Maroon Clown spawn - lesson learnt? (sad story)

[malulu]

[EDIT - sorry, it was a Maroon Clown pair, not Tomato Clown]

I put in a new T5 light last week, it was great!!! everything looks different (in a better way).
I immediately noticed there is a bright orange area next to the pair of the Maroonclown, holly cow, they had spawn!! (but don't know for how long...) about 2-inches x 2-inches area. (just like the eggs in the movie "Finding Nemo").

we saw many fishes trying to get close to that area, and then got chase off away from the eggs by the parent, but once in a while the Mandarin Fish still managed to get a nip for few times, then swim away...

i did some research about how to raise/cares of the eggs http://www.netpets.com/fish/reference/saltref/brdclown.html note: the link have 2 pages, make sure you click next to read all pages.

so i have been waiting for the "...silvery color..." and then do "something"... But, may be due to they are MaroonClown hence the color is kind of dark, not as clear color compared to normal Clown fishes... we checked every days,to see the color of the eggs changed from bright orange color to kind of brown color and clearly with two big eye for everyone of them... they are so cute!!

to make the story short, 2 days ago, when i woke up in the morning, and check for the eggs' status, then realized they are all gone!!! I must missed the "silvery color" period...!!! and those larvae are no where to be seen...
:-[

to make thing worse, since both of the MaroonClown parent been protecting the eggs, their mouth are seriously hurt, they became white and broken off...


to the extreme - yesterday we found both of them dead!!
:'(

did any one have similar problem? did they die because of the whole time they did not eat? the stress? or from the injury of their mouth?? what should we do if we ever encounter such case again with different clownfish spawning in the future?
???

i fell really really sorry/sad to the parent fish that protecting their eggs and end up with this tragic ending...
hate to say - i never fell so upset about losing a fish! i can't believed this happening... this get to a point that i might considering quit this hobby! so sad...
:'( :'( :'( :'(

any reply with more information are greatly appreciated.
:'(

 

[Phyl]

Re: Tomato Clown spawn - lesson learnt? (sad story)

Wow, Dave. Sorry to hear about your losses. I've had my clowns spawn many times with no harm to either. In our case (Maroons), the male protects the nest and the female eats to recover from egg laying. Not sure what was different about your situation and the tomatos.

Bill Lange did lose one of his clowns, but she had stopped eating for months after spawning.

 

[malulu]

one of the reason i feel so upset is - this reminded me losing a loved one. (my deal daugther - 6 years ago - at her age of 9...)
sigh...

 

[blange3]

Sorry for your losses Dave.

I had my Ocellaris pair for almost 10 years. They just started spawning last fall. After about 3 or 4 clutches the female stopped eating. She lasted a little over a month after that.

The first few times she laid eggs, the male did all the work tending the eggs. The last spawn she became obsessed with tending the eggs herself and stopped eating. There was only one other fish in the tank, a pygmy angel, and he left them alone.

Not sure why her behavior changed, but I miss her as you miss your pair.

I do still have the male and after I re-aquascape the tank, I'll try to get him a new mate.

 

[MikeNapoli]

Dave, Very sorry to hear this.

 

[magic]

Dave

Sorry for your loss and the memories it brings back.

Bob

 

[ReeferNets]

The only thing i can think of Malulu was how you said they had to constantly protect the eggs. They may have stressed themselves out and the other fish picking away probably stressed them more.

Im also sorry to hear of your loss.

Your tank is pretty big and you got some big fish in their that might have stressed those clowns too much right after spawining. Or something killed both clowns and ate all the eggs which is more likely.

 

[Jf2381]

Dave,

Sorry for your loss and the bad memories.

 

[malulu]

yes, indeed a bad memories.
thanks.

so anyone have suggestions? or it normally not happen like this after they spawn?
thx

 

[harryk]

I'm sorry for your loss. that's a terrible thing, But It's probably one of those unexplained events. I don't know if you could have done anything different, it sounds like you did everything right.

 

[Hawkeye]

David - sorry for the loss...

I know it's of little consolation - but you had the chance (albeit brief) to witness something in your tank that very very few others have or will ever see. Your clowns could have been bought by someone else and kept in a 5 gallon nemo tank never to breed - but they had the opportunity to live with you and even a chance to reproduce. So I say congratulations to you sir.

Regarding your question - I have never kept a pair of breeding clowns - but have been pointed previously to this resource if ever I were to consider breeding:

http://www.amazon.com/Clownfishes-Joyce-D-Wilkerson/dp/1890087041

Good luck!