tank upgrade/maroon fish question

[jiggly75]

hey all just bought a new 90 gallon tank. once tank is cycled we are going to move everything from our 55 gal. tank. well the question is we currently have a maroon clown living in a bta. we want to get another maroon. if we put the old maroon and new maroon in new tank at same time, would they take to each other(dont care if they mate, just want my current 1 to have a buddy), now if this is an ok idea would this be better to do with or without the bta in new tank. also my current maroon has the white bands, could my new one have the gold bands or would this cause a prob. this wont be taking place till after new tank is cycled but i wanted to find out in advance, dont want to get a new life if it will only be killed. any comments on this would be greatly helpful. thanks

oh yeah my current maroon is prob no more than 1.5 inches to 2 in

[Ninong]

Premnas biaculeatus (Maroon Clownfish) are the most aggressive of all clownfish and by far the most difficult to pair. The resident clownfish will attack the newcomer under virtually all circumstances unless the newcomer is much larger. Even in those situations war is likely to break out anyway.

The usual recommendation is to add a fish that is considerably smaller than the resident fish. The hope here is that the newcomer will submit faster and avoid being killed. If the new fish is equal in size to your existing fish, you will have major problems. Gold stripes and white stripes are simply color morphs of the same species, so it's OK if you want to mix them rather than match them but certainly not something I would recommend.

If I were doing this, I would put the anemone and both clowns into the new tank at the same time.

[jiggly75]

thks for the info. we were wondering about them getting along, I had read that the maroon is the most aggressive of the species. we want to get another clown and I know that the maroon would not tolerate another species of clown, thats why we thought about maybe trying to get another maroon. we also thought about taking current maroon back to lfs and trying to get a pair of clowns. I really like the maroons, but does anyone else have any other kinds of clowns they might recomend pairing(as I said I really dont care if they have babies, if they do fine if not thats ok too).

[Ninong]

If you don't like your present Maroon Clown, then I could see returning it and starting over with a different pair. Any two of the same species will do but it is easier if you start out with one slightly larger than the other so that they have an easier time sorting out who's going to be the boss.

You are going to have to go through the sexual determination process with any two juvenile clownfish that you choose. It's just that the process itself is much more physical with Maroons than with any other species. Maroons are the ideal choice for Entacmaea quadricolor anemones and I would be more inclined to add a second Maroon (with the same color stripes) to the new tank at the same time as you add the BTA and the first Maroon.

[jiggly75]

thanks, we do like our little maroon, he is very entertaining. so i think we will try to get another when when we are ready. thanks for the help

[Rook]

thanks, we do like our little maroon, he is very entertaining. so i think we will try to get another when when we are ready. thanks for the help

I have successfully added a second maroon clown to my 29 gallon reef which already had a maroon clown and a BTA. My clowns are also gold stripped. Although not common, I had a very easy time getting my clowns to accept each other.

The first thing you need to understand is that the maroon you have now is a female, since it is the lone clown in the tank the natural progression is to become a female. When the clowns are born they are "its". The most dominate clown becomes a female, the second becomes a male and the rest stay as its. Males and its can change their sex if nature requires, but females cannot. Thus it is very important that you make sure your new clown is an it. (can also be a male but go for an it).

If you add a female to your tank, the two will fight to the death. If you add an it, they are more likely to accept each other. To help ensure you get an it, go to the store and pick out a very small (1" long) clown which is in a tank with other small clowns, or buy from a breeder who can assure you it is an it.

When I added my second maroon, I placed it into a small container with small holes in it, and placed the container into the tank. This way the second was protected from the first clown. This allowed the two clowns to get aquainted and allowed the bigger female to show her aggression towards the small it without hurting the new clown. After a couple of days of this I released the new clown and it immediately submitted to the female, which is what you want.

The only thing I am not sure about is putting both of the clowns into the new tank together, for the first time. With the female being in a new place it is going to be a bit less agressive than it would be in HER tank. While in the original tank, the female was queen and she would get very agressive to protect it. In the new tank she needs to establish dominance over the tank before it becomes HER tank. This MAY encourage the new clown to fight back and try to dominate the tank as well, which is very bad. You want the new clown to submit ASAP.

Once you get the two clowns to become a pair, the it will become a male, and in my situation, the male now is the agressive fish and he vigorously protects his female. The female is rarely agressive and typically hides if I put my hand in the tank while the male attacks me. Of course during dinner time the female makes sure she eats before the male.

It is a very interesting relationship between the two clowns and the BTA, one which I believe is very much worth the time and trouble to develop. I bet most women wish people acted more like clown fish.

[jiggly75]

hey just wanted to let you all know how my maroon clown pairing ended up. well i tried it when i had the first clown in 55 gal. and needless to say the new killed my old one. they werent very dif. in size, but both were very small. so i waited till we decided to put something in 90gal. i got a very small one, hes much smaller than the clown who survived the last pairing. we put both in the 90 at the same time and there has been no probs at all. they are even sharing the bta sorta(she lets him have the very edge of the bta but not the middle), i even got to see the male do the epiletic shake (it was the cutest thing ive seen so far from my fish).