Mate & Breed in the new tank or old tank (Help me decide :)!!!

[robertg]

My apologies if I have posted this in the wrong section.
I have recently purchased a used 37 gallon tank and it is currently being cycled. I also have a much smaller tank that is up and running with one clown fish in it (The clown is clearly female by now judging by the size). I want to buy another smaller clown fish and attempt to mate the two fish. My question is should I put both of them into the much larger tank which will have other fish in it or leave them in the smaller tank where they can be alone and the larger clown fish is already used too? I sort of want to put them in the larger tank since it is new and I want to put fish in it but I also want what is most likely to help the fish mate.
I am also concerned about if they do mate and how to feed the fry. I know the standard way to go is by feeding the fry rotifers but I am not keen on creating a culture. Is there anyway around this by maybe ordering rotifers or even using other products like oyster eggs? Any reccomendations or tips on both of these topics would be much appreciated.

 

[al&burke]

I would probably start by putting the smaller one in the new tank first after you are sure the cycle has established itself, meaning no ammonia and nitrites and very low nitrates. Give the new fish a little time (few days) to get use to its new home then add the larger one. I had a pair of clowns when I first started the male died for some unknown reason after 1/2 a year. I added a new one - much smaller than the female, there was a bit of aggression from the female. After a few days it settled down and now they are always together.
As far as breeding I have had my clowns for 1 and a half no eggs yet. It can take time. Everything else in my tank seem to be reproducing but not the clowns. You should also consider a quarantine tank (QT) it can save a lot of headaches later, that is if you don't already have one..
Good luck

 

[teresaq]

most times, you wont even know your clowns have laid eggs and or that they hatched. If you want to specificly breed them then you would need a special set up for fry along with special food cultures. The fry must be reared in thier own tank.
There are a couple good threads here and good book Clownfishes: A Guide to Their Captive Care, Breeding & Natural History
https://forums.saltwaterfish.com/t/100887/raising-clownfish-101

 

[snakeblitz33]

This is what you need to do:
1. Have a complete understanding of the basics of saltwater aquaria
2. Buy a couple of really good books on breeding marine fishes, one of them being specifically clownfish
3. Read them completely, cover to cover and design and re-design your clownfish breeding and rearing tanks
4. Sit on it for a month and find out if you really want to breed them or not, because it is a lot of work!
5. Learn how to make your own live cultures of phytoplankton, rotifers, and enriched brine shrimp, then DO IT for awhile.
6. Learn how to make your own fish food from scratch, and specifically diets for breeding clownfish (need more shrimp shells etc.)
7. Find someone who has done it before and try to pick their brain about breeding.
8. Buy the equipment and get after it.
It's a lot of time, effort, and energy when it comes to rearing clownfish. There's a lot of disease prevention stuff that you will have to go through as well, and countless water quality tests and water changes that you have to do.
Good luck.