Pairing Clownfish or Dottybacks for Breeder Pairs

By, Martin Moe

(NOTE: This short article is a reply to a question I asked Martin Moe concerning forming your own mated pairs of breeder fish rather than buying pre-mated pairs. Martin is an expert at raising clownfish and orchid dottybacks (pseudochromis fridmani), just to name a few of the fish he has raised commercially and privately. Martin's new book "Breeding the Orchid Dottyback" is a valuable resource to anyone who plans on breeding and raising ANY marine fish. It is a journal of his adventures in breeding the gorgeous Orchid dottyback. He is now working on breeding the ever elusive flame angelfish. - Tom Miller)

Proud percula clownfish parents at Desert Fisheries.

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A mated pair of Arabian (neon) dottybacks playing hide 'n seek in flower pots at Desert Fisheries.

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On the clowns and Pseudochromis, the idea of getting a number of them (tank-raised, for pairing) and selling the excess is a good one. My experience with P. fridmani indicates that they do well in numbers in a fairly large tank, 30 gallons +, with a lot of substrate. When well fed they form a nice colony and at least two to three active males sill develop and establish nest sites. Depending on how many there are in the tank, a few may get picked on and these can be removed. In some ways this is better than trying to establish pairs. Sometimes the male of an "established" pair will attack the female after spawning and injure or kill her, most probably in a small tank, 5 to 8 or 10 gallons. I don't have experience with other species of dotties. Some would be more and some less aggressive then the orchids.

The clowns are best kept in pairs. Pairing juveniles is not difficult, usually just putting a large juvenile and a small juvenile together forms a pair when they get larger. Sometimes in large juveniles, one can put a group of 6 to 10 together and observe two that develop a pair bond, then remove these two (easier said then done) and set them up in their own tank, or partitioned section. If you do it this way, you have to observe the two that form a bond very closely and identify some distinguishing feature, such as a black spot, torn fin, thin bar or anything else, and then you can separate them from the group when they are netted.