Maroon clowns spawning

[MikeG1]

Just thought I'd share my news with you all. My gold stripe maroon clowns, who I've had as a pair from juvenile about for three years, started spawning over Christmas. The first batch hatched on Saturday night and they laid a second batch sometime yesterday.

They have chosen the underside of a powerhead as the spawning site in the corner they have called home. No chance of attempting to raise the fry at the moment as I don't have the room or the time but I am moving house some time soon so might try then if they continue to spawn.

Cheers

Mike G

 

[sally1]

Very cool indeed. You mean you have had them together for 3 years and they now just started spawning?? Do you have other fish in the tank? I have had a pair of perculas for 4 years and they have never spawned..someone told me if they hadn't spawned after a year together..they never would. Guess that is not true in your case. Good luck!

 

[Anemone]

The first pair of GS Maroon Clowns I created took 18 months to begin spawning. The second pair (using the male from the first pair as the female, as the original female became eggbound and died) took 14 months.

I have a pair of ocellaris (in another tank) that have been together 26 months and have yet to spawn (but they were both bought at the same time as juveniles, so I'm still hopeful).

I think the "someone" who gave you the advice didn't know what he/she was talking about.

Kevin

 

[MikeG1]

<blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by sally:
<strong>Very cool indeed. You mean you have had them together for 3 years and they now just started spawning?? Do you have other fish in the tank? I have had a pair of perculas for 4 years and they have never spawned..someone told me if they hadn't spawned after a year together..they never would. Guess that is not true in your case. Good luck!</strong><hr></blockquote>

Sally: These two clowns were the first two inhabitants of my tank, bought as unmatched juveniles on bad advice from a LFS (which I don't use now). Thankfully they paired quite happily (which is quite unusual for maroons according to Joyce Wilkersons book). The first batch of eggs I noticed after returning from a week away and needing to unblock the powerhead. I actually lifted the pump out of the water and only noticed the eggs as I turned it over to access the impellor chamber.

They may have spawned once before which I missed but I check the less visible parts of the tank often enough to have noticed if this had been going on in the past. Neither fish, particularly the female, are anywhere near as big as some I have seen so this could influence the delay in spawning to 3 years I suppose.

The tank is 55 US gallons I think (48x15x18) with the pair of clowns, a lemonpeel angel, a purple tang and an orange spot goby. Until last week it also had a longnosed hawk who was our favourite but sadly died whilst we were away. It is a FOWLR tank, no corals.

Cheers

Mike G