Collecting Clownfish Larvae

Now the eggs are ready to hatch and be collected and the tank is ready to receive the larvae. It’s time to collect!

The method we use is “au natural.” Our clownfish lay their eggs on the side of a rock under their host toadstool in the 180g – which also houses 23 other fish and critters – so we can’t use a tile and have the eggs hatch in a broodstock tank. Most breeders will house the parents in a separate tank for breeding, and most hobbyists have the ability to place a tile in the parent tank as a nesting site. While those methods of collecting larvae are more convenient and easier, we don't have that as an option. (I also believe that waiting until they hatch on their own in a natural environment is healthier for the larvae.) So, the “au natural” method is what I’m going to discuss.

Here’s what we use:

• Wide-rimmed coffee cup
• Pocket light
• Paper towel

Since the eggs will usually hatch 45-90 minutes after lights go off, we turn off our pumps 30 minutes after the light go off. This is extremely important because the larvae will get sucked into the pump if they aren’t turned off.

After the pumps are turned off, turn off all lights in the surrounding area. (We light a couple of candles so that we can see what we’re doing.) Once it’s been 45 minutes that the tank lights have been off, shine the flashlight near the egg patch periodically until you see teeny tiny larvae swimming toward the top of the tank. You are now ready to collect.

Here are our Ocellaris parents on the day before hatching:




The eggs are on the rock just under the fish on the left. I couldn’t get a good photo of the eggs because they’re hidden and the parents are moving too quickly (we’ll try for better ones the next hatching).

Here’s what we use to collect them.




A coffee cup, small flashlight and a paper towel. This little light is really bright so I fold the paper towel over a few times and rubber-band it to the flashlight.





If the light is too bright the larvae freak out and beat themselves up on the sides of the cup.

When the eggs start hatching we place the cup in the tank like this.






Only a small part of the rim is under water and most of the top part is pointing up. Then we stick the flashlight really close into the dry part of the cup (not in the water) so that all the light shines into the cup and none down into the tank. This makes the inside of the cup glow and within a few minutes larvae are swimming right into the cup. When we get 40 or so larvae in the cup we take them down to the larvae tank and start over.

This method works best if you have 2 people working it. The first person collects 40 or so then gently lifts up the cup – keeping the flashlight shining into the tank. Then the second person handles the flashlight and starts collecting while the first person is gently emptying the larvae into the tank. And so on.

The collection will go on for 1-3 hours. So if you do plan on collecting “au natural” then plan to take a day off of work the next day! You’ll probably be collecting from about 1:00 am until 3:00 am.

Here's mom and pop right before the eggs hatch



This is how we collect them



And this is what they look like in better light


When you empty the larvae into the larvae tank, you must be extremely gentle with them If you simply dump them into their tank there’s a good chance you’ll lose them.

Now you have your larvae in their tank. The next step is raising them! Check out the “Raising Clownfish Larvae” thread.

Very cool !!!

These posts are great barb!

It's so nice to see everything I've been reading about in actual motion. Your youtube videos of the fry in the coffee cup are the first time I've been able to see what they look like on hatch night.

Can't wait for the next installment!

Wow those are big! I wish mandarin fry where that darn big. Feeding them would be alot easyer. Keep the pics coming!

Fantastic Barbs...Great Vid

Great write up Barb, keep em coming.

Are you going to get more different types of Clowns after the tank redo?

Thanks guys! I'm thinking about trying my luck with some picassos in the future...the saddlebacks were VERY difficult to raise - ocellaris are soooooo much easier...I'm thinkin' the picassos might be too...

According to Joyce's book, perculas are identical to ocellaris in terms of difficulty with the exception of the grow-out phase being slightly more difficult!

Originally Posted by Barbara

Thanks guys! I'm thinking about trying my luck with some picassos in the future...the saddlebacks were VERY difficult to raise - ocellaris are soooooo much easier...I'm thinkin' the picassos might be too...

my baby picassos inspired you, didn't they?

Not to mention they bring a few more $$ than ocellaris.

How bout onyx Satan's?

Originally Posted by RCA

my baby picassos inspired you, didn't they?

you betch'ya!

Originally Posted by D3monic

Not to mention they bring a few more $$ than ocellaris.

you betch'ya!

Originally Posted by skinz78

How bout onyx Satan's?

LOL you like

I've been reading up on other artificial incubation (AI) methods over on MOFIB that I thought might be worth mentioning as alternatives. It seems that more and more breeders are in the habit of collecting the eggs 24 hours prior to hatching. The method is pretty simple.

First you need to remove the eggs from the brood stock tank. This is accomplished by taking an ordinary plastic straw and cutting a 45 degree chunk out of one end. You then attach the straw to an airline tube and begin to siphon. The soft, flexible plastic of the straw is gentle enough to cut the eggs off whatever substrate they are attached to without damaging them. People are reporting nearly zero losses of eggs during collection once you get the technique down.

Next you hatch the eggs in a glass funnel that has an airline tube attached to the bottom. The idea is that you regulate the airflow just enough that the eggs are in motion. They will rise to the surface, then gently roll down the sides. As chaotic as this might seem, people are reporting nearly zero losses during hatching.

When the time comes, I'm going to give this method a try. It seems to be a great alternative that could net you nearly 100% of the viable fry.

Interesting method RCA but i dont think we would ever try that. We've tried removing the eggs a few hours before the hatch and aerating them and also just letting the parents do all the work until they hatch naturally. In our experience letting them hatch naturally has given much better results(hatch & survival above 80 to 85%).

We're very much aware of the various methods of collection, but as I stated initially, our tank set up (with the ocellaris) doesn't allow for other methods, and our experience with the method you describe (with our saddlebacks) resulted in lower survivor rates...we can only share our experience...so when you do have mated pairs, and when they do spawn, please start another thread using the method of collection you experience...we're all eager to hear about it! and having as much information on breeding as we can is what our goal is!

Originally Posted by Barbara

having as much information on breeding as we can is what our goal is!

Sorry, thought that is what I was doing by sharing? I didn't mean to hijack your thread. Just wanted to list another alternative that a lot of people seem to be having success with. As you pointed out, I'm not one of them. But Nick or someone else who have their eggs in fully-stocked reef tanks might really benefit from trying to pull the eggs early. It could be the difference between 10 fry and 800 fry surviving hatch night.