The Picasso Clownfish Breeding Project

You would be surprised... They don't stop as easily as some say they do We have done some drastic things to our tank w/ our breeding pair and most that has happened yet is one day breeding offset lol... And that is when we added two tangs...

Like I said in my previous post, I was a little surprised by how much food my beta pair was putting away. I decided to do a little experiment to see exactly how much they would eat before they started to slow down. An adult fish should know when it is full, I wasn't worried about overfeeding them. I was not expecting them to eat this much. It took three helpings of mysis shrimp before they slowed down.

This is how much I usually feed them...


That didn't seem to take very long so I fed them some more...


They finally start to slow down after the third helping... All of these videos were taken within a five minute span.

lmao. they can sure put it away!

Dam there puttin it away quick

They have to be bulking up to breed. This is probably a good sign.

Hopefully you start to see some size difference in your female to your male, b/c that is one of the first signs that you are getting closer to breeding I'm surprised that there isn't a bigger difference yet b/c even my picasso's have a large size difference already.

I haven't done one of these time lapse pics in a long time...

The first 5 images are from the first month that I had the fish. The final image is very recent from the 38th week. The images are scaled pretty randomly so you are not getting a good idea of how much the fish have actually grown. What you can see here is how the colors have morphed and stretched along with the fish's growth.

The alpha male dug a little nest in the sand today. And now the two fish seem to be cleaning the corner of the tank right above the nest. This is the pair that never really bonded until recently. This is the first time I've seen any behavior like this out of them so I figured I might as well capture it.

I had a dream last night that my first pair spawned. I wanted to capture it on video but I couldn't find the memory card for the camera.

ohhh - premonitions - may they be accurate!!

well.......did they?

of course not!

Week 41

The Alpha Pair is enjoying life in the 90 gallon reef. The male has really put on some black over the last couple of weeks. The pair has claimed the back corner of the tank for their territory where they continue to dig a holes in the sandbed.

The Beta Pair has to be close to spawning now. I'm noticing that the white bars between the male's 2nd and 3rd stripe look like they might be growing closer together. I think there is a chance that they might eventually connect.

The Gamma Pair is not doing so hot. The male is continuing to hide from the female and she is barely letting him eat. This all stems from the move 2 months ago. I'm hoping they get over it eventually.

Alpha Male


Alpha Pair


Beta Male


Beta Female


Gamma Male


Gamma Female

awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww....great pics too jason!

They are good pics indeed Jas !

How are they going ? Still packing on weight ?

Originally Posted by Thinkin Reef

They are good pics indeed Jas !

How are they going ? Still packing on weight ?

The only real change lately has been the overall color of the pair in the 90 gallon tank. The lighting and conditions in the reef tank has brought out very vibrant colors in the pair.

The other fish haven't changed much at all, despite eating like pigs. I know percs are a little smaller than occys and I think they might be close to their adult sizes now. I don't think I'll see a significant difference in size until one of the females is ready to lay.

Week 44

Less than 8 weeks away now from the 1 year anniversary of the arrival of my broodstock from Doni's Reef. The fish should now be 14-16 months old. I think they are finally old enough where I could realistically expect spawning to occur in one of the pairs.

The Alpha Pair is enjoying life in the 90 gallon reef. The female has really taken to building a nest in the sand bed. I've seen this behavior in fish before, just never a clown. She is picking up sand and shells with her mouth then swimming away from the nest site and dropping them off. She's really built quite a little fox hole. The male is continuing to darken up with even more black and the pair is getting along great. I wouldn't be surprised to find eggs one morning.

The Beta Pair is still my best bet for a spawn. They appear to be the most developed out of all the fish and have been displaying increased appetite and cleaning behavior for weeks now. Again, I wouldn't be surprised to find eggs one morning.

The Gamma Pair is finally starting to settle down. The male looks like he has lost a lot of weight and coloration over the last two months. He is a runt now compared to the other two male fish. The female on the other hand has exploded in size. I believe this female might now be the largest out of all the females. Thankfully she is tolerating the male and I'm hoping he starts to put on some weight and color now that she is allowing him to eat. I do not expect to see any eggs from this pair anytime soon.

Alpha Male


Alpha Female

Beta Male


Beta Female


Gamma Male


Gamma Female

Week 47

No babies for the 330th day in a row. My patience is starting to wear thin.

Alpha Pair


Beta Pair


Gamma Pair

Sorry to hear there's no little ones yet. Hopefully soon.

One year.

No babies.

I'll do a real update tomorrow.