Egg fostering with clownfish

after putting my ocellaris eggs in with my picassos, the picassos have been spawning regularly for the last 2 months. this method seems to work really well. I tried with my darwin black ice pair and after a day of not seeing them the female ate all the eggs, so i will try again. my regular percs are getting ready to lay today.

at what day are you pulling the eggs to put them in with the foster parents?

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

 
Yeah, 50/50 success now, but maybe the Clarkii aren't as ready as I think they are.  They could easily be months away yet.

Don't let fear and common sense stop you! =]

My tries this past week...
 
Darwin spawn 07/13 on two tiles.
 
07/14 - move Darwin eggs on tile 1 (sparse) to Clarkii tank.  Eggs immediately and aggressively eaten by the female (second time the Clarkii have done this now).  Female Clarkii gets VERY worked up over the eggs being in her tile lean-to.
 
07/19 - move Darwin eggs on tile 2 (150 eggs) to Clarkii tank.  Same response, so I removed the eggs.
 
07/19 - move Darwin eggs on tile 2 to Percula tank (these two have only been together for a week).  Male Onyx (5 year old proven male) finds eggs first, and is mad.  Tail slapping the eggs.  He starts to slowly eat them.  Female Picasso finds eggs (3 year old virgin), and is very interested, but starts tail slapping too.  She eventually starts eating the eggs as well, but "mouthed" the eggs too, so she was interested in them.  They ate all the eggs in about an hour, although they never got as worked up as the Clarkii did. 
 
These Percs aren't near spawning.  The female is a really poor eater, and is always skinny.  I was hoping the eggs would provide some nutrition at least, and maybe trigger some sort of idea.  I recently noticed that the female spends all day chasing the female Orchid Dottyback - keeping her hiding.  So I will need to move the Percs.  I just made this pair by moving a virgin Platinum male out, and a proven Onyx male in.
 
So now the score is...
 
Success - 1
Fail - 2

Don't let fear and common sense stop you! =]

Sept 4th:  Moved 2-day old Darwin eggs into non-breeding pair of Darwins that have been tile cleaning for a few months, but no action.  Pair 2 tended the eggs, but slowly ate them over 3 days.
 
Sept 30th:  Pair 2 spawns a small nest.
 
So now the score is...
 
Success - 2
Fail - 2

Don't let fear and common sense stop you! =]

Hmm if there is enough attempts (dunno whats a good number, 100? 1000? 10000?) would be nice to see if statistics would sway one way or another.
 
A better question - can anyone make "fake" eggs to try out on parents?  I dunno, orange beads glued/epoxied to a tile so they don't come off?  
 
Pie in the sky perhaps, but imagine if you could get reticent clowns to spawn because of the fake eggs.  And they would be epoxied so they couldn't eat them... would they then learn they can't eat their own eggs?  I smell a project for my black snowflakes who have been cleaning for months now.

i have tried this and my fish ate them within minuts but the great thing was they spawned a week later so it got them in the mode i guess same thing happend to my tomatoes but i didnt put eggs in with them it was a dead baby clown and the male cared for it and 3 days later they spawned

I bought a pair of breeding Ocellaris June 15th.  I moved the pair into the broodstock system on July 27th.  I didn't see the pair cleaning the tile or doing burnouts or any sort of pre-spawn behavior, so I gave the pair some eggs from another pair on August 11th.  Those eggs hatched on August 18th.  Today they laid their own nest. 
 
Success: 3
Fail: 2

Don't let fear and common sense stop you! =]

Woo hoo.  Congrats

ee gads, I need to do this with my darwins... gosh. they aren't doing anything for me. I think it might be time to play a little musical tiles.  

As far as I can tell, it works as long as the fish are ready to breed, but need a little nudge.  If they need a big nudge, it just won't work.  For example, I gave my Onyx Percs some eggs yesterday and they ate them.  They are not ready.  They are a bit young yet, but I didn't need the eggs so I figured why not.
 
Success: 3
Fail: 3

Don't let fear and common sense stop you! =]

I put my last tile of Darwin eggs in with my Picasso pair that hasn't spawned in a long time. They took good care of the eggs... hopefully this will get them going again.

http://www.fishtalpropagations.com/#!home/mainPage
"Making captive breeding easier."

it works I am doing that with my Picasso pair they were supposed to be a spawning pair but they are not they care for the eggs for a couple days then eat them progress is being made as I put new clutches in with them trying to speed up this process great shots and beautiful clowns

 
Anyone try that beads idea? Pretty genius. I have two Darwin pairs that ALWAYS eat their eggs by the time hatch day comes. No matter how much I feed them, they eat the eggs. Been happening for 4 months. So I took one clutch and gave it to a pair of orange ocellaris I bought that used to spawn prior to me buying them. They are caring for those eggs. Now I have another clutch from another pair that always eats the eggs, and I'm wondering if
1. Make the pair not spawn anymore by removing their eggs.
2. Mess up the fostering parents spawning schedule if I give them eggs around 6 days prior to when they normally spawn. I don't mind if they are late, I just don't want them to STOP. I really want to raise this clutch because I'm curious of the results. Black Darwin/Black Snowflake.