HELP!!!!

[NDIrish]

My tomato clowns just laid eggs within the last 30 minutes on the bottom of the heater.
What should I do? I have no clue how to handle this. Wasn't expecting this to happen.

 

[Peace River]

Congratulations on the eggs! What is your goal? Are you hoping to raise the fry?

 

[Mical]

Let it ride, clowns do this all the time and unless you are prepared to collect the eggs and feed them in a second tank, this is just a normal cycle. I have 2 clowns that are closing in on 15 years old and the female lays eggs 6-8 times a year and my 7 nems enjoy the bonus feeding.

 

[NDIrish]

At this time I guess I'll let it ride and let happen, happen.
Reason, the clowns are in a temporary 40 gal tall tank with the other fish.
I'm in process of setting up a 125 gal tall tank.
Thanks for the help.

 

[foxt]

Well, that is a convenient spot for them to pick.

As has been said, they will lay eggs again. Probably the same spot, and probably on a regular basis. There are lots of tutorials out there on how to get these to hatch and then raise the fry. It is not simple, among other things requires culturing live rotifers, but lots of people do it.

My clowns started laying eggs earlier this year, and I have been getting ready to try to raise a clutch. If I succeed, I am not sure what I will do with the fish. And then there will be another clutch. And another. I can't possibly raise them all, so I have accepted that this is the way life works - the fry feed the tank when they hatch.

If you do decide to try it, as I said, they have made it easy for you. The best way to do this is to remove the eggs the day before they are set to hatch (they hatch like clockwork). In your case, remove heater, put in hatching container, and you are done. In my case, they chose a rock I can not remove, and I keep trying to put something in it's place, and they keep pushing it away. I will eventually work it out, but they are very determined fish!

 

[NDIrish]

Well, that is a convenient spot for them to pick.

As has been said, they will lay eggs again. Probably the same spot, and probably on a regular basis. There are lots of tutorials out there on how to get these to hatch and then raise the fry. It is not simple, among other things requires culturing live rotifers, but lots of people do it.

My clowns started laying eggs earlier this year, and I have been getting ready to try to raise a clutch. If I succeed, I am not sure what I will do with the fish. And then there will be another clutch. And another. I can't possibly raise them all, so I have accepted that this is the way life works - the fry feed the tank when they hatch.

If you do decide to try it, as I said, they have made it easy for you. The best way to do this is to remove the eggs the day before they are set to hatch (they hatch like clockwork). In your case, remove heater, put in hatching container, and you are done. In my case, they chose a rock I can not remove, and I keep trying to put something in it's place, and they keep pushing it away. I will eventually work it out, but they are very determined fish!

If I did raise them, getting rid of the fish would be another issue. Nearest LFS is 80 miles away ☹

 

[foxt]

If I did raise them, getting rid of the fish would be another issue. Nearest LFS is 80 miles away ☹

I am in the same boat as you - no LFS (aside from Petco) within a reasonable distance. No reef club, and not enough reefer friends to keep taking clownfish off my hands. I had visions of being like one of those people that accumulate 100 cats - row after row of clownfish harem tanks in the basement. Or like my neighbor, who pushes zucchini on me on a regular basis, like it or not. "Here, take a few more free snowflake clowns off my hands".

I notice that every once in a while there are "free to a good home" clownfish threads, and I might try that if this works out.

The pair are fun to watch though, as they tend to the eggs. Also pretty cool to watch the eggs transform from that bright orange color to the point where they are just about ready to emerge, and you can make out the eyes.

 

[SighKenny]

I am in the same boat as you - no LFS (aside from Petco) within a reasonable distance. No reef club, and not enough reefer friends to keep taking clownfish off my hands. I had visions of being like one of those people that accumulate 100 cats - row after row of clownfish harem tanks in the basement. Or like my neighbor, who pushes zucchini on me on a regular basis, like it or not. "Here, take a few more free snowflake clowns off my hands".

I notice that every once in a while there are "free to a good home" clownfish threads, and I might try that if this works out.

The pair are fun to watch though, as they tend to the eggs. Also pretty cool to watch the eggs transform from that bright orange color to the point where they are just about ready to emerge, and you can make out the eyes.

I was gonna buy paired longfins but thought about this same problem haha