Clarke County Clarkiis

I guess your first love is always sweet.  Bertha and Beaker were the first clownfish to spawn for me.  It's hard to believe that was just over two years ago. I moved them to a 24g tank in the corner of my living-room where they are still spawning regularly.  These eggs were 8 days old and hatched last night.

Holy Picassos, Batman

Oh happy day!  It's hard to pick a favorite fish out of the bunch, but when any Percula spawns it's a great day.  Patricia and Pepe are truly stunning examples of the Picasso Percula.  They don't spawn often and the offsprings are very limited- but they are gorgeous!

This pair has been teasing me for weeks now and finally spawned.  They've been cleaning the rock.

And they finally got busy.  You can still see the ovipositor on Patricia.  Now Pepe will tend the eggs for 8 days.

You said a mouthfull

Here's Clyde now holding the eggs in his mouth.  It really is remarkable what they go through to reproduce.  He won't be able to eat for almost a month now.  I have several pairs, but few can hold the full term.  It's hard to believe he can even fit all those in his mouth.

Most times the female produces many more eggs than the male can hold.

It's a Bangaii day

It looks like Bonnie and Clyde are adjusting to the new tank just fine.  Cardinals have an elaborate mating ritual where they dance a tango for a few days planning out the egg toss.  Then the male will hold the eggs in his mouth for 3 weeks and release live babies.

I'm trying to make pairs of their offspring with WC specimens.  These fish don't change sex and don't tolerate the same sex for long.

to be or not to be...?

The Maroons are all settling in to the new home.  I'm trying to pair the Bali Hai as a male with the large female.  Initially, I thought it was a match made in heaven, but then she turned nasty.  He'll stay in the breeder's net tonight for his protection.

Meet The Bali Hai Maroon.

Some days are better than others.  Honestly, a lot of days around here are rather monotonous.  Lots of cleaning and feeding and general husbandry to keep me busy.  Most days one of my pairs of fish are spawning and I'm hatching eggs that night.  That's a magical time to be a part of the life cycle.  Definitely, when a new species spawns for the first time... I'll not get tired of that anytime soon.  And when I get new fish to work with- that's a great day.  Yesterday, the folks at Sun Pet entrusted me with a new group of Maroons from Bali.