Video taken via a mesoscope.

Video via Linda L.  Header photo via this video.

ORA’s booth wasn’t to be disappointed. They had a spectacular zero edge display and a common 120 gallon rectangular aquarium. A cylindrical shaped aquarium with numerous tough-to-get ORA frags, along side with some cute little fish and inverts. Alongside, they showcased some of their captive raised fish, which included different types of A. ocellaris (picasso), Meiacanthus oualanensis (Canary Blenny), Meiacanthus grammistes (Striped Blenny), and some wrasses. It was great to see more progress on captive fish breeding from the industry leaders ORA.

]]> http://blog.fragd.it/2009/09/30/macna-aftermath-mccollochi-clown-and-friends-part-2/feed/ 0 http://blog.fragd.it/2009/09/02/back-to-the-future-the-clownfishman-article/ http://blog.fragd.it/2009/09/02/back-to-the-future-the-clownfishman-article/#comments Wed, 02 Sep 2009 16:41:07 +0000 vlad http://blog.fragd.it/?p=1810 Many here know already who Hubert Chan is, but for those who are not in the know, here is a excellent article on Hubert, his clownfish, and his obsession. Enjoy.

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A Passion for Clownfish

by Hubert Chan

The MAST Executive encouraged me to write an article about my clownfish collection, and it is a pleasure to share my passion for clownfish with you. My collection is possibly the largest clownfish collection in Canada. I have over 32 different kinds of clownfish and color morphs. They are housed in various systems that combine to around 1000 gallons of saltwater. So why collect clownfish? I do not have a quick answer for you, aside from my immediate liking of them, ever since I saw their symbiotic association with anemones and their funny swimming actions. It was pretty much love at first sight. Going back to the age of seven, I was already a pretty keen aquarist and was keeping freshwater tropical fish and goldfish. I tried my hand at breeding goldfish at the age of 10. Although I was living in the tropics, and had easy access to the sea and a lot of the natural coral habitats, I did not really venture into the saltwater aquarium hobby as a kid. That was partially due to the constant discouragement from my parents, who said ‘saltwater aquariums are very hard and very costly’. My closest encounter with the saltwater hobby was that I kept hermit crabs and clams alive for 3 – 4 days. Of course, back then nobody told me that you cannot use dried sea salt and tap water to keep them, let alone explained anything about salinity or ammonia buildup. However, even back then, I knew that one day I would venture into the saltwater hobby. I started off in the hobby, like most of us, by going out and purchasing my first fish – an orange Ocellaris clownfish. Then I drove around the city and beyond, to buy frags and used equipment. Thanks to MAST, AquariumPros.ca, and many other forums, I have met a lot of reefers from different walks of life, and made lots of friends. Instead of talking about my equipment and water parameters of various systems, I will tell you some of the lessons I learned living with clownfish throughout the years.

What are the rarest clownfish in your collection?

There are a few different ones. The Picasso Premium, Tequila Sunrise, and Latezonatus are probably the most prized out of my whole collection.

• Picasso premium clownfish are Amphiprion percula, but bred for their special barring pattern. They actually have their bars connected together.
• Tequila Sunrise clownfish are A. ocellaris but they are selectively bred to produce a no-barring pattern, complete orange in color.
• A. latezonatus clownfish, also called wide-banded clownfish, are from Australia. When they reach adulthood, their middle band becomes a trapezoid pattern. They are one of the largest clownfish.

How many clownfish do you have?

I stopped answering that question after the number surpassed 200. J I do have breeding stock that also adds to the numbers.

What is your favourite clownfish?

It is the original A. ocellaris, with orange and white pattern, surely the most universally loved clownfish ever!

How many species of clownfish are there?

There are two genuses (Premnas – Maroons) and (Amphiprion) that contains 29 scientifically recognized clownfish species. However within each species there might be more than one color morph making a lot of different combinations. For example, within the Amphiprion clarkii species, there are at least 16 different documented color morphs. A lot of us are very familiar with the orange ocellaris and black ocellaris.

Why is my clownfish shaking?

It is a demonstration of submission and is essential in the setting up the clownfish family hierarchy in the pairing process. Clownfish are protandrous hermaphrodite and are capable of changing sex at different stages of their lives. They are born as juvenile and can change to male, which in turn can change to female; being female is at the top of the clownfish hierarchy. A clownfish family consists of one female,

one male and the rest stay as juvenile.

What are the most aggressive clownfish?

The White Striped Maroon and Gold Striped Maroon are the most aggressive, followed by the Tomato complex (i.e. percula body shape), which includes the Tomato (A. frenatus) and Cinnamon (A. melanopus).

How do I pair off clownfish?

For most clownfish species, it is easiest to pair them off by putting one large and one small fish in a single tank. The only exceptions are the Maroons in the genus Premnas. In their case, you might need to initially use a fence to physically separate them, or they might kill each other within minutes. There is no guarantee that two clownfish will pair off and become a bonded or breeding pair. However, on average, you have about a 75% chance of success with this method, provided both clownfish are of the same species and color morph. Tank-raised clownfish tend to pair off a little easier, due to their upbringing.

Can I pair an orange ocellaris and black ocellaris?

Very likely, as almost 99% of all black ocellaris are tank raised, and there are many reports of success with this combination. However, be warned that the offspring of such a pair do not normally have a very interesting pattern or coloration; they tend to have a brownish maroon color, with the normal ocellaris barring.

How do I get my true percula (or black ocellaris) to turn darker?

The melanistic nature of clownfish seems to be triggered by maturity and strong lighting, at least for the percula complex. Therefore, you will have a better chance of turning your true percula or orange-mouth black ocellaris into a melanistic coloration by using metal halide or strong T5HO lighting.

What is a true ONYX percula?

In order to be classified as a perfect ONYX, the true percula has to have:

(i) body area between 1^st and 2^nd band are completely black,

(ii) body area between 2^nd and 3^rd band are completely black,

(iii) mouth, fin and tail colours are optional.

My clownfish ‘host’ is a coral: should I be concerned?

When a clownfish chooses a coral as its host, it might hurt the coral. This is common amongst goniopora, torch, frogspawn, and hammer corals. On the other hand, the fish might also get stung by the corals. For example, zoanthids may well give them black spots that are harmless, but can be unsightly.

What if my clownfish ‘host’ is a power head?

A lot of the smaller clownfish do like to sleep near power heads, and sometimes they do get sucked into the intake.

What anemones should I get for my clownfish?

This is a tricky question. Each species of clownfish is associated with a few types of anemones in their natural environment. However, keeping an anemone alive for the long term is 10 times harder than keeping a clownfish alive. Therefore, I do not recommend aquarists follow the exact combination found in nature, unless the anemone is a bubble-tip anemone (Entacmaea quadricolor) or a haddoni carpet anemone (Stichodactyla haddoni). Most clownfish will associate with a hosting anemone different from the one they would associate with in nature, once they feel its touch. Some clownfish species might take a bit longer to recognize the anemone than others. This leads naturally to the next question…

How do I get my clownfish to host in the anemone?

There is not a single correct way, but there are a few tips that an aquarist might want to try:

• Choose a natural host, if the host anemone is one that can be fairly easily maintained in an aquarium (e.g. maroon clown & bubble-tip anemone).
• Introduce the anemone into the clown’s tank, and be patient. Eventually, the clownfish will brush against the anemone’s tentacles, and may choose it as a host.
• Let the clownfish learn by watching. People have tried putting a picture of a clownfish swimming in an anemone up against the tank, so the clownfish can see and maybe mimic the picture. I think it is much more likely to work, if you put one tank already containing a clownfish pair established in an anemone, next to the tank containing the clownfish you wish to train.

My clownfish is tank-raised; will it recognize the anemone as its host?

That is never a real problem for any of my tank-raised clownfish; however, as noted above, some do learn faster by watching others.

What should I look for when buying a new clownfish?

The obvious things are that the fish is alert to your presence, and its body is clear of any parasites (ich, velvet, white film). Also, check its breathing rate. Make sure that it is breathing normally, and that it is not swimming into the current.

How should I quarantine clownfish?

Wild-caught clownfish are notorious for brooklynella (white mucus film on the body). It is recommended that all wild-caught clownfish are put into a quarantine tank. This will provide you with an easy way of monitoring and netting them. Wait for a couple of days or so, until the fish has settled down and started eating. Then give it a formalin bath for a maximum of about 45 minutes. Repeat the bath, once a day, for three consecutive days. Professional quarantine should be in a bare-bottom tank, with a seeded sponge filter, heater, and pvc tubes for hiding. The recommended quarantine period is a minimum of 30 days.

Why is my clownfish biting the rocks?

This is actually a pre-spawning ritual; the male clownfish will try to clear the nest on a spot near their anemone (or their preferred nest site if an anemone is not present). If the female is happy with the location, she might join in the effort. Although this is a pre-spawning ritual, this does not actually guarantee that your clownfish will lay eggs in any specific timeframe.

So my clownfish have laid eggs, what should I do?

If you want to raise the fry, you will have to start culturing your own rotifer (and maybe phytoplankton depending on the product you use). Rotifer will be the first food for your clownfish fry. Without it, they will not survive to the metamorphosis phase (bar development). If you do not get the culture in time, do not worry because once clownfish lay eggs, they do it like clockwork every 10 to 15 days, depending on the pair’s cycle and external environment. I would love to go into details on breeding, but that would be the topic of another time.

.

Hubert Chan is one of the owners of ReefAquatica.com – a marine reef store that specialize in rare clownfishes, tank-raised marine fishes and inverts, corals, live food, equipment and consulting services. Hubert is very active in marine reef clubs and forums, international marine aquarium conferences and marine ornamental breeding circles. He can be reached at hubert@reefaquatica.com.

So… you ready to own a clownfish? We thinks that you are!

From now on i am always double/triple checking my bags when i order corals/fish. Just 2-3 days ago my dad was cleaning up junk in the basement and i always throw my empty boxes down there till we do a big clean up. Well he was searching through the boxes and in 1 of the boxes he found 2 bags in there with 1 clownfish in each bag about 1″. I have no clue how long they have been in that bag it could be anywhere from atleast 2 weeks to a few months. He said when he found them they were white but still alive surprisingly.. no food, no oxygen for weeks-months.

Unbelievable, to say the least.

The thing is i never bought these clownfish so i dont know how they ended up in the box and some how i missed 2 extra clownfish when emptying my other bags. Must of been a late night and i just didnt see them.. anyways he threw them into my seahorse tank where they are now swimming around and eating mysis and brine shrimp. One of them looks to be injured around his gill but i think it will heal in time other than that they look to be very happy now in the big tank.

A good ending to a horrific beginning of this story.

So lets dissect this a bit, shall we? How can fish survive this long? How can they not consume all oxygen? How can they not die from malnutrition? My simple answer: Hibernation.

The fish were left in a poorly lit area, jump-starting their ‘sleep mode’. Once in sleep mode, their body function slowed down. Their respiration slowed, their need for food slowed, and they defecated much less. If any of these three were not to take place, the fish would have died.

A good lesson to learn… always check your bags!

How long have you been doing this?
I’ve been wet for about four-and-a-half years now, but I took about a year doing research and building my first system. We recently did a large remodel and the current system resulting from that is about five months old.

Can you describe your system?
The display tank is roughly 480 gals. in a long, thin L shape. That is plumbed to a basement fish room with two 120 gal. tanks, six 90 gal. tanks, a 40 XL tank where the filefish live, a 55 gal. drum where the sixline wrasses live and a 180 gal. sump. In the works are larval rearing tanks and an area for culturing zooplankton for larval foods.

So how did you get your fish to mate in your tank? Did you do something special?
Not particularly. I do feed them a lot of food, as in 3-4-5 times/day.

Did you feed them certain food?
Not really other than the filefish. My main staple is a homemade mush of food. Mainly shrimp but also whatever I’m able to find at the fish counter plus lots of macroalgae for the herbivores. The latest batch has lots of swordfish in it because the fish guy was trimming swordfish steaks when I got there and when I told him what I was doing he just gave me all of his off-cuts.

But I also toss in lots of different frozen foods for variety and convenience’s sake. I’m sure to get the filefish some Nutramar Ova every day, though it’s much less now than when I was training them onto frozen foods. I’m not sure they really need it any more, but while it’s available I’ll give it to them.

And how did you know to get one male and one female fish, especially filefish?
In the harlequin’s case, the male and female look different. Matt Pedersen has done a good job documenting that elsewhere, but there are some very distinct differences in the ventral flap area between male and female fish. So they’re easy.

The sixline wrasses are protogynous hermaphrodites, so pairing them was a matter of getting one large fish to be the male and getting a tiny juvenile that will grow up to become female.

The dottybacks were similar.

The cleaner wrasses were in adjacent cubicles at the LFS with a holed partition between them. They would swim off to clean the other fish but each one would return to the partition to be near each other with no sign of aggression.

The royal grammas are just in a group of five and they sort themselves out.

It looks like I just got lucky with the starry blennies.

With the Banggais, it’s a matter of getting a known male (I’ve seen him hold eggs) and letting him tell me if another fish is male or female. If it’s a female, he tries to court her. If it’s a male, he tries to kill him.

The clownfish are like the wrasses and dottys except the big one becomes the female.

Finally, the citron gobies have the possibility to change to either sex at any point in their lives. So pairing them is merely a matter of putting any two together and keeping them from killing each other until they sort things out.

Do you have a particular regimen (routine)?
Get up in the morning. Feed the fish. Top off the sump. Make sure everything’s working. Clean the skimmers when I need to. Go and do some work. Feed the fish. Work some more. Pick up the kid from school. Feed the fish. Work some more. Put the kid to bed. Feed the fish. Place the egg collector on the wrasse tank. Top off the sump. Spend some time with my lovely bride. Grab the egg collector.

I try to do water changes every week to ten days, but lately I’ve had a lot of algae dying off throughout the system, so I’m doing 5-15 gals. per day with the ol’ siphon and bucket. Sigh. I hate the siphon and bucket.

Are you planning on doing more with other fish?
I plan on trying to breed every fish that I can keep that can be kept in pairs or groups.

Are you going to rear any current ones?
I’m sure going to try. I’m still pretty new at the breeding thing and I can’t seem to get clowns to breed to save my life, so I’m pretty much stepping into the deep end. But, if climate change continues at the pace it’s going and/or regulations ever get passed that cut off wild collection, this hobby will be in some serious trouble. People need to start trying to breed these animals and publicly documenting their attempts now so that we will be ready if and when the supply of animals from the wild gets cut off.

Plus, I really feel like I owe it to the animals. It’s my fault that they’ve been dragged out of their homes and shipped halfway across the world. It’s my responsibility to give them the best home I can while they’re in my care. I also feel like it’s my job to at least try to raise any larvae that they give me so that maybe a few less of the fish have to be taken out of the ocean.

Do you have a favorite pair?
I have to admit that I think the harlequin filefish are my favorite pair. But the cleaner wrasses give them a run for their money. The cleaner wrasse courtship dance is a beautiful thing to see. Very graceful. I don’t know that the real beauty of it comes across on the video.

Have you tried any invertebrates?
That’s a lot of animals. I have had Tubastreas breed and settle successfully in my last system. I’m also very interested in the sexual behavior of the various Euphyllias and hope to do more with them in this new system. I’m a member of the Reef Stewardship Foundation (RSF) and have worked to breed and raise the various snails and other cleanup crew members available through them. I have an article out for review that I’m hoping will get published soon on raising the RSF Collumbelid snail.

I’m actually surprised that more people don’t try to keep the cleanup crews available through the RSF. Oftentimes, animals sold to the hobby as cleanup crew members are not even tropical species. The heat of our tanks shortens their life spans, sometimes by decades. And constantly replacing cleanup crew members gets really expensive over time. The animals available through the RSF network are all animals that are captive bred so they are coming out of another hobbyist’s tank–not the ocean–and are proven to be able to complete their life cycles in captivity. Most of them require very little knowledge of breeding other than how to acclimate an invertebrate. And, when they breed in your tank, their population size will grow to the size of your algae problem. So, it’s an inexpensive initial investment because you can buy less of them because their population should grow over time. And when you have enough of them you can sell or trade the extras to other hobbyists or fish stores. Why _wouldn’t_ you want to get in on this?

Comments on @home breeding (fish/invert/coral) and the future of the hobby:
What would happen to the hobby if the supply of fish and corals were suddenly cut off? One day, no new shipments? Think it can’t happen? That’s exactly what happened to the tropical bird hobby. So, every bird you see in a pet store now has been captive bred.

Well, what about the saltwater hobby? Are we ready if that day were today. Not likely. Actually, the coral side could probably manage to hold on. Frag farmers could probably keep the coral coming. What about fish? At the current state of commercial production, the tanks of this future might contain clownfish, maybe fang blennies, orchid dottybacks, neon gobies, and seahorses. That’s pretty much what’s in commercial production.

There are lots of fish that could be cultured that aren’t because the cost/return analysis for the large culture firms tells them that they won’t make money on the deal. Hobbyists who are motivated by interest first and profit second can figure these out. There are lots of other fish that no one–no one–knows how to culture. Hobbyists can make a huge impact now by working out culture protocols. If we ever do lose marine imports, it’s going to be really, really important.

How ’bout inverts? Even fewer of those species are ever cultured. Cleaner shrimp are possible, but they are very, very hard and culture protocols could really use a lot of people working with them.

And all that is in addition to the ethical obligations that I mentioned before that I feel for my fish. That’s pretty much what drives me into this part of the hobby.

What kind of interview on marine breeding if we didn’t have videos of Andrew’s pairs in action:

Mandarins

Cleaner Wrasses

Harlequin Filefish

Six Line Wrasses

Six Line Prolarva

His tank adventures and amazing photography (and video) can be followed on his Reef Central’s thread. Andy, from the both of us here at Fragd.it, keep up the amazing work!

This article focuses on the ATOLL magazine interview of Hubert Chan, a MAST publication, the man behind ReefAquatica.com and array of startling clownfish. His clownfish breeding system dwarfs most large reef systems.  So who is this guy? Well, read on as you may actually learn something new today about insane dedication, oh yeah and clownfish.

A Passion for Clownfish

by Hubert Chan

The MAST Executive encouraged me to write an article about my clownfish collection, and it is a pleasure to share my passion for clownfish with you. My collection is possibly the largest clownfish collection in Canada. I have over 32 different kinds of clownfish and color morphs. They are housed in various systems that combine to around 1000 gallons of saltwater. So why collect clownfish? I do not have a quick answer for you, aside from my immediate liking of them, ever since I saw their symbiotic association with anemones and their funny swimming actions. It was pretty much love at first sight. Going back to the age of seven, I was already a pretty keen aquarist and was keeping freshwater tropical fish and goldfish. I tried my hand at breeding goldfish at the age of 10. Although I was living in the tropics, and had easy access to the sea and a lot of the natural coral habitats, I did not really venture into the saltwater aquarium hobby as a kid. That was partially due to the constant discouragement from my parents, who said ‘saltwater aquariums are very hard and very costly’. My closest encounter with the saltwater hobby was that I kept hermit crabs and clams alive for 3 – 4 days. Of course, back then nobody told me that you cannot use dried sea salt and tap water to keep them, let alone explained anything about salinity or ammonia buildup. However, even back then, I knew that one day I would venture into the saltwater hobby. I started off in the hobby, like most of us, by going out and purchasing my first fish – an orange Ocellaris clownfish. Then I drove around the city and beyond, to buy frags and used equipment. Thanks to MAST, AquariumPros.ca, and many other forums, I have met a lot of reefers from different walks of life, and made lots of friends. Instead of talking about my equipment and water parameters of various systems, I will tell you some of the lessons I learned living with clownfish throughout the years.

What are the rarest clownfish in your collection?

There are a few different ones. The Picasso Premium, Tequila Sunrise, and Latezonatus are probably the most prized out of my whole collection.

• Picasso premium clownfish are Amphiprion percula, but bred for their special barring pattern. They actually have their bars connected together.
• Tequila Sunrise clownfish are A. ocellaris but they are selectively bred to produce a no-barring pattern, complete orange in color.
• A. latezonatus clownfish, also called wide-banded clownfish, are from Australia. When they reach adulthood, their middle band becomes a trapezoid pattern. They are one of the largest clownfish.

How many clownfish do you have?

I stopped answering that question after the number surpassed 200. J I do have breeding stock that also adds to the numbers.

What is your favourite clownfish?

It is the original A. ocellaris, with orange and white pattern, surely the most universally loved clownfish ever!

How many species of clownfish are there?

There are two genuses (Premnas – Maroons) and (Amphiprion) that contains 29 scientifically recognized clownfish species. However within each species there might be more than one color morph making a lot of different combinations. For example, within the Amphiprion clarkii species, there are at least 16 different documented color morphs. A lot of us are very familiar with the orange ocellaris and black ocellaris.

Why is my clownfish shaking?

It is a demonstration of submission and is essential in the setting up the clownfish family hierarchy in the pairing process. Clownfish are protandrous hermaphrodite and are capable of changing sex at different stages of their lives. They are born as juvenile and can change to male, which in turn can change to female; being female is at the top of the clownfish hierarchy. A clownfish family consists of one female,

one male and the rest stay as juvenile.

What are the most aggressive clownfish?

The White Striped Maroon and Gold Striped Maroon are the most aggressive, followed by the Tomato complex (i.e. percula body shape), which includes the Tomato (A. frenatus) and Cinnamon (A. melanopus).

How do I pair off clownfish?

For most clownfish species, it is easiest to pair them off by putting one large and one small fish in a single tank. The only exceptions are the Maroons in the genus Premnas. In their case, you might need to initially use a fence to physically separate them, or they might kill each other within minutes. There is no guarantee that two clownfish will pair off and become a bonded or breeding pair. However, on average, you have about a 75% chance of success with this method, provided both clownfish are of the same species and color morph. Tank-raised clownfish tend to pair off a little easier, due to their upbringing.

Can I pair an orange ocellaris and black ocellaris?

Very likely, as almost 99% of all black ocellaris are tank raised, and there are many reports of success with this combination. However, be warned that the offspring of such a pair do not normally have a very interesting pattern or coloration; they tend to have a brownish maroon color, with the normal ocellaris barring.

How do I get my true percula (or black ocellaris) to turn darker?

The melanistic nature of clownfish seems to be triggered by maturity and strong lighting, at least for the percula complex. Therefore, you will have a better chance of turning your true percula or orange-mouth black ocellaris into a melanistic coloration by using metal halide or strong T5HO lighting.

What is a true ONYX percula?

In order to be classified as a perfect ONYX, the true percula has to have:

(i) body area between 1^st and 2^nd band are completely black,

(ii) body area between 2^nd and 3^rd band are completely black,

(iii) mouth, fin and tail colours are optional.

My clownfish ‘host’ is a coral: should I be concerned?

When a clownfish chooses a coral as its host, it might hurt the coral. This is common amongst goniopora, torch, frogspawn, and hammer corals. On the other hand, the fish might also get stung by the corals. For example, zoanthids may well give them black spots that are harmless, but can be unsightly.

What if my clownfish ‘host’ is a power head?

A lot of the smaller clownfish do like to sleep near power heads, and sometimes they do get sucked into the intake.

What anemones should I get for my clownfish?

This is a tricky question. Each species of clownfish is associated with a few types of anemones in their natural environment. However, keeping an anemone alive for the long term is 10 times harder than keeping a clownfish alive. Therefore, I do not recommend aquarists follow the exact combination found in nature, unless the anemone is a bubble-tip anemone (Entacmaea quadricolor) or a haddoni carpet anemone (Stichodactyla haddoni). Most clownfish will associate with a hosting anemone different from the one they would associate with in nature, once they feel its touch. Some clownfish species might take a bit longer to recognize the anemone than others. This leads naturally to the next question…

How do I get my clownfish to host in the anemone?

There is not a single correct way, but there are a few tips that an aquarist might want to try:

• Choose a natural host, if the host anemone is one that can be fairly easily maintained in an aquarium (e.g. maroon clown & bubble-tip anemone).
• Introduce the anemone into the clown’s tank, and be patient. Eventually, the clownfish will brush against the anemone’s tentacles, and may choose it as a host.
• Let the clownfish learn by watching. People have tried putting a picture of a clownfish swimming in an anemone up against the tank, so the clownfish can see and maybe mimic the picture. I think it is much more likely to work, if you put one tank already containing a clownfish pair established in an anemone, next to the tank containing the clownfish you wish to train.

My clownfish is tank-raised; will it recognize the anemone as its host?

That is never a real problem for any of my tank-raised clownfish; however, as noted above, some do learn faster by watching others.

What should I look for when buying a new clownfish?

The obvious things are that the fish is alert to your presence, and its body is clear of any parasites (ich, velvet, white film). Also, check its breathing rate. Make sure that it is breathing normally, and that it is not swimming into the current.

How should I quarantine clownfish?

Wild-caught clownfish are notorious for brooklynella (white mucus film on the body). It is recommended that all wild-caught clownfish are put into a quarantine tank. This will provide you with an easy way of monitoring and netting them. Wait for a couple of days or so, until the fish has settled down and started eating. Then give it a formalin bath for a maximum of about 45 minutes. Repeat the bath, once a day, for three consecutive days. Professional quarantine should be in a bare-bottom tank, with a seeded sponge filter, heater, and pvc tubes for hiding. The recommended quarantine period is a minimum of 30 days.

Why is my clownfish biting the rocks?

This is actually a pre-spawning ritual; the male clownfish will try to clear the nest on a spot near their anemone (or their preferred nest site if an anemone is not present). If the female is happy with the location, she might join in the effort. Although this is a pre-spawning ritual, this does not actually guarantee that your clownfish will lay eggs in any specific timeframe.

So my clownfish have laid eggs, what should I do?

If you want to raise the fry, you will have to start culturing your own rotifer (and maybe phytoplankton depending on the product you use). Rotifer will be the first food for your clownfish fry. Without it, they will not survive to the metamorphosis phase (bar development). If you do not get the culture in time, do not worry because once clownfish lay eggs, they do it like clockwork every 10 to 15 days, depending on the pair’s cycle and external environment. I would love to go into details on breeding, but that would be the topic of another time.

.

From the article:

Dr Sinclair said the film – the best-selling DVD of all time at over 40 million copies – had done much to educate children about marine life. But as the tiny, brightly-coloured creature had since become a “must-have” pet, captive breeding programmes could now only meet about 50 per cent of demand. The rest are captured from the wild.

Half of all clownfish are wild caught!  Where is the data coming from?  In my area, wild caught clownfish are the exception, not the rule.

Even the guy who authored the study isn’t all that convinced:

“I am not saying it is solely down to over-harvesting as climate change is clearly having an impact on the coral reefs and anemones on which the clownfish live,” Dr Sinclair says.

None the less, he still pounds the environmental drum:

“But existing harvesting programmes will have to be reviewed in the light of what is happening to the reefs or we could see local extinctions in the near future.”