[mikey61]

My clowns are sexing. one darts at the other and the other one does this little shimmer dance.
There still small but i'm told they can sex very early but not mate for awhile?
My question is , how long does it take for them to have little clowns?

[westhedog]

what they are doing at the moment is deciding who is going to be the dominant one out of the pair .this can take a while.once this is sorted the more dominant one will become the female.then it can take upto a year for them to succesfully pair and mate.once that is done they can lay anything from 200 to 450 eggs and can lay eggs every 3 or 4 weeks it has been known.

[c-c]

mikey61
My two clarki do the shaking dance, the larger is definitely the dominant female. She does alot of chasing. It all seems in fun. No serious mating in sight. Let us know if you have babies some day.

[Dustin1300]

I've not yet got to read about the specifics of clownfish mating but my clowns are definately distinguishable as far as the female and male and recently have seen the male doing the "shimmering" as you called it. Does this mean that they are likely to mate or could the male just be getting rejected? I'm hoping they fall in love and maybe I can start selling clowns to my LFS and maybe pay for some of my expensive hobby!!

[ncdiablo]

They are getting closer to a mated pair and yes they should eventually mate. The male will stick close to the female. Congrats on getting a mated pair!!! Now buy some privacy drapes for them so they can get down to business.

[Dustin1300]

The tank is only about a month old and the only other inhabitants in the tank are a fire shrimp and an engineer goby...Will these eat my clowns eggs or will it most likely be sucked up by my filters?

[Lowej82]

ive seen some netting for dividers to put them in,inside the tank so nothing can get to them

[Dustin1300]

Dont have eggs yet, at least that I know of. But are the engineer goby and fire shrimp going to eat the eggs from the clowns? Does anyone know of any great articles about the specifics of clowns maiting?

[blind1993]

it really depends on that certain fish. also the male will protect the eggs.

[Dustin1300]

Is this just a sign of him flirting or are they most likely close to mating?

[blind1993]

it depends on the clowns.

[Dustin1300]

Anyone of any real good articles on mating clowns??? I WANT SOME FRY!!! I'll even shut the lights out if that is what it takes...

[blind1993]

u cant force or really speed up the process but reef frontiers has a relly good thread.

[Dustin1300]

Not trying to foce the clownfish....Rather trying to make the mood and settings just right for things to happen???

[Dustin1300]

---force---

[blind1993]

i didnt mean force but there is not really a way u can speed it up.

[Dustin1300]

I was not really trying to speed anything up because I've found all Reefers have to have patience but was rather trying to set them up with the perfect environment for love making......

[ncdiablo]

To add to the mood put on some romantic music and then put some candle light near the tank (not super near just about say 4 feet away). This should help build the romance.

[tychecc]

Hey I bought a pair of marroon clown fish a couple weeks ago, and they are from the wild. i want them to breed they have a anomone that the both like, and the female keeps digging trenchs in the sand does this mean any thing. Also the male seems to like kiss the female on the cheek all the time, what do I need to get them to breed, I also have two damsels and one other clown. o yea what does this dance i keep hearing about look like,k any help would b great, thank you.

[ncdiablo]

Just a guess that if the damsels get too close to the clowns they may not breed. The have to feel they have privacy (just like you would should you even attempt to breed)

She may be cleaning an area to lay the eggs.

In order to really make sure the babies survive you will need to put something in there that they can lay the eggs on and you can remove the item easily to save the eggs. Some recommend taking a ceramic 4"x4" tile and put it at an angle near where the clowns are hanging out, make sure to put the tile rough side up.

[capitalb]

My oscellaris are laying up to 2,000 eggs(I have counted them) three times a month! They are about 13 years old now and have never had an anenome! A good way to get them to breed is to get frozen rotifers for now and feed them to your tank at dusk. This will let your clowns know that there is baby food available, setting the mood. The absolute last thing you want to do is remove the eggs as they need the constant care of the parents right up until the moment of hatching. At the moment of hatching (you must be there for this) they can be carefully removed from the surface and placed into a breeder tank. When you get to this point, let me know. There is just too much information to share at this time. Good luck!

[JackedupSOB]

Thats nuts 2,000 a month
Awesome

[capitalb]

2,000 three times a month