Breeding Clowns

[marxsman]

I figure I'll get another conversation starter. I have my marron clowns and they alway lay eggs. ,(Elmo18, I saw your pics and do you try to raise the fry???)
I can get the eggs to hatch and live for a few days but no luck. I think the metamorphase stage kills them. I have tried rotefers for food and even live baby brine shrimp with no success. are there any helpful tips out there??

[Ninong]

I can get the eggs to hatch and live for a few days but no luck. I think the metamorphase stage kills them.

Metamorphosis takes place around the 12th or 13th day. How is your growout tank set up? Their environment has to be sterile.

I have tried rotefers for food and even live baby brine shrimp with no success. are there any helpful tips out there??

You shouldn't feed brine shrimp nauplii until after the 5th day because they would be too large for the larvae to swallow and they might choke to death. Start them on live rotifers and then supplement the live rotifers with freshly hatched brine shrimp nauplii around the sixth or seventh day.

You can look up experiences posted by others on Breeder's Registry: http://www.breeders-registry.gen.ca.us/index.htm (The site may be down right now but I'm posting the link anyway.)

Joyce Wilkerson's book, Clownfishes, is very informative and contains detailed instructions on breeding the various clownfish species, including Premnas biaculeatus: http://www.premiumaquatics.com/Merch...ory_Code=Books

A few years ago I visited someone in Baton Rouge who breeds clownfish and in spite of the fact that she has a mature breeding pair of Maroons, she had not yet been successful at rearing the fry past metamorphosis. And this is someone who routinely raises three or four other clownfish species to maturity. Her female Premnas was gigantic!