My clownfish is laying eggs

[joanropi17]

Hey, guys! I'm super excited because my clownfish is laying eggs. They tried before but they ate both batches. This time is a win. Now, I don't know how to be a dad when she laid eggs in my live rock with corals around. How I will keep them? I have a Biocube 32 gallon.

 

[Formulator]

Congratulations! Always exciting to get that first clutch. I hate to burst your bubble, but you won’t be able to keep any unless you are committed to a serious investment of time and more equipment. Clownfish fry are extremely delicate and must be reared in a separate tank, and fed a diet of live rotifers for the first week or so of life. In order to do this, you have to start a culture of rotifers. Rotifers need to be fed phytoplankton, which can also be cultured or you can purchase concentrate. The fry are very sensitive to ammonia so you have to do daily water changes in the growout tank and keep the water tinted with phytoplankton to avoid shocking them to death with light and to feed the rotifers, which in turn feed the fry.

That is a super simplified high level overview. If you are still interested, here is a great thread:

Thread 'How I successfully raised baby clownfish'
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/how-i-successfully-raised-baby-clownfish.951456/

 

[Jmcg89]

I raised the first batch my clowns laid and It was a super rewarding experience but very time consuming and stressful lol.
They only had 30 somthing eggs hatch the first time which really helped out because I don't think I would have had enough rotifers for hundreds.
Do as much research as you can and make a plan, don't let people discourage you eaither about your first time I only lost a couple out of all the fry I was able to catch.
The first thing to do asap before anything now if you want to raise them is get rotifers growing so you don't run out.
Mine were eating the smallest tdo within the first couple days but the rotifers were stimulating that feeding response I believe.
I wouldn't count on being able to buy the amount you'll need even if they're locally available.