Breeding Clowns (Darwin & F. Perc)

[GregD]

Ok...two questions here for those with experience breeding clowns...

I have a pair of clowns in a peaceful/quiet 40 gallon tank. The female clown is a Darwin black clown....the male is a false perc that has darkened to mimic it's mate.

The tank and pair of fish have been together for over a year.....and they definitely seem to be a happy couple, however they have not produced any eggs yet.

My two questions are:

1) Will this combination or pair be able to mate due to the species mix

2) What can I do to try and stimulate breeding with the pair


(I think a member of the board mentioned you know of someone who is breeding Darwin clowns....any help you can provide here would be appreciated!!)

TIA,
Greg D.

[Ninong]

Originally posted by GregD:

The female clown is a Darwin black clown....

Amphiprion ocellaris

the male is a false perc that has darkened to mimic it's mate.

Amphiprion ocellaris

The tank and pair of fish have been together for over a year.....and they definitely seem to be a happy couple, however they have not produced any eggs yet.

This is not unusual.

1) Will this combination or pair be able to mate due to the species mix

There is no species mix. They are both the same species: Amphiprion ocellaris. Darwin clowns are simply a color morph of A. ocellaris.

2) What can I do to try and stimulate breeding with the pair.

Just be patient. If they are in a "peaceful/quiet 40-gallon tank," they should eventually spawn.

(I think a member of the board mentioned you know of someone who is breeding Darwin clowns....any help you can provide here would be appreciated!!)

That would be me. The lady that I know who is breeding them is a member of this board. Her board name is Mermaid. I last saw her tanks about a year ago. She keeps several different species of clownfish and has been successful in breeding some of them, including her black Darwin Clowns. This is a link to her website: http://hometown.aol.com/petpatrol1/LankasLagoon.html It looks like it hasn't been updated in the past 16 months because it only shows pics of 6 reef-tanks. It shows pics of her Banggai Cardinal babies and pics of spawning Tomato Clowns, but it makes no mention of her Darwin Clowns. I saw her Darwin Clowns in December 2000.

Ninong

[GregD]

Thanks Ninong for the info....

One of my concerns is that I do not have a suitable spot for the clowns to lay their eggs. I know that Joyce Wilkerson recommends a smooth surface like a tile.

I thought I heard that specifically red clay tiles or pieces of a red clay pot are good items to use....any breeders out there with advice in this area?

Specifically does the surface matter, what/how should it be oriented in the tank (if this matters), etc....

Thanks,
Greg D

[Ninong]

The reason that Joyce Wilkerson recommends clay tile is so that you can easily lift it out of the breeding tank and put it in the growout tank just before the eggs hatch. I think that a piece of clay flower pot or a clay tile might look out of place in a regular tank (as opposed to a tank set up just to breed clownfish, with no substrate, etc.).

Any piece of relatively flat live rock near their "home" spot will suffice as far as a spawning spot.

Did you see the pic of ZippyBoy's black clowns in this thread: http://www.reefcentral.com/vbulletin...threadid=47478

Ninong

[GregD]

Thanks Ninong for the data on the tile idea.

Yeah, I was also following the other thread with interest and saw ZippyBoy's picture.

My clown looks exactly like those....complete black with white stripes....no orange at all, not even around the mouth like one of the other pictures in the thread. I couldn't tell from the picture, but when you look at mine the coat almost looks like black velvet (looks soft to the touch). Very very neat fish!

I really need to ask for a digicam for x-mas...when I saw his post I was dying to take a picture of my darwin false perc with the regular false perc. They are a really neat side by side comparison since they have partnered up!

Do you have any data on the postulate in the other thread that there is a ban on capture or import of the Darwin perc's?

Thanks,
Greg D.