Fish spawning question

[michealprater]

First off let me say that fish spawning is not one of my strong points in my fish keeping knowledge. I know absolutely nothing about it, other than that is the way fish reproduce. I guess I should have paid more attention in biology class. I have successfully bred african ciclids, but it was by dumb luck. The conditions were right and it happened. Now on to my question.

As some of you know I have a mated pair of maroon clowns. The last two days I have noticed the male has been fanning the sand on both sides of a rock. Now this is no where near their host leather but it is right by the spot that the male hangs out when the lights are on. My question is, could the male be preparing a spot for the female to lay eggs? I dont plan to try to successfully breed them, however I think it would be interesting to watch them spawn. I have heard of clowns breeding in tanks before. So anyone got any incite?

 

[JeremyR]

On our pair of true percs, the male pics at the spawning site (they always spawn on a ceramic tile) pretty much all the time. We know they are going to spawn within the day (or next day at the latest) when the female starts aggressively cleaning the site as well. When we see both of them biting the tile, we know it's time.

 

[Reefguide]

My male always starts cleaning the spot before the female also. You will notice the pair acting very very strage prior to spawning. Mine actualy laid eggs today, I also always use ceramic tiles.. They actually laid the eggs behind the tile, I didn't lay it flat enough against the rock. My wife got a kick out of it !! She says they out smarted me !! :evil: Man what a pain to scoop up all those fry the night of hatching !! errr...