[farewellnite]

hello everyone, i have a question for you all maybe you can help....
I've had a maroon clownfish in my tank for aleast 5 months now, its getting pretty big and since its been alone im assuming its a female. I've always wanted another maroon with her but i do know they are really agressive. Anyways my girlfriend not knowing much about fish went out and got me a little maroon clown as a suprise. my orignal clown wont take to it and beat it up. so i am trying to finds ways to get this to work. i read to put the new clown in a little divider thing and lets the other get used to it being around. so thats how i have it right now.... does anyone have any expierence they can share with me here?

thanks

[patsfan1130]

Originally Posted by farewellnite

hello everyone, i have a question for you all maybe you can help....
I've had a maroon clownfish in my tank for aleast 5 months now, its getting pretty big and since its been alone im assuming its a female. I've always wanted another maroon with her but i do know they are really agressive. Anyways my girlfriend not knowing much about fish went out and got me a little maroon clown as a suprise. my orignal clown wont take to it and beat it up. so i am trying to finds ways to get this to work. i read to put the new clown in a little divider thing and lets the other get used to it being around. so thats how i have it right now.... does anyone have any expierence they can share with me here?

thanks

Pairing maroon clowns is much more problematic than pairing Amphiprion species clownfish. Maroons are notorious for being very aggressive towards other clownfish. They are pretty much fearless and will only back down from an all out fight when presented with the overwhelming threat of death.

Separation Technique:
The only technique I am aware of that works the vast majority of the time with the least amount of damage as possible to use a separation and slow acclimation process to introduce a poetical mate to a maroon clownfish.

First you need to have a large female already established in your tank before trying a pairing. The clownfish should be at least 3” from nose to start of the cardinal fin. Next you will need to do a little preparation before buying a potential mate for your maroon. You need something to securely separate the two fish in the same tank while still allowing the fish to see each other and the new fish to get water flow. You can use a clear plastic specimen container with holes drilled in it for example.

Now go to the LFS and find the smallest juvenile maroon from a community tank that you can find. It should be no larger than 1” nose to start of cardinal fin. Acclimate the new maroon just as you would any other fish. Once the new maroon is acclimated to your tanks water, place the new maroon in the specimen container. Let the two fish see each other, place the specimen container near the females territory. Carefully watch the female’s behavior. If she is trying to attack the new fish thru the container, it is not safe to release the new maroon. Give her time to cool off from the disruption to her tank and addition of a foreign clownfish in her tank.

Now that the female has cooled her temper it is time to try an introduction. Get your favorite fish net ready and release the new maroon to the tank. If the fighting gets too bad you will need to rescue the new maroon and place it back in the container and try the next day. If after three failed attempts you can write off the new maroon as incompatible and you will need a new juvenile to try with.

This worked for me..Maroons are definately the most difficult species to pair. really it's hit or miss whether or not the female will accept the male or not. The smaller the new addition is..the better.

[farewellnite]

thats the same info i read hehe, thanks alot tho

[RayPollett]

Originally Posted by farewellnite

thats the same info i read hehe, thanks alot tho

A lot depends on if it was wild or tank breed. The tank breed ones are very aggressive at first; but not as aggressive as wild. After a few days mine (tank breed) have settled down and allowed the new juvenile to stay in the tank; later sometimes months they became friendly.

Ray

[farewellnite]

Ray, once u finally got your clowns together, how did the original one act? did he just not attack the other one at all?

[RayPollett]

Originally Posted by farewellnite

Ray, once u finally got your clowns together, how did the original one act? did he just not attack the other one at all?

Usually my maroons rarely wander very far from their anemones. The new one learns to stay out of that area very quickly if the tank is large enough or the anemone is at one end. After a while they have actually in a number of cases paired up in the anemone. I've seen the same in Tomatoes and Clarkiis. My last tomatoes ( large one in tank and very small one introduced in 180 ) were swimming together and in the same anemones( the large one claimed 4 anemones as her's) after 10 days.

Ray

[farewellnite]

the other day i put the little maroon in for another try, he was doing just fine swimming behind the reef away from the larger female. I thought i had done it until the little one came to the front of the reef. The female was chacing him around but he would get away for alittle bit until he had to keep going over by the female. They say to get a small maroon so the little one will be scared and not fight back, which is what is happening in my case. the last attempt he was in the tank for about half an hour, i got him out with only one more bite in his fin(which isnt much comnpaired to the other times). im wondering if the next time i should just try to leave him in there for a while. i read a similar post to mine and the person just left the little one in there and they paired in a few days after the male was beat up....... but i dont know what im going to do yet hehe.... help me out !!

[cichlidfort]

I know this thread is like two years old but I have a question.

Would I be better off having one maroon or two? Do they prefer to have a mate?