Everywhere I go it seems that clown fish are extraordinarily popular. This could be because of their beautiful coloring, an iconic Disney-Pixar film, or a dozen other reasons. Another thing that might make salt water aquaria enthusiasts choose to purchase clown fish is the ability to breed them in captivity.
It is notoriously hard to breed any kind of salt water fish in captivity. To begin with, most fish, especially if captured in the wild, will never acclimate to a tank well enough to feel comfortable breeding. Another problem occurs when choosing specific males and females. Sometimes it is nearly impossible to tell which specimen is a male and which is a female, and even if you get it right, the specimens may not become attached.
However, it has become clear that a somewhat proficient aquarium master can breed the more common types of clown fish. It becomes easier to breed the fish if the male and female themselves were bred in captivity and purchased when juveniles. This is because all clown fish are born as protandrous hermaphrodites. This simply means that the fry are born with no sexual organs. Once the clownfish become sexually mature they will develop into males or females depending on the signals (need) sent to them through the environment. There is a chance that clownfish will never sexually mature, thus be unable to breed.
Once you have two sexually mature clownfish matching a male and female together may be a bit difficult. Female clownfish are notoriously aggressive, especially toward each other. This is because when you have several clownfish in one closed environment they will form a hierarchy with the most dominant female at the top. To make a successful match, the female will find a submissive male to fertilize her eggs.
If you are lucky to find a well matched pair of clownfish they will usually close themselves off in a certain part of the tank for several months. During this time they will rarely leave on anothers’ side. After this time the couple will begin to spawn and the female will deposit her eggs on a flat surface in a completely dark area (darkness is extremely important in the development of the eggs). The male will them come and fertilize the eggs and care for them until they hatch, one to two weeks later.
Once the fry are hatched it is important to immediately move them to a separate tank. There is no way they will survive in a large tank, for many reasons. You should then 
proceed to feed the small clownfish rotifers and then baby brine shrimp to give them the best chance for survival.
Have you bred clownfish in captivity? Do you have any tips for those who might want to try it on their own? Does anyone have any further questions related to this subject? Well, let me know by posting a comment.