Clown fish laid eggs, now what?

[Fritz0id3937]

Excited my clown fish are now a breeding pair. They both went through copper treatment about a year ago too, I thought that was supposed make it impossible to breed later. This is my first saltwater tank and its been running almost a year and a half. I think the eggs are about a week old now. What can I expect? Will they just immediately get eaten upon hatching?

[Rob A]

They should hatch 8 to 10 days after they were hatched. They typically hatch 30 min to 2 hours after the light go out. They larvae will not survive more than 24 hours or so without the proper food source, which in home breeding is rotifers, plus they will get eaten. If you decide to try and raise a batch there are several of us on here who have raised them although I'm still learning and haven't had any live past 40 days. Unless you hook up with somone who has rotifers ready to go you won't be able to raise this batch. Clowns generally lay eggs every 2 weeks so most likely you will have more eggs soon.

Edited August 18, 2015 by Rob A

[sethsolomon]

Here is a pretty good article about raising clownfish: http://www.fellsman.se/akvarium/raising_clownfish.pdf

Edited August 19, 2015 by sethsolomon

[Fritz0id3937]

Thanks. How long do you think they will survive in my tank before something eats them or they starve? I have other fish, crabs and shrimp in my tank. Will I even have a chance to see them after they hatch?

[Rob A]

They should hatch 8 to 10 days after they were hatched. 

I meant to say, They should hatch 8 to 10 days after they were laid...

 

 

Your best chance to see them will be the night they hatch. Since this is your first hatch you don't know for sure which night it will be you might have to try this a few nights in a row...

Starting on the 8th night, when it's time for lights out, turn off all your pumps so that the water in the display isn't moving. Once the lights are out make sure it's dark in the room as well as dark in the tank! Wait about an hour and shine a very small light through the side of the tank aimed up high, above the nest area, looking at the surface to see if anything is moving. The larvae are attracted to the light and will swim towards it. Do not shine it on the nest or any hatching that might be taking place will stop for the night.

This is a typical procedure even when you want to try and raise them except the next step is to scoop them out (unless you move the eggs before they hatch-that's another story). 

 

If you just leave the pumps on and try and find some you probably won't...they are tiny!

[Rob A]

One of the first few times I went through this I shined the light in and saw a bazillion little swimming things coming towards the light and I thought "Oh! They all hatched!" and I turned on the lights...turns out it was shrimp larvae that had just hatched. So then I had to wait for the next night for the clownfish to hatch since the light disturbed the nest.

[s2nhle]

thank you great information sharing.

[Rob A]