Had a percula pair and one died

[WillieM96]

I have a 50 gal tank that is to be a reef tank. I bought a pair of percula clowns 4 days ago and one died two days ago (not to disease- it died because I didn't fasten the intake strainer to the power head well enough and he got sucked into it). The one remaining percula looks to be doing ok but should I run out and get another percula or do you think he'll be ok by himself?

[SomeHairyOldGuy]

dont worry he will be fine.
SHOG

[Ninong]

If you intended to have a pair, then I think you should go out and get another one so that you will have a pair.

[smidoid]

I'm with Ninong. If they're young enough, one will change sex so you have a "pair". Not necessarily a mated pair, but at least a male and a female. I suspect they like company, mine stick together like glue.

[Ninong]

Juvenile clownfish are neither male nor female. As they grow and mature, gender is determined through social aggression. The more aggressive one will get more to eat and grow larger than the less aggressive one. That one will become the female and the less aggressive one will become the male. They will eventually pair up.

Clownfish are protandrous hermaphrodites (males first). Once a clownfish becomes female, it cannot revert back to male. As long as you don't get two females, you will end up with a mated pair eventually. Most clownfish sold today are captive-bred juveniles.

If you keep a single clownfish, it will mature into a female. If you add a juvenile of the same species later on, it will mature into a male. If you were to add two more juveniles of the same species or if you had started out with three juveniles from the beginning, one would become female, one would become male and the third one would remain sexually immature until a "vacancy" in the hierarchy opened up.

It is not a good idea to try to keep more than two clownfish of the same species in a single tank unless it is several hundred gallons. If one is determined to keep more than two of the same species in a relatively small tank, Amphiprion ocellaris would be the best candidate. In nature, you will often find more than two of the same species in a really large anemone. There will be one female, one male and one or more sexually immature fish that cannot mature sexually as long as the female and male are present. If the female is removed (dies, whatever), the male will become female and the most dominant of the sexually immature fish will become male. It is quite possible in nature for a clownfish to live out its entire life without ever becoming sexually mature if it lives in an anemone with a female and male that outlive it. This is why you can't tell how old a clownfish is based solely on its size if it's wild-collected.

Mixing clownfish species in a relatively small aquarium -- say less than 300 gallons -- is problematic in the sense that if you try to keep a pair that is known to be especially aggressive (e.g., Premnas biaculeatus) with a pair of a less aggressive species (e.g., A. ocellaris), the more aggressive fish will harass the other pair. Even if you set up separate anemones for them at opposite ends of the tank, the Maroon pair will travel all the way across the tank from time to time to annoy their neighbors. This behavior has even been observed in tanks as large as 700 gallons.

[zhenya]

Even if you set up separate anemones for them at opposite ends of the tank, the Maroon pair will travel all the way across the tank from time to time to annoy their neighbors.

Hah, I can name few people who behave exactly like this. :eek3: