Another clown breeder

My reef system and coral propagation system is all set up. Now Im bored so guess Ill throw my hat into the breeder ring too. I have my pair of clowns and they are looking good. Iv had one for about 6 months that has grown quite a bit and I assume turned female so I picked the smallest out of a large group at the LFS and brought him home. Looks like I got a good pair right away they get along great so male vs. male territory disputes at all. Im going to try to breed them completely within the loop of water my reef shares. Im not sure how yet it will be a lot of trial and error.

First idea:
Keep the young in the tank with parents and see who is lucky enough to survive.

Second idea:
Let them get sucked into the overflow and down to the first sump chamber which holds 15g of water.

Im sure neither way is going to work right off and will need to be modified but Im excited to get my start. What are some early signs I will see of the clowns beginning to get interested in breeding?

 

I belive one sign will be the male "twiching" infront of the female kinda trying to seduce her a little.

 

im not sure if this is even possible but as soon as I put the male in yesterday he started the twitching. today it loks like the females belly is plumper than normal. is it possible she has started egg production this soon?

 

Wow that would be awsome! Im not sure I dont have a ton of clown expirience. Please keep me posted.

 

I will be shocked if it is happening this fast. just checked on them and they are definitely paired off.one more question. does anyone know if a watchmen goby or hermits will eat the eggs. I assume the clowns will be very protecive.ill keep this thread updated on there activity.

 

I was wondering the same thing I want to get a goby and was curious about that to. lol sorry man

 

Overnight they seem to have started digging some kind of burrow next to a rock. Im anxiously awaiting some new activity.

 

Try something smooth for them to lay on... tile... clay pot.. etc...
but the fry would more than likely not make it in the main DT.. have asked this on other forums.. even the own clowns will eat the young.. You will have some survive.
Also be getting your rotifiers and phyto started.. i seem to remember you already have photo but the fry will only really eat rotifiers. Thats the difficulty of clown breeding. You have to culture phyto to feed the rotifiers.. and breed rotifiers to feed the fry.

The tile idea to me seems best because you can take the tile out with eggs on.. and drop it in a small tank (5 or 10g whatever you got) with a small basic airpump with foam (cheapo style)... some even make a fake nem for them to be in. Then dose your rotifiers for food.

 

wow thats cool man... keep us posted... sounds really cool man...

 

I kinda figured this would be the case. Parents will eat them and they wont have anything to eat. Im planning on loosing at least most of the first batch anyway if not all of it. Im really hoping luck will be with me and they will eat cyclops which I feed daily to the reef thats in the same system. Still trying to decide if I want to take the crabs out of there. I think the watchmen will keep uneaten food off the sand anyway.