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Egg fostering with clownfish
Tuesday, March 29, 2011 3:55 PM
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With my Job I have access to clownfish that I don't have space at home to keep. I even have a few pairs that I bought myself but keep at a public aquarium (skunk, maroon clownfish pairs). I also have some friends that let me know when their clownfish have spawned and allow me to take the eggs. I used to pickup the eggs the night of the hatch, however it's often inconvenient for me and the person helping me. I decided this was not the best option when I got home with a bucket full of maroon clownfish larvae... darn guys hatched on the way home. First try I brought 4200 maroon clownfish eggs that were 1 day old. Gave them to my black and white Ocellaris that have not spawned for many months now. Results were instant, with the male fanning the eggs. Female even participated in caring for this nest, probably because it was 100x larger than they have ever made themselves. By the end of the week, there were some bite sized "holes" in the nest, but hardly affected the quantity of eggs.  Second try I brought home some regular Ocellaris eggs and gave them to my true percula pair. This pair has spawned for me in the past but has done nothing for about 6 months now. Immediately the male started caring for the eggs and soon the female would help a little. After these eggs hatched, I had to reaquascape the tank to catch one of the fish I wanted out. Completely redid this tank. I thought this was starting to get pretty easy... Bill Capman let me know that the Onyx clownfish at the Augsburg College had spawned on the tile again (was 1 year since the last time I got eggs). This time I collected the eggs days before they were expected to hatch. Bill showed me a great video of clownfish's heart beating while still in the egg. the video showed the blood flowing in and out of the heart. Amazing.   Anyways, I brought the nest home and floated them. I tried giving the eggs to my true percula pair, since only days ago they were successful with some Ocellaris eggs on a tile. The clownfish ignored the eggs for a short while, but a few minutes later I caught them eating the eggs, aggressively. These clownfish had gone psycho.. Next I gave the eggs to my black Ocellaris. I think they are getting ready to spawn on their own now, so I was reluctant to give them eggs to care for. But they too also went crazy and started tail slapping the tile and trying to push it away. After taking the eggs out, this pair went on a rampage and redecorated their tank, then terrorized the orchid dottybacks sharing the tank.. I ended up giving the onyx percula eggs to a newly added pair of Ocellaris. They showed no interest at all, but I was out of options as my other Ocellaris pair would be spawning the next day. Fortunately this morning I checked and they have started to care for the eggs.   Apparently if you do major redecorating to their tanks, they'll reject the eggs. Even if they were great parents days before. Also seems that clownfish that are getting ready to spawn may not be willing to accept eggs as their own. These pictures are from the first nest that I got from Bill.  
<message edited by Chad Vossen on Tuesday, March 29, 2011 4:18 PM>
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Re:Egg fostering with clownfish
Tuesday, March 29, 2011 4:25 PM
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Wow great shots and really interesting post.
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Re:Egg fostering with clownfish
Tuesday, March 29, 2011 6:46 PM
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Cool stuff. Chad! I was talking with Witt about this the other night.
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Re:Egg fostering with clownfish
Wednesday, March 30, 2011 8:19 AM
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That's really cool, Chad. I would never have thought to try fostering. Those are some great 'scope shots, too. It really does not look comfortable inside of there.
--Andy, the bucket man. "Not to know the mandolin is to argue oneself unknown...." --Clara Lanza, 1886
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Re:Egg fostering with clownfish
Wednesday, March 30, 2011 1:17 PM
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How did that maroon hatch turn out?
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Re:Egg fostering with clownfish
Wednesday, March 30, 2011 10:08 PM
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maroons hatched out great. however I greatly underestimated how much food 4000 clownfish will need. gave up on day 2 when I was low on rotifers...
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Re:Egg fostering with clownfish
Monday, May 2, 2011 6:34 PM
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anyone want to help me explore this method? I'm having trouble with getting some of the pairs to care for other clownfish eggs. I just keep moving them around till I find a pair that doesn't start eating the eggs right away... example, the black ocellaris that cared for the gold stripe maroon eggs (4200 eggs) spawned less than 10 days after the maroons hatched. they ate their own eggs within a few hours.... now they will not care for percula eggs. however they are cleaning the flower pot, maybe they are getting ready to lay another batch of "food"... the pair of normal ocellaris that I had foster some percula eggs a month or so ago now wants to eat the eggs. the male was very aggressive while the female seemed to want to care for them... percula pair that has cared for another percula's eggs in the past. the male was ready to be a dad and started fanning the eggs, female just wanted to eat them... in the past, they have done a really good job fostering other clownfish eggs. right now I think I have a pair that's going to take care of them.. they are my last option, so my fingers are crossed. this pair has yet to spawn for me (spawned in clients tank) so we'll see what happens in the fallowing weeks.
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Re:Egg fostering with clownfish
Monday, May 2, 2011 6:53 PM
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Maybe the foster care option isn't such a good idea?
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Re:Egg fostering with clownfish
Monday, May 2, 2011 7:43 PM
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it's a great idea if we can figure out what makes it work and what makes it not work. maybe giving pairs of clownfish eggs and their reactions will tell us something about their own spawning activity.
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Re:Egg fostering with clownfish
Monday, May 2, 2011 8:09 PM
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Sounds like perhaps trying it with non-spawning pairs would work but that it may lead spawning pairs to develop a habit of eating their own eggs. I know with these limited trials not proven but my hypothesis.
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Re:Egg fostering with clownfish
Monday, May 2, 2011 8:09 PM
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It is very interesting, for sure.
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Re:Egg fostering with clownfish
Monday, May 2, 2011 8:20 PM
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If I was closer to yah I would love to help out, I have 2 previously spawning pairs( last spawned about 2 months ago)and 1 pair that hasn't spawned yet. I think this is really interesting.
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Re:Egg fostering with clownfish
Tuesday, May 3, 2011 12:02 PM
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very interesting development. I have a pair of ocellaris that will spawn today. female is SWOLLEN with eggs. I wasn't going to give them the percula eggs because I assumed it wouldn't work. with all my other clownfish pairs wanting to eat the eggs or not even looking at them, I had no choice. last night I snuck the eggs in after lights out and today the eggs are alive and doing well. more or less passive parenting, but her ovidepositor is down so they might have bigger plans tonight. I hope they lay their eggs right on top of the percula eggs, lol.
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Re:Egg fostering with clownfish
Tuesday, May 3, 2011 12:10 PM
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that would be cool. I can't wait for those results.
RLTW 180 Gallon Mixed Reef Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?" And I said, "Here am I. Send me!" Isaiah 6:8
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Re:Egg fostering with clownfish
Tuesday, May 3, 2011 5:09 PM
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Chad: (or anyone else) Does it have to be a pair? Couldn't you just put the eggs in with a male and see if he will fan/mouth the eggs? Does it have to be an actual mated pair to foster the eggs?
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Re:Egg fostering with clownfish
Monday, May 23, 2011 12:32 AM
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the ocellaris laid eggs in their typical spot, but still would fan the percula eggs as well. fast forward... I gave that ocellaris nest to the pair of true percs that tried to eat the SI onyx perc eggs. they accepted them and did great. Differences that I noticed are that the ocellaris eggs were on a flower pot, which is what the percula are living in. the SI percula eggs were on a tile, which was a foreign object to them. aparently it helps to match what the clownfish are already using. then to make it more exciting, the pair of percs that I've been using as foster parents laid their best nest ever. seems that the ocellaris eggs got them back into the game. so far every pair that I've used to foster clownfish eggs from another pair has started spawning. this might be a useful trick to coax difficult to spawn species.
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Re:Egg fostering with clownfish
Monday, May 23, 2011 12:47 AM
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very, very interesting Chad.
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Re:Egg fostering with clownfish
Monday, May 23, 2011 4:11 AM
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fantastic read. Has it been tried with newly formed pairs who are yet to spawn?
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Re:Egg fostering with clownfish
Friday, May 27, 2011 10:15 AM
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planning on it when my ocellaris throw me another nest to play with. I'll do some flower pot swapping..
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Re:Egg fostering with clownfish
Saturday, April 7, 2012 1:22 AM
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Lets wake up a old thread......Any news on all these trials??
Our goal with "The Clown Factory" is simple....Raise healthy, beautiful, captive clownfish and ...his is our small part to help keep the Worlds reefs as God intended them to be.....Beautiful
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