| Thanks to Disney's Motion Picture 'Finding | | | | anemone, a few live rocks and other rocky |
| Nemo,' almost everybody is familiar with | | | | substances with a vertical surface, a layer |
| clownfish. | | | | of coral sand on the bottom, bright lighting, |
| | | | good filtration, and a protein skimmer. Your |
| Clownfish, or Anemonefishes, from the family | | | | clownfish should be stress free, which means |
| Pomacentridae, are one of the easiest | | | | no aggressive tank mates and good water |
| tropical marine aquarium fish to breed. | | | | quality. As for feeding, clownfish need a |
| Clownfish regularly lay eggs in aquariums. | | | | mixed diet of fresh raw seafood and |
| They have quite large eggs and larvae, and | | | | vegetables. A good diet includes prawns, |
| since the larvae easily eat cultured live | | | | mussels, and squid. It is best to feed small |
| foods, raising them is somewhat simpler than | | | | bits at regular intervals. |
| it is with many other marine species. | | | | |
| | | | Spanning can begin 1 to 12 months after the |
| You need to get a pair if you want to breed | | | | fish have settled into their new home. When |
| clownfish, and that's quite interesting - | | | | the fish are ready to spawn, they become very |
| believe it or not, clownfish are all born as | | | | aggressive. The male clownfish will dance up |
| males! When they are adults, the largest and | | | | and down in front of the female (also known |
| the most dominant fish of the group will | | | | as "clownfish waggle"). They will also start |
| undergo a sex change and become a female. The | | | | to clean their selected rock by robustly |
| second largest usually becomes the breeding | | | | biting it. The spawning itself usually occurs |
| male, while all the other fish remain | | | | in the afternoon or early evening. Once the |
| juveniles and gender-neutral. If the breeding | | | | spawning is complete (within several hours) |
| female disappears, the breeding male will | | | | the male takes on responsibility for |
| change to a female, and so on. Buying an | | | | attending the eggs, whereas the female acts |
| established pair may be a reasonable way to | | | | as protector of the eggs and supervisor of |
| go, but it is often better to have a group of | | | | her male. |
| juveniles growing up together. If you choose | | | | |
| to buy a pair you should look for a pair that | | | | Spawning is likely to occur again at |
| goes around together. Sometimes you can be | | | | intervals of 12 to 18 days. The eggs should |
| lucky enough to get a pair already spawning. | | | | be left in the care of the parents and not |
| Anyhow, establishing an adult pair can be a | | | | removed, unless the parents are known to be |
| little tricky; and you need to keep your eyes | | | | egg eaters. At first the eggs are a bright |
| on them to make sure that the female doesn't | | | | orange colour, but after several days this |
| kill the male. | | | | diminishes and the eyes appear. Hatching |
| | | | usually takes from 6 to 15 days, depending on |
| The next thing is to set up the tank. The | | | | temperature. |
| tank should be large enough, approximately | | | | |
| 200 liters for the breeding pair. It is | | | | The most critical stage of the fry is the |
| better to keep a pair alone in an aquarium | | | | first 10 days of their larvae span. If you |
| when trying to spawn clownfish. | | | | can get your fry to survive this period the |
| | | | rest of their raising should be easier. |
| The aquarium should be furnished with a nice | | | | |