When I first started breeding clownfish years ago, I devoured every “how-to” guide I could find. But as my own fish room grew and I spent years troubleshooting pairs, managing live cultures, and raising clutches, I noticed a common problem: most guides are either too clinical for a beginner to digest, or so scattered that you have to stitch five different articles together just to get a clear picture.
That’s why I built this guide.
What works for one breeder doesn’t always work for another, and sometimes you just need to hear real-world, hands-on experience in plain English. This is my complete, all-inclusive blueprint to breeding clownfish – built entirely on the exact methods, setups, and strategies that have successfully worked in my fish room for years.
Whether you want to try your hand at raising a single clutch or you’re looking to establish a dedicated multi-pair breeding station, this guide will take you step-by-step through the entire lifecycle. Here is a quick look at the roadmap we’re going to follow:
- The Foundation: Sourcing, conditioning, and pairing up healthy broodstock.
- The Environment: Dialing in the exact water parameters and tank layouts that trigger spawning.
- The Diet: Conditioning your pairs with the high-energy nutrition they need to produce massive clutches.
- The Lifecycle: Tracking the timeline from egg deposition to the midnight hatch.
- The Nursery: Culturing live foods (rotifers) and raising your fry through the critical stage of metamorphosis.
No gatekeeping, no overly complicated jargon – just a practical, step-by-step walkthrough of what it actually takes to raise healthy clownfish from an egg to a vibrant juvenile. Let’s dive in!
This video shows one of my best pairs finishing a nest
Selecting the Perfect Clownfish to Breed
There are a variety of ways you can choose clownfish to breed. Some of the most obvious options include buying a pair of already breeding clownfish, buying a pair that’s bonded but not yet breeding, putting a smaller male fish with a larger, older female fish, or simply by putting a small pair of juvenile clownfish together and letting nature take its course. Not sure if you have a male or female clownfish? Check out this article on how to tell the difference between male and female clownfish.
Here’s a quick overview, then we break down each method below.
| Juvenile Pair | Introduce Male to Female | Bonded Pair | Breeding Pair | |
| Cost | Low | Medium | Medium-High | High |
| Time to breed | 2 years + | 6 months to years | 6 months + | Weeks + |
| Risk | Low | High | Medium | Medium |
Method 1: Raising a Pair from Juveniles (The Long, Cheap Road)
Benefits: The most clear benefit to this technique is the cost. It is typically inexpensive to buy juvenile fish, even designer ones, when compared to older, larger versions of similar fish. If you aren’t into designers, you can get baby Ocellaris or Percula clownfish for under $20. Juvenile designers will range from $50 to $200 plus, depending on the type, the source (the breeder) and what they look like. When purchasing two smaller fish to put together, it’s still a good idea to buy one that is larger than the other. Two fish of the same size may end up battling for dominance until one gets hurt. If they are different sizes, then the larger of the two will quickly establish itself as the dominant fish and turn female.
Drawbacks: If you want to see baby clownfish in your tanks within the next couple of years, then this is definitely not the way to go. Female clownfish take years to become sexually mature, usually two years or more. Males on the other hand can begin breeding at around 6 months.
Also, there is no guarantee that two small fish are both juveniles. There’s the chance you’ve chosen two females, in which case they’ll fight to the death. Sometimes, even during the pre-bonding process, two juvenile clownfish will fight until one is killed. Usually the roles of male/female will be worked out before this happens, but it is a possibility.
This video shows the chasing that often occurs with two juvenile clownfish of similar size
Method 2: Put a Smaller Male Fish with a Larger Female Fish (Good Middle Ground)
Benefits: In this case you would take a smaller juvenile or known male and put it with a large, established female clownfish. The cost in this case can be reasonable, although large females can be fairly expensive. It’s a good middle-of-the-road approach in terms of expense. You could also find a female that has bred before but is not currently breeding. Doing this will help speed things along, as they already have that instinct to pair up and lay eggs. Many breeders will call these “proven females” (or “proven males”). That basically means that the fish has laid eggs or fertilized them, taken care of the eggs, and produced healthy offspring.
Drawbacks: There’s no guarantee that your female is going to accept the male that you’ve chosen. As much as you’d like to think you know best and have chosen the best possible mate, your attempts at creating a love connection may be futile! Sometimes the female will relentlessly chase the male until she kills him or worse, she’ll catch him and tear him apart. Yes, they can be quite brutal!
I think most breeders who have made pairs this way have occasionally been frustrated by certain females who just will not accept the partners we choose. Why? No one really knows. All we can say is, “the heart wants what the heart wants.”
If a female is giving a new male a hard time, try the “bucket trick.” Place both fish together in a bucket or a blackout specimen container for a few hours in total darkness. Rearranging the main tank’s rockwork during this time resets her territorial instinct. When you introduce them back into the tank, she’s usually much more amicable.
Method 3: Start with a Bonded Pair of Clownfish (The Fast Track)
Benefits: It’s usually just a matter of time that a bonded pair will begin breeding. All that’s usually needed are the right conditions. More on the that later in the article.
How do we define a bonded pair? Consider a pair bonded if they sleep in the same area, don’t show aggression (except the normal female-keeping-the-male-in-line type nips), and basically are side-by-side or at least very near each other the majority of the time.
Drawbacks: It can be hard to tell if a pair is truly bonded in a short video or by taking someone’s word for it. If possible, check them out in person over a period of time. Anyone can easily stick two fish in a small tank, take a 30 second video of the fish cohabitating in the same space, and sell them as bonded. Be wary of unknown people selling “bonded” or “mated” pairs. A lot of sellers don’t really understand these terms and will place two fish together and call them bonded.
As far as cost, this too can be reasonable. Of course, it’s usually more expensive than the previous methods, but sometimes you’ll be able to get a pair that’s been together for a long time in someone’s tank if they’re breaking down the tank or moving for instance.
Method 4: Purchase a Breeding Pair of Clownfish (The Cheat Code)
Benefits: The benefits of starting with breeding clownfish in the first place are quite obvious. You know the pair is sexually mature, that they’re fully bonded, and that they’ve bred. You can also often find out what the offspring may look like, if the previous owner raised any fry.
Drawbacks: Breeding clownfish pairs can be quite expensive, especially if they are designers. Wild type clownfish breeding pairs can often be had for just a couple hundred dollars, but very nice Picasso clownfish breeding pairs can easily sell for $1000 or much more.
Another potential drawback is that once the pair moves, they won’t spawn again. That’s right, just because they’ve laid in the past there is no guarantee that they’ll continue to spawn after moving. Any time you break their cycle it can take time to get it back. Most of the time they’ll get back to it in a few weeks, but occasionally they’ll stop spawning altogether. Just something to keep in mind as you shop for your perfect pair.
Also, be very cautious when spending a lot of money on breeding clownfish pairs. Unfortunately, there are scammers out there who will take a video of fish tending to another pair’s nest and sell them as breeding. Why? Greed. Best to get video proof of them actually laying eggs whenever possible, or get to know your source very well.
How to get Your Clownfish to Pair Up
Once you’ve selected your pair of clownfish, the next step is getting them paired up. (If you splurged on a pre-bonded or proven breeding pair, you can skip this step entirely.)
For a pair of small juveniles, the process is incredibly straightforward: just put them in the tank together. As long as you followed the golden rule of buying two fish of noticeably different sizes, the larger clownfish will quickly establish dominance and transition into the female. The smaller fish will accept its submissive role, remain a male, and fall right into line. From there, your only job is keeping them well-fed and happy while nature takes its course.
Introducing a new male to an established, mature female requires a much more cautious approach. Large female clownfish are notoriously territorial and can easily kill an unapproved suitor if they don’t accept the pairing.
Pro-Breeder Tip: Never introduce a female into a male’s established territory. Always do the reverse, or move both fish into a neutral tank simultaneously. Taking the female out of her home domain significantly dampens her initial aggression.
Here’s a great video from one breeder, sharing how he pairs up his fish. Notice the size difference and the breeder’s box that they are in.
Sometimes you can put a female in with a potential mate and they’ll be totally fine, but not always. Plus, it’s possible that you put them together and they seem fine, only to find out after you walk away that the female decided she doesn’t like the male and kills him. Make sure the male has places he can hide if needed that the female can’t get into, such as 1-1/2″ PVC pipe or some rock work with small caves. Even then, the juvenile won’t always know to hide and can quickly be killed.
Bottom line, watch them closely!
The bonding process can come fairly quickly, within a few days, or can take weeks. Sometimes it never happens and in this case you may have to try again with another juvenile or male.
Once they’re paired up, how long will it take for your clownfish to breed? That depends on so many things it’s impossible to answer. I’ve introduced two fish and they began breeding within 6 months. Bonded pairs of clownfish may breed within a couple weeks, and mated pairs have been known to breed in shipping!
Optimal Clownfish Breeding Tank Setup
Now that you have your pair and they’re bonded, it’s time to start getting them ready to breed. Getting your fish ready to breed entails some distinct differences from normal clownfish care, but generally it is not super difficult and doesn’t require any extra equipment. There are a number of options for a breeding tank.
Setting Up Your Breeding Station
If you are serious about raising clownfish, setting up a dedicated breeding tank is the best route. It saves you from the absolute nightmare of trying to catch tiny, microscopic larvae out of a 100-gallon display tank in the middle of the night.
A standard 10-gallon glass tank is more than enough room for a breeding pair of Ocellaris or Percula clownfish. Once a pair is ready to spawn, they rarely venture more than a few inches away from their nesting site anyway.
If at all possible, you should set up your breeding tank with a sump. Here you can put your heater, skimmer, return pump, etc. Having the added volume of water makes it easier to keep clean and maintain water parameters as well. Filtration options with the sump are wide open. I prefer simply using reef rock (live rock), although that’s just a matter of preference. If you use live rock, be sure not to treat your tank with copper, as it can be absorbed and be harmful to young larvae. More advanced forms of filtration will work, whatever you are familiar with or comfortable with. A good skimmer is quite important, as is a stable heater.
Spawning Site Options
Inside the tank, keep it strictly bare-bottom with no sand, rockwork, or anemones. Instead, you need to provide them with a dedicated home. Breeders generally use one of two methods:
- The Clay Pot Method: A standard 4-inch terracotta planting pot from the hardware store. Rinse it thoroughly in RO water. They are cheap, easy to clean, and the curved interior provides a perfect, sheltered canopy that makes the fish feel incredibly safe while laying eggs.
- The Ceramic Tile Method: You can lean two unglazed 4×6 inch ceramic tiles against each other to form a triangle or a “tent” cave. If you do this, secure them with aquarium-safe silicone. Never just stack loose tiles; clownfish aggressively bite and clean the surfaces before laying, and you don’t want a heavy tile shifting and crushing your fish or their eggs.
For me, pots have always worked well, and they were easier to set up and maintain, but again, that’s just a preference. Feel free to experiment and see what works for you.
How to Condition Clownfish to Breed – Jumpstart the Breeding Process
When you want your clownfish to breed, you need to feed them – a lot. You probably couldn’t really feed them too often, just make sure that when you do feed them, they eat what you’ve put in the tank. One huge meal will not make up for not being around the rest of the day. Yes, it can be a pain, but be creative with your schedule. Try to feed them at least three times a day, four is better.
A lot of people want to know what the best food is for getting your fish ready to breed. Ask that question to several breeders and you’ll get a lot of different answers. I think the best answer is as wide a variety as you can reasonably offer. I mix foods throughout the day, using dried pellets, frozen foods, and sometimes even some fresh or live foods.
For pellets I’ve used TDO from Reed Mariculture (I prefer the small size), Ultra Marin Soft Clownfish pellets, Marine A pellets from Hikari, New Life Spectrum, Cobalt Breeders Formula, and Ocean Nutrition Formula Two pellets. You don’t need to use all of these, just mix it up a bit. If I had to choose two and only two, I’d probably go with TDO from Reed and Formula Two pellets.
There’s a wide variety of frozen foods out there and I’ve used quite a few. Some of them are very good and some… not so much. Again, try out some different foods and look for quality. I won’t go through everything I’ve tried but here’s a few that I like:
- LRS Reef Frenzy
- LRS Fish Frenzy
- LRS Breeders Blend (I actually prefer the Reef Frenzy or Fish Frenzy but this has some good benefits, such as probiotics)
- Piscine Energetics (PE) Mysis
- Rod’s Food Fish Eggs
- Rod’s Food Original Blend
- San Francisco Bay Frozen Brine Shrimp
High quality foods like LRS and Rod’s Food are worth the money if you plan on breeding. They’re cleaner and both offer a blend specifically for breeders, although that’s not completely necessary.
Some people like to blend their own foods and freeze it for their breeding pairs. I’ve never done this so I can’t give a lot of information about it. I do know that fresh fish such as salmon are a popular ingredient and make up the bulk of the food, along with several other options like shrimp, squid, seaweed, etc. If this is something you are interested in, I’d suggest looking around on forums or Facebook, or just experiment for yourself.
Finally, I mentioned live foods. I’ve offered my fish live earthworms. Some fish love them and some get freaked out, so even if they don’t eat them, you get a little entertainment! Just kidding of course, but they’re easy to collect, especially after a rain. Just look for small, one-bite sized worms for a clownfish and rinse them well first. Also be sure to remove any that they don’t eat.
Blackworms are another possibility although I’ve never tried it. You usually need to order them online and you can keep them in the fridge until you’re ready to feed your fish. You can also culture your own blackworms.
Brine or mysis shrimp are a common live food for clownfish too. Some pet stores carry them for food while other people hatch them and culture them on their own. Clownfish will also eat copepods and amphipods.
One of the more unusual live items I’ve offered my clownfish is mosquito larvae. While I would not recommend raising mosquito larvae (unless you are going to make sure they’re all dead before they metamorphose into mosquitoes), I will say that my clownfish love them. I’ve never had one turn away from them. They’re easy to find any time it’s warm outside. Just look for standing water. You can net them out, rinse them and put them in with your fish. I only fed a few at a time because they won’t live very long in salt water. However, they do live long enough to swim and wriggle around near the surface of the water, which is incredibly enticing to clownfish.
Perfect Water Conditions for Breeding
To get clownfish to transition from just “surviving” to actively breeding, you have to trick their biology into thinking it is peak summer. This requires stable, elevated parameters.
| Parameter | Targeted Value | Why It Matters |
| Temperature | 83°F – 84°F (28.3°C – 28.8°C) | Warmer water accelerates their metabolism and triggers spawning instincts. |
| Salinity | 1.022 – 1.024 SG | Slightly lower than a standard reef tank (1.026). It reduces osmotic stress on the fish. |
| Photoperiod | 14 Hours Light / 10 Hours Dark | A long, rock-solid day cycle simulates the long days of the summer breeding season. |
| Ammonia / Nitrite | 0 ppm | High feeding frequencies mean high waste; pristine biological filtration is mandatory. |
In general, the water conditions should be as pristine as possible. Regular water changes will help, as you’ll be feeding a lot and you may have a smaller water volume if you aren’t using your display tank as the breeding tank.
I keep the specific gravity a bit lower than you would on a reef tank, at about 1.022. I also keep the temperature higher than a normal tank, at 83.
You should extend the photoperiod to about 14 hours per day (10-hour night period). The specific light source isn’t as important – it can be fluorescent or LED. This longer period mimics a natural summer photoperiod, helping to persuade the clownfish that it’s time to spawn.
Other water parameters are in line with standard reef tanks. You should have 0 ammonia and 0 nitrites, and everything else should be kept in check by water changes. Your nitrates may be a bit high, just don’t let it get out of hand.
Higher nitrates, combined with the warmer temperature and a longer photoperiod, lead to faster and more robust algae growth. I don’t mind some algae. I usually keep the front glass clean and let it grow a bit more on the sides and the back. Keep it in check and you’ll be fine.
Signs that Your Clownfish are Ready to Spawn
Once you’ve set up the perfect breeding tank for them, your clownfish will start to show signs of preparing to spawn. You may see the male twitching on his side more often, vying for attention from the female. The female may become more aggressive when you reach into the tank.
The pair will also begin cleaning the pot or tile by biting at it. They’ll scrape all algae off the surface until it’s completely bare.
Finally, you may notice the female’s abdomen swelling and her ovipositor protruding. Once you see this, spawning is imminent.
How Often will Clownfish Breed
Once they begin, you’ll typically see your pair spawning every 10 – 14 days. They will usually lay eggs at the same time each cycle, which is often late in the afternoon before the lights go out for the day.
Top 3 Tips to get your Clownfish to Start Breeding
Most of the time the only thing needed to get your clownfish to breed is patience. If you’ve given your fish everything they need in terms of clean water, plenty of quality food and their own space to mate, then there’s not much more you can do. There are a few tricks that breeders use that have worked for me personally, so I’ll share those.
One is to turn the heat up in the tank a bit for a few days or a week or two. You can’t raise it too much, but 84 or 85 would be fine for a short period. This will often trigger the natural instinct to breed.
Another trick is to provide them with lots of live food. Live brine shrimp and live mosquito larvae have both worked for me. You need to do this fairly regularly for a few days, then wait and see what happens.
The final strategy is a clever insider trick that I, and many other experienced breeders, have used successfully to coax a stubborn pair into spawning.
It comes down to a bit of evolutionary psychology: if you place a tile or clay pot containing an active clutch of eggs from another breeding pair into your target pair’s tank, something incredible happens. Instead of destroying them, the new pair will almost always adopt the nest, tending to and fanning the eggs as if they were their own. Once those adopted eggs hatch, it often jump-starts the pair’s natural parental instincts. If their diet and water conditions are dialed in, they will frequently begin laying their own first clutches within just a few weeks.
You might have to repeat this process once or twice to get the momentum going, but it is one of the most reliable ways to break a breeding dry spell.
Granted, not everyone has a spare clutch of clownfish eggs just lying around. But if you have a local breeding buddy or belong to a regional reef club, ask around – most breeders are more than happy to loan you a pot or tile of eggs to help get your room up and running.
These aren’t magic tricks that will guarantee that your clownfish will breed, but they have been known to work for me and other breeders. Now that you know how to get your clownfish to breed, you’ll want to read our article on raising clownfish fry from eggs.