Added another clown...questions

[J2T]

I have had a clown for a little over 6 months (started off in a 29L and now in a 75G for the last two months). One thing I wanted to do was eventually give it a mate and knew I needed to find one smaller because I figured ours had made the switch after being alone for the time period.

We were at the LFS this past weekend and they had a cute little yellowish Ocellaris that we picked up. Seeing him in the store he looked to be a good size smaller than our current but when we got him home the difference wasn't as much as I thought, maybe a little over 1/2 inch difference. Floated him in the tank and as soon as I did our resident clown charged the bag once and then just sort of hung around it.

I was a bit nervous when releasing him but when I did they pretty much immediately swam together and spend probably 85% of the day together. Am I correct in assuming that things should be all good at this point since if there was a problem wouldn't they be possibly attacking each other?

I have seen our original clown go sideways next to the new one but have not seen any fluttering or spasming, is this normal?

Final question is regarding nems. Eventually down the road once the tank is set and stable for awhile I want to add one. I love the RBTAs but are there any nems that are more successful with hosting ocellaris clowns? Or is it a crapshoot all around when dealing with aquacultured clowns?

Thanks in advance.

 

[cannon77]

If there was no sign of aggresion right out of the bag then you should be in the clear. As far as the species of clowns you have....You have a mixed pair, darker one being a Ocellaris and the lighter being a Percula. Not an issue to have a mixed pair, just remember if they do spawn and you raise the fry, you will have Percullaris clowns. Not an uncommon hybrid in this hobby. As for nems any BTA is fine. The whole thing with people saying captive bred Clowns wont host is a complete crock! We have wild caught and captive bred. ALL of our Clowns hosted BTA and LTA before we moved them into the breeding setup. We dont keep nems for them in the breeding tanks due to light requirements and water parameters. Nems just dont like the higher temps or the lack of strong lighting, its easier to not have them in there. Just my .02

 

[J2T]

Crap really? Thought I had two Ocellaris..grrr This is something I have struggled with...identifying the differences. I've tried counting the dorsal spines which is not easy with how much these guys move.

 

[hypnoj]

hmmm.. I'm not claiming to be a clownfish expert, but it looks like Oce's to me as well. H. Mag anemone's are their natural hosts. There are a lot of people that have gotten Oce's to be hosted by BTA's, but a lot that haven't even after years. I personally have 20 Oce's that refuse to host with BTA's.

 

[deangelr]

They both look occellaris to me..

 

[125mph]

My tank raised occel (ORA snowflake) would not even get close to a BTA... but when I introduced a haddoni to the tank, they got curious very fast.

You may want to give the haddoni a try too.