be a chance I get some to survive. Like you said, it looks like I may get more attempts here.

Thanks for your post!