Many sea tank novices will take clownfish as their first sea fish, let's talk about clownfish, I hope it can be helpful to everyone.
The clownfish is a tropical marine fish of about 30 known species in the Pacific and Indian Oceans, growing up to 18 cm long and surviving for 10-12 years. Omnivorous fish, which feed mainly on small zooplankton in water bodies, also a small percentage from algae.
It is the most traded ornamental fish species in the world.
Clownfish and anemones are symbiotic, so they are also called anemone fish, although there are more than a thousand species of anemone in the world, but only about ten species will live in symbiosis with clownfish.
Anemones with spiny cells provide shelter and protection for clownfish (clownfish have a layer of mucus on their skin that neutralizes toxins and inhibits the emission of crickets). Food scraps and occasionally dead tentacles of sea anemones can provide food for clownfish, and friction of anemone tentacles against clownfish can also remove parasites from the body. While clownfish droppings can provide nutrients for sea anemones, the nitrogen excreted increases the amount of algae integrated into the host tissue, helps the anemone's tissue growth and regeneration, and can also make the water circulation around the anemone larger, and the bright color of the clownfish may also lure less than close to the anemone to be caught by the anemone.
Clownfish like to live in groups and have a strict hierarchy. Generally, the largest of a group of clownfish is female, the second largest is male, and the rest are small fish of undifferentiated sex. When the largest female fish dies, the second largest male fish will become a female fish, while the largest of the undifferentiated small fish will become a male fish. In the clownfish group, only a few are larger, and the rest of the fish will be difficult to grow when they grow to 1.5-2.5 cm unless they are separated.
Farmed clowns will be lighter in color than wild clownfish, which are particularly territorial and will attack each other in order to occupy territory, while artificial clownfish will not.
Living conditions:
Water temperature 25-28 degrees
The specific gravity of seawater is 1.022-1.023
PH 8-8.5
Do not feed for 2-3 days after entering the tank, and then feed the harvest shrimp, slowly convert into flakes, pellet feed, and put the food near the fish as much as possible when feeding, and will not eat it after falling into the bottom of the tank.
Clownfish need enough time of light before growing into adults, otherwise it will affect color and growth, and can be controlled at 12-14 hours/day. There are no special requirements for the color of the light, natural light is the best, fluorescent lamps and LED lights can also be used.
Naked tank rearing needs to reduce the water flow at night, because clownfish will lie at the bottom of the tank at night, and too large water flow will cause fatigue and affect growth.
Clownfish usually spawn in the afternoon or evening, and the whole process takes about 2 hours. Spawning sites will be chosen in a place with enough space and seclusion (shelter can be placed). The fertilized eggs are oblong in shape, about 3 mm long and 1 mm short, and the incubation time of clownfish is about 7-10 days. Timely work such as reducing the water flow before hatching to avoid large water flow harming the juveniles. Males are responsible for egg guarding, occasionally using their pectoral fins to caress the eggs, clean up dirt, and provide water and oxygen.
Common types:
Gongzi clownfish, scientific name eye-spotted double sawfish. The body color is orange yellow, with 3 white bands on the side of the body, and the orange plate has a black border on all sides, and a transparent outer edge beyond the black edge. Body length up to 11 cm.
The black-edged gongzi clownfish, scientific name anemone double sawfish, has more black-edged than the son.
The black vest clownfish is very similar to the prince clown and the black-edged clown, except that there is a black area in the middle of the white stripe, like a vest.
Red clownfish, also known as tomato clown, scientific name white striped double sawfish, orange body color, body side with 1-3 white broadbands, body length up to 14cm.
The saddleback clownfish, scientific name saddle spotted double sawfish, has a dark brown body color with three white saddle-like spots.
The red clownfish, scientific name spiny-cheeked damselfish, is the only genus of damselfish in the subfamily Damselfish, a subfamily of damselfishfish, that lives only near pacifier anemones and is the most picky and ferocious of all clownfish.
There are spines on both cheeks, hence the name. Juvenile and adult males are generally bright orange-red, while adult females are chestnut or dark brown. It has three stripes on its body and may be white, green, or yellow. The female reddish clown is one of the largest clownfish, reaching a length of up to 17 cm.
The double-banded clownfish, scientific name Kirsch's double sawfish, has three white spots on the side of the body, but only two are more obvious, and there are more than 4 changes in color; One is dark black or black-red all body color; The second head and thorax are black, the tail and ventral are red, and the middle is black and red; The third is red all over; Fourth, the whole body is orange-red or orange-yellow.
Picasso clownfish, generally farmed. The Picasso variant, which occurs naturally in the Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea, is very difficult to find. There is an extra white color on the center stripe, probably because the grain is more abstract, so it is called Picasso clownfish.
Grading is based on the number and shape of white markings.