any clownfish expert?

[glaze888]

ok so my clown fish are as far as i know well over 2 years old, but i know that the guy i bought them from had them paired for just over 2 years and they have been in my fowlr tank now for about 2 months. just recently they have been playing all through the rocks and the male seems like he is dancing a little and kinda looks like he is checking all the rocks edges(hopefully for a smooth surface if you know what i mean:up. now they seem to swim at each other kinda fast then rub up against one another (side by side) while wagging their ail fins really hard. first the male will do it then the female. they do it for about 5 mins then not again til the next day. oh yea and there is no anemone present. take that back i do have a condy but they pay it no attention. any answers?

 

[jennm]

Probably bonding or courtship behavior.

A condy is not a host anemone (although rarely some clowns will host in one) but it's normal for them to ignore it.

They don't need an anemone to spawn (mine use a Frogspawn).

If they're going to spawn, the female (larger one) will get rounder in the belly. Then they'll clean a surface with their mouths. When they are about to spawn you may notice the female's ovipositor protruding. She'll swim rubbing her abdomen against the spot that they cleaned, and she'll leave a couple of eggs behind. After a few passes, the male will do the same thing, fertilizing the eggs. They'll do this again and again over 2-4 hours (from what I've witnessed with my own clowns). Once they are done, usually the male tends to the eggs, fanning and mouthing them. The female will probably patrol a safe zone around the eggs.

Jenn