Clown Fish Eggs

[Thunderkat]

My clownfish just laid eggs and my wife really wants me to try to keep them, what do I need to do to try to keep these things alive? What should I avoid in my tank? I have a nano tank available that I can put them in so isolating them will not be a problem. Do I need to keep the parents with them? Will the parents ever try to eat them?

[Instar]

Is this what you are wanting to try to get to?

[mathias]

thats clown tastic

[Shark_Bait]

You need green water, rotifier culture, a supply of baby brine, an air pump, and a empty 5/10 gallon tank and the book "Clownfish" by Joyce Wilkerson.

My wife wanted to keep our eggs to until she saw how much more "stuff" we would need.

Good luck

[AlexKilpatrick]

From what I have read, it is insanely complex to rear them. Even the experts lost about half of the clutches (I think that is what they are called). If you don't have the special setup like Shark Bait described, you have no chance at all.

[Thunderkat]

I have a really nice nano tank with no fish and tons of plankton that I love watching , this would be perfect for the babies, brine shrimp are no problem. I want to try it out, if I lose the entire batch it is no loss as it is their first and I imagine there will be more to come. I have raised fresh water baby fish including fish species that have supposedly never bred in captivity so this would be interesting. I have a feeling I will lose them all however in my move to Portsmouth :(

Thanks for the starter info and the book reference. I will be at my next duty station for 6 years (WOW!) so I imagine I can get a little breeding tank set up for them.

[FireEater]

Go HERE and read KarenB's threads. She raise clowns all the time.

[saltcreepette]

i wouldnt dare to put the larvae or post larval clowns in your established nano, they will wipe it out (between the food and the waste. you have to keep a very high food density and the water quality ends up being just terrible...which is ok for the clowns but not for anything else.) I second the fact you will need a separate rearing tank, and double second the fact that you need to get Joyce Wilkersons book in order to have 'the full picture' before you start. dont worry, if your clowns are laying, you will have many more clutches of eggs to raise in the future. dont feel like you have to raise this clutch. good luck!