1. The Effect of Feeding and Behavior on the Reproduction of Clownfish
Lily Leebern, Amelia Ault, Ellie Fallon

2. Background
Focus: To investigate how we could increase the rate of reproduction of Amphiprion ocellaris and Premnas biaculeatus pairs.
-Feeding Frequency
-Type of food
-Development
-Behaviors

3. Sources that guided our research- - -

4. Research Questions
-How does frequency of feeding affect the rate of spawning?
-What types of foods provide the clownfishes with the most energy/ nutrients needed to reproduce?
-How do eggs develop day by day?
-Who was doing the aeration/ how many times was this observed in a one minute period?
-Was the male or female spending more time near the laying site?
-Who was spending more time away from the laying site?
-Did the pair swim together more, or apart more?
- Was the male or the female cleaning the laying site?

5. Hypothesis
Feeding Amphiprion ocellaris and Premnas biaculeatus a variety of foods and changing frequency of feeding will encourage reproduction in Lovett tanks. The P. biaculeatus and A. ocellaris will produce more often if new spawning surfaces are introduced to the tanks, and the lighting around those surfaces is dark.
-Did not end up changing spawning surfaces

6. Methods
-Tank 11- Feeding: Fed either twice or three times a day. Behavior: Observed Behaviors and recorded them on data sheet. Development: Took eggs off rock with dropper, placed on film, used digital microscope to look and take videos.
-Tank A and B- Behaviors: Observed Behaviors and recorded them onto data sheet. Development: Took eggs off rock with dropper, placed on film, used digital microscope to look and take videos. =

7. Materials Mysis, krill, bloodworms Net, beaker, tongs
Dropper, slide, digital microscope, paper towels
Data sheets

8. Data Collection
Feeding (Tank 11 only): Recorded the number of times fed and food type on data sheet.
Behavior: Counted the number of times aerating , wrote a M or F for each behavior depending on if the male or female was observed doing that behavior.
Development: Recorded the age and color of eggs, took videos of eggs to observe the development process.

9. Data: Tank 11 Amphiprion ocellaris
The number of clutches in relation to the type of food and frequency in which Tank 11, Premnas biaculeatus clownfish were fed.
The number of days that passed between the time when the clutches were first laid until when the clutches hatched in Tank 11, Premnas biaculeatus clownfish.
The number of times reproductive behaviors in Tank 11, Ocellaris clownfish was observed.
Of the days observed, the number of times the clutches were aerated per minute in Tank 11.

10. Egg Development

11. Data: Tank B Premnas biaculeatus
The number of times reproductive behaviors in Tank B, Premnas biaculeatus clownfish was observed.
Of the days observed, the number of times the clutches were aerated per minute in Tank B.
This graph shows the number of days it took each clutch to hatch in Tank B.

12. Data: Tank A Premnas biaculeatus
The number of days that passed between the time when the clutches were first laid and when the clutches hatched in Tank A, Premnas biaculeatus clownfish.
The number of times reproductive behaviors in Tank A, Premnas biaculeatus clownfish was observed.

13. Results
-How does frequency of feeding affect the rate of spawning? Frequency has no effect.
-What types of food provide the clownfishes with the most energy/nutrients needed to reproduce? Bloodworms and mysis
-How do eggs develop day by day? Takes 6-12 days to develop for A. ocellaris and 6-9 for P. biaculeatus. Start out orange, turn black/ sliver towards the end
-Who was doing the aeration/how many times was this observed in a one minute period? The male was doing the majority of aeration in both species. Unable to find trend in number of times.

14. Results cont:
-Was the male or female spending more time near the laying site? A. ocellaris: Male more time inside pot
P. biaculeatus Tank B: Male more time in anemone
P. biaculeatus Tank A: Female more time inside the Trachyphylla.
-Who was spending more time away from the laying site?
A. ocellaris: Female more time outside pot.
P. biaculeatus Tank B: Female more time outside anemone
P. biaculeatus Tank A: Male (data is unclear)
-Did the pair swim together more, or apart more?
A. ocellaris: Apart
P. biaculeatus Tank B: Apart
P. biaculeatus Tank A: Apart
-Was the male or the female cleaning the laying site? The male was in both species.

15. Discussion
- Did not test the whole hypothesis. Changing foods did encourage reproduction, however, frequency did not.
-Male in both species are more involved in the the care of the eggs.
-In both species the pairs do not spend much time swimming together, unless they are about to spawn/are spawning.
-Male P. biaculeatus in tank A picked off his eggs because they were either unfertilized or had a fungus. (Schultz)
-Mysis and bloodworms are the best food combination for reproduction.
-Feeding frequency does not affect the rate of reproduction.
-It takes A. ocellaris eggs longer to develop than P. biaculeatus

16. Challenges -Running out of certain foods such as bloodworms.
-The digital microscope repeatedly stopped working which caused us to record inconsistently.
-Days weekends and breaks caused some inconsistencies in data.

17. In the future, what would we do differently?
Pay more attention to lighting
Follow through with original idea of rearranging the objects in the tank for spawning purposes
Create a proper environment in which the baby clownfish could have lived

18. Resources
-Bengoa-Ruigomez, M.V., and Javier Urkiaga. "Aquarium Fish: Reproduction and rearing of ocellaris clownfish (Amphiprion ocellaris) in captivity." Advanced Aquarist. N.p., Feb Web. 1 Oct <
-Boyer, Stephanie. "Education- Biological Profiles." Florida Museum of Natural History. N.p., n.d. Web. 4 Oct <
-"Breeding Clownfish." Fish Channel. Web. 1 Oct < clownfish.aspx>
-Buston, Peter. "Does the Presence of Non-Breeders Enhance the Fitness of Breeders? An Experimental Analysis in the Clown Anemonefish Amphiprion Percula." Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology 57.1 (2004): JSTOR. Web. 2 Oct <
-Buston, Peter M. "Territory Inheritance in Clownfish." Proceedings: Biological Sciences (2004): S252-S254. JSTOR. Web. 4 Oct < hText=percula&searchUri=%2Faction%2FdoBasicSearch%3FQuery%3DClown%2BAnemonefish%2BAmphiprion%2Bpercula%26amp%3Bacc%3Don %26amp%3Bwc%3Don%26amp%3Bfc%3Doff%26amp%3Bgroup%3Dnone&seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents>

19. Resources
-Guck, Elizabeth. "Reproduction and Life History." Amphiprion Ocellaris. University of Wisconsin- La Crosse, n.d. Web. 4 Oct <
-Hiskey, Daven. "Clownfish Are All Born Male, a Dominant Male Will Turn Female When the Current Female of the Group Dies." Today I Found Out. N.p., 31 Aug Web. 4 Oct < born-male-a-dominant-male-will-turn-female-when-the-current-female-of-the-group-dies/>.
-"Reproduction and Rearing of Ocellaris Clownfish in Captivity." Advanced Aquarist: n. pag. Web. 29 Sept <
-Stratton, Richard F. Clownfishes – Care, Feeding, and Breeding, Identifying the Clownfish Species, Clownfishes and Anemones. Print.
-Schultz, Henry C., III. "Reef-Films - Clownfish Spawning - Reefkeeping Online Magazine." Reef-Films - Clownfish Spawning - Reefkeeping Online Magazine. Web. 02 May <
-Wilkerson, Joyce D. Clownfishes-A Guide to Their Captive Care, Breeding, and Natural History. N.p.: T.F.H. Publications, Print.

20. Quick Little Video! Thanks!