joanropi17
Community Member
Hey, everyone!
I would like to share my journey breeding Ocellaris clownfish that I have had in the last 5 years.
This experience was my first time doing this so, you can imagine how much research and videos I watched to try to get it right. In this article, I’m going to explain what I did to succeed based on my own experience, combining the research and videos I watched and “making my own mistakes”.
I’m telling you that what I did worked for me and guess what… my Ocellaris clownfish is still breeding, and I don’t know how to stop them now. I started typing today 10/2/24 and she is already pregnant again, this is going to be batch number # 6 since 7/26/24.
I have a Biocube 32 gallon, it is a mix tank with corals (Zoanthids, Torches, Rock anemones, Bubble Tip Anemone, mushroom coral, acans, etc.) and 2 clownfish only. I will post some pictures as well just in case anyone wants to see the set up.
I would like to share my journey breeding Ocellaris clownfish that I have had in the last 5 years.
This experience was my first time doing this so, you can imagine how much research and videos I watched to try to get it right. In this article, I’m going to explain what I did to succeed based on my own experience, combining the research and videos I watched and “making my own mistakes”.
I’m telling you that what I did worked for me and guess what… my Ocellaris clownfish is still breeding, and I don’t know how to stop them now. I started typing today 10/2/24 and she is already pregnant again, this is going to be batch number # 6 since 7/26/24.
I have a Biocube 32 gallon, it is a mix tank with corals (Zoanthids, Torches, Rock anemones, Bubble Tip Anemone, mushroom coral, acans, etc.) and 2 clownfish only. I will post some pictures as well just in case anyone wants to see the set up.
I started been successful and every aspect about reefing after I did so many upgrades in my tank and also made a lot of mistakes. Now, I can say that I’m technically know what I’m doing.
Going back to the subject, one of the keys to breeding clownfish is consistency in Water Quality, feeding (very important) and what do you feed. Guys, after a switch from fresh food and dry food to TDO Small from Reef Nutrition, they made that happen. This change made them lay the first batch in less than a few months. Because I record all the information and changes that I make in my tank, I can say that I started using the TDA Small in 5/26/24 and the laid the 1st batch on 7/26/24. In addition to that the flow in the tank is important, they don’t want to be stressed or complicated to find a spot to clean and lay the eggs (Clownfish don’t like flow when they want to lay eggs).
In my case, because I wasn’t ready to breed my clownfish, they laid the eggs on my main rock (see the picture) that I have in my tank with all the coral around, which is more difficult to deal with because after the hatch out all the fries are exposed to the corals, the anemones, the pumps and the filtration.
Going back to the subject, one of the keys to breeding clownfish is consistency in Water Quality, feeding (very important) and what do you feed. Guys, after a switch from fresh food and dry food to TDO Small from Reef Nutrition, they made that happen. This change made them lay the first batch in less than a few months. Because I record all the information and changes that I make in my tank, I can say that I started using the TDA Small in 5/26/24 and the laid the 1st batch on 7/26/24. In addition to that the flow in the tank is important, they don’t want to be stressed or complicated to find a spot to clean and lay the eggs (Clownfish don’t like flow when they want to lay eggs).
In my case, because I wasn’t ready to breed my clownfish, they laid the eggs on my main rock (see the picture) that I have in my tank with all the coral around, which is more difficult to deal with because after the hatch out all the fries are exposed to the corals, the anemones, the pumps and the filtration.
This is my summary right now before a start to explain what I did:
| Bath # | Laid Date | Hatch out Date | Timeline | Total Fries Saved | Notes |
| 1 | 07/26/24 at 4:30 pm | 08/24/24 at 8:30 pm | 9 days | 6 | All the Frys went to the filtration and pumps. Those that I saved died in 3 days. |
| 2 | 08/06/24 at ??? | 08/14/24 at 8:05 pm/1:20 am (horrible night) | 8 days | Hundreds (a lot) | I saved 7 fries, the rest of them died in 4 days (08/18/24). These 7 guys my proud today. They are alive and getting stronger and healthy. |
| 3 | 08/17/24 at 6:59 pm | 08/26/24 at 8:43 pm/10:30 pm/11:45 pm/2:30 am. (worse night that the previous one) | 9 days | Hundreds (a lot) | 95% died days later (09/03/24) the rest the next day. |
| 4 | 08/30/24 at 4:30 pm | 09/07/24 at 7:30 pm/10 pm/ 1 am/ 2:20 am (another terrible night) | 7 days | Hundreds (a lot) | All of them died on 09/13/24. |
| 5 | 09/11/24 in the afternoon | 09/18/24 at 10:30 pm | 7 days | Hundreds (a lot) | 90% of this batch survive. Finally, successful. I couldn’t count them yet because there are so many. |
| 6 | 09/21/24 at 3:42 pm | 09/29/24 at 8:30 pm | 8 days | Hundreds (a lot) | Work in process. Nobody died yet. |
| 7 | In the process, she is pregnant again |
I called my batch # 5 successful because 90% of this batch survived and I will tell you what I did to make that happen and, it is working with batch # 6. Keep in mind that you will always lose a few guys (10% in my case), and it can be for multiple reasons, at this point I called that weaky fries, unhealthy fries. So, don’t be worried about it if that happens to you.
I set up my first rimless 10-gallon tank that I got from Petco, I blacked out 3 sides of the tank and covered the front with cardboard box (see the pictures). I also installed a cheap light that I got on Amazon and a heater from Innovative Marine Helio PTC Smart Heater (50 Watt) with air pump with 2 lines. These 2 lines are one in the middle with an air stone and the other one next to heater to make the bubbles distribute the heat around the tank.
At the same time, I got live rotifers from Reef Nutrition (5 million) to make sure to have enough. You don’t know when it is enough until you started the feeding which I learned from mistake, this is never enough. So, I set up a rotifer bucket culture that I got from Reef Nutrition as well, they actually have the kit, that’s all you need. Because my clownfish never stopped breeding, this was the better solution to have always enough. By the way, to harvest rotifers follow the instruction, one of the instructions is the temperature (80°F) of the water in the bucket, so I got another smart heater controller from Innovative Marine. Guys, the temperature is always important, especially with these tiny babies’ creatures. I live in Chicago; IL and the weather here is something else.
I prepared this 10-gallon tank with 5 gallons of new water, and I added the hatch out day with 3 cups of live rotifers and I tinted the water with Live Phytoplankton (I used RGCOMPLETE from Reef Nutrition) ready for them when I put them in with air pump on and 78°F water temperature same as my original tank. You should use RGCOMPLETE Phytoplankton because it won’t let you create ammonia easily (Read the spec).
I prepared this 10-gallon tank with 5 gallons of new water, and I added the hatch out day with 3 cups of live rotifers and I tinted the water with Live Phytoplankton (I used RGCOMPLETE from Reef Nutrition) ready for them when I put them in with air pump on and 78°F water temperature same as my original tank. You should use RGCOMPLETE Phytoplankton because it won’t let you create ammonia easily (Read the spec).
Now, how do you know when the fries are ready to hatch out?
It will happen after day # 7. So, count your 7 days after they laid the eggs. On day # 7 you’ll see that the tiny eyes are so bright platinum color. Of course, in my case it happened on different days (see the table above).
Pulling the fries out of the Main Tank.
The best way to do it in one shoot, without anybody eating them is:
It will happen after day # 7. So, count your 7 days after they laid the eggs. On day # 7 you’ll see that the tiny eyes are so bright platinum color. Of course, in my case it happened on different days (see the table above).
Pulling the fries out of the Main Tank.
The best way to do it in one shoot, without anybody eating them is:
- Turning off everything that you have running in your tank when the lights go off (Skimmer, Flow pumps, return pumps, media canisters, reactors, everything even the heater).
- Blackout the tank. I did it with dark color towels. They cannot see any lights. Because I have computers around, TV, Router, Lamps, etc., I covered it with gray towels.
- My sunset lights are set to turn off at 7:30 pm. I covered the tank with towels and waited until 8:30 pm (See the table above/See the picture). I used a flashlight with a dim mode to keep checking until I saw the fries swimming, you can see the fries swimming, but you can also wait sometime to let them hatch out completely (check the area where the eggs were laid), the male will always around them helping them to hatch out-mother nature.
- After I saw the swimming a set up a bucket (that I use to do water changes) in a tall chair next to the tank and sock them 1 by 1 with the tubing that I use for vacuuming the sand. I did this 3 times because soaking the water out the tank can expose some corals that I have to the air because they are close to the top of the water.
- I set the 10-gallon tank in the guess bathroom (I called it “Nursery Tank”) I removed cups of water out of the bucket to transfer back to the Main tank (because it is a lot of water to replace) and leave the fries to the bottom of the bucket. I left like a 1 inch of water, and then I dumped it in the Nursery tank. I did this 3 times like I said before.
- Now, the fries are in the Nursery Tank with live rotifers eating until the next day. I left the tank with dimmed red light for the first week (7 days). Do not use bright light. Do not use Day light color. I used red and blue only. One of my mistakes was using bright light on the first baches, they really get stressed out, they stop eating, they lay at the bottom of the tank, and they also crowd the glass. They will suppose to swim freely around the tank. It is important to have light so they can see the food and eat.
Let’s talk about feeding.
A lot of people say and recommend do not feed that much because that can kill them too. Because I followed this advice, I killed everyone before.
- I took a little bit of this advice, but I took the risk to do it by my own risk and being conscious about it. In my 2nd day and moving forward after metamorphosis and read this carefully: I feed them 3 times a day 3 cups of rotifers after strainer them (without water from the culture bucket, using the Harvest Sieve); 3 cups at 7 am (before leave to work), at noon (12 pm) another 3 cups and night another 3 cups (6 pm). They really need enough rotifers to survive (that’s why I started my own Culture Rotifers Bucket).
- Another important thing to do, you have to test the ammonia 3 times a day (even without ammonia, just to be safe) before feeding them just to make sure that the water is not contaminated. I added an ammonia remover every day, following the instructions in the bottle, every morning (full dosing) and, every night until they completed metamorphosis. (I used Imagitarium Ammonia Remover). Most people do water change every day but for me this way worked. I started to perform a water change 7 days later and it was because I missed an ammonia remover one time. This was another mistake I got ammonia in the Nursery tank and killed everyone. After metamorphosis, I kept testing ammonia 3 times a day, and dosing ammonia remover 3 times a day (full dosing in the morning, half dosing at noon and full dosing at night).
- To keep the tank clean because you must keep tinting the water, I use turkey buster to remove detritus from the bottom of the tank and prevent ammonia. At the same time, keep checking the salinity because it tends to rise quickly. I always keep the salinity in 1.025 same as the main tank (check every 2 days).
- Most people say that you can feed rotifers for the first 3 days, other people 7 days, other people all the time before to switch to TDO “A”, because I didn’t know what to believe. I kept feeding with rotifers only until day # 10, on day # 11, I start feeding half TDO “A” from Reef Nutrition (it is super fine powder that they will be able to consume it) and 1.5 cups of rotifers, don’t ask me how much powder because they are really disintegrated in your fingertips, I added smooth powder around the tank, making sure that all of them will grab some (because they are a lot). Guys, I really took the risk doing this because to have 90% of the fries alive for 12 days and making changes like this is a big risk. Actually, my partner told me: “do not do that”, especially having the rotifers culture bucket. So, it worked they are still alive, nobody died, and they are crossing metamorphosing right now. It is so beautiful and exciting seeing those little guys showing the white strips in their bodies.
- After the finish of the metamorphosis (you will know that when they are orange in color and some strips appear in their bodies, they don’t look like larvae anymore) you are ready for the next step. The metamorphosis can take more than 5 days. Some of them are quicker than the other ones. You keep watching every single one until all of them are complete metamorphosis. Don’t make any changes until that happens.
Now, you can really chill out a little bit and feel comfortable to keep growing them (metamorphosis completed). They won’t die that easily but there are still little babies so keep doing the details you need to make them healthier and stronger.
I started to perform more water changes, I stopped feeding rotifers and start feeding TDO “A” only (read about the TDO “A” from Reef Nutrition), it has everything that they need to develop their bodies. Going back to the water changes, I started changing 20% water by vacuuming the bottom of the tank and cleaning the glass (4 sides) and I removed the air stone, and I added a sponge filter. TDO “A” keeps on top of the water when they are eating but it also precipitates to the bottom of the tank and that can create ammonia, that’s why during the water changes, I vacuum the bottom of the tank.
I started to perform more water changes, I stopped feeding rotifers and start feeding TDO “A” only (read about the TDO “A” from Reef Nutrition), it has everything that they need to develop their bodies. Going back to the water changes, I started changing 20% water by vacuuming the bottom of the tank and cleaning the glass (4 sides) and I removed the air stone, and I added a sponge filter. TDO “A” keeps on top of the water when they are eating but it also precipitates to the bottom of the tank and that can create ammonia, that’s why during the water changes, I vacuum the bottom of the tank.
I never stopped adding an ammonia remover since the beginning, even doing the water changes. I got so scared to lose them that I never stopped. Keep tasting the water every day (twice a day) and add the ammonia remover, it doesn’t hurt them.
With the metamorphosis completed, I added “1-1/4" 4-Way PVC Tee Furniture Grade” from amazon (you can see it in the picture) to give them a cave or place to hide during the night. I used my favorite color (yellow), it doesn’t matter which color you use. It definitely worked, they’re using it even during the day to hide or play around with the other ones.
With the metamorphosis completed, I added “1-1/4" 4-Way PVC Tee Furniture Grade” from amazon (you can see it in the picture) to give them a cave or place to hide during the night. I used my favorite color (yellow), it doesn’t matter which color you use. It definitely worked, they’re using it even during the day to hide or play around with the other ones.
That was my last add-on to the Nursery Tank. Because my clownfish got pregnant again and I don’t have more Nursery Tanks or place to move it, I set up a Nano 24-gallon tank with substrate, live rocks, heater and a bigger sponge filter. I stopped using ammonia remover because with the sponge filter, you won’t need that (do not use media filtration, no skimmers, no return pump) with the sponge filter is enough to keep the water clean and clear.
Since a moved them, they are still living there and growing. I’m still feeding TDO “A” powder. I’m performance water changes every 2 weeks
In the meantime, I will keep growing them while I think about what to do with them.
I hope this story will help you all of you and of course if you have any questions, feel free to contact me. I’m not an expert, I just learned from my own experience.
Happy reef, guys!
Since a moved them, they are still living there and growing. I’m still feeding TDO “A” powder. I’m performance water changes every 2 weeks
In the meantime, I will keep growing them while I think about what to do with them.
I hope this story will help you all of you and of course if you have any questions, feel free to contact me. I’m not an expert, I just learned from my own experience.
Happy reef, guys!
