Weird Clown Behavior

[Nodbugger]

My small clown approaches the larger one and does the clown fish waggle thing. It goes vertical and waggles around. Well that is all fine and all. But in response to the the large clown twitches. And in response to that the small clown switches, then the cycle repeats. Now are they going to mate or is this just a clown fish thing? The two have been together for a few months now. One of my original clowns died(it was the larger clown) so I bought a clown that was smaller than the one I had left and they get along fine. Well I don't think it is any disease. All my parameters are fine, my other fish is fine. So are they going to mate or is this just one of the many weird clown fish behaviors?

[jaybro]

It's hard to say if they will mate or not. The verticle shake seems to be a good indicator but doesn't necessarily mean they 'will'.

When they start getting serious about mating they will choose a substrate spot (usually a near verticle spot on a rock/glass/tile/pot/etc...) and both start cleaning it at the same time. Same time is a key, males seem to always be cleaning spots on their own.

As they get closer and more serious, the female will start nipping the males abdomen while he cleans. Like she's trying to hurry him up. Once they start getting really close you will see the ovipositor extend. Once that occurs, mating is immenent.

Please note that all clownfish do things in their own way. Some have very aggresive chase episodes right before mating, some are very subdued, etc... but the above description is what seems to happen, generally speaking.

[Anemone]

Its not a sign of mating, the seizure act the male puts on is his way of showing he is submissive to the female. RIght now they are on their way to pairing up, once they pair up, it could be anywhere from a few weeks to a year or two, depending on their age, before you'll see eggs.

[Nodbugger]

Its not a sign of mating, the seizure act the male puts on is his way of showing he is submissive to the female. RIght now they are on their way to pairing up, once they pair up, it could be anywhere from a few weeks to a year or two, depending on their age, before you'll see eggs.

Does the female tend to chase the male around? And does this cause the male much stress or does it not bother him much?

Oh, and If I have not added anything for several months and none of my fish have ever shown signs of ick is it possible for them to still get it as of now?

[Anemone]

YEs the female will beat up the male, just to insure dominace, and then she will accept him and all will be well. I suppose the male would be stressed but just give him plenty of spots to hide, also about ick, i think the life cycle is 6 weeks so i would wait 6-8weekes before adding new fish unless you have a QT tank.

[Nodbugger]

YEs the female will beat up the male, just to insure dominace, and then she will accept him and all will be well. I suppose the male would be stressed but just give him plenty of spots to hide, also about ick, i think the life cycle is 6 weeks so i would wait 6-8weekes before adding new fish unless you have a QT tank.

Ok, hopefully nothing bad happens to the male.

Good thing with the ick, I haven't adding anything new in that period of time. So I should be safe.