alright....im confused!!!

B

Butchdawg14

In Memoriam
ok i have a small true perc in my 12 gallon right now.....i want another fish to swim with him so i was thinking of getting another true perc!!!!

some people say im ok if the new perc is a lil bigger???

some people say NO!?????

some people say re-arrange your rock and put them in at the same time???(by the way i dont want to do that....)

what can i do????


would it be possible to take the clown out i have now and put him in a baggy and float him in my roomates tank......go get the perc at the LFS and then when i come back float both of them in my tank WITH THE LIGHTS OUT???.......and then put in at the same time......

or just put the new perc in there if its possible!!???


let me know what you think
 
Well...you really should be QTing, first of all...but you shouldn't have to go through all of that.

How long has your clown been in the tank by itself? It might be easier/better to get a smaller clown.
 
it has been in there for like 2 weeks if that.....i had a 6 gallon that he was in but i upgraded to a 12 and now hes in there


so i would want to by a smaller perc???? the LFS only had ones that were a lil bigger then the one i have now...i guess if i need to wait for a smaller one i could......but i want another fish to swim with him....all this guy does now is sit at the top left of the tank and thats all
 
I'm always nervous putting larger clowns with clowns that have been alone for a while for fear of ending up with both ending up female and having some fatal struggling going on.
 
oh i see....well the ones at the lfs just came in...today!!! i told them to hold it for me....so do you think they are already established female....the true perc is the only on in that tank at the LFS....

sorry if it sounds like im questioning you....im just learning and i dont want the clowns to fight i just want two of them to swim together...
 
Ok I am not an expert but the sexuality trip is one way.

It goes like this:

Juvenile (sexless) --> Male or Female

Male --> Female

Female --> Female

In other words.. In a tank two small fish of the same species will fight for dominance and one will turn female and one will either stay sexless or turn male and they will pair.

The problem you have... If that clown you have is already female, she can't change to male or go sexless. And a larger fish is almost certainly female. In this case with two females, they will fight until one dies.

Get the smallest clown you can, If you can get one that one 3/4th - 1 inch they are typically sexless and will likely turn male after a while in with a dominant female. Watch them while they are together.. behavior you want to see is: The female charging the small one as she gets real close the small one will "shiver" and sometimes they will shiver next together. Also the female will charge and the small one will charge back but give in and swim and rub up against the large female. These are good signs.

Once paired, they tend to stay near each other in the tank. However, once the female "hosts" something usually the male will not be allowed near her anemone, but this is a bit random, sometimes they share, sometimes not.

Hope that helps?

Happy Reefing!
 
thank you very much......

i thought if you just put one clown in the tank and have it in there.....it will ALWAYS stay MALE.....THEN when you put the other clown in....one will change to female.....

so what i was saying is that the one in my tank right now would never be female unless paired with another fish at the LFS which it wasnt.....also the females are larger right ......so if i have an established smaller (assuming male clown right now) and i put in like a tiny bigger clown (could be either female or male) if its a female it would do just fine because the male has established terriorty....but if a male then they will try and figure out who is who.....and live happily ever after lol lol

im probably competely wrong.....so sorry

but that is just my first impression

im learning!!!!! thanks for the input
 
I really wish I knew just how long it took for a clown to turn female. It sounds like your clown is still young, so it will probably work out either way.
 
yea thats what im kind of getting at....he is like an inch if that


i just want to make sure everything would be good because ive heard people say alot of things
 
If he's around an inch it's likely an unsexed juvenile. Whatever you put in, (And I always recommend the smallest clown you can get) they will fight for dominance...

However... It's 1 inch, it's unlikely it's female at this point. You could go with a 2-3 inch female. However it's go guarantee, it's always hit or miss. If you have two females they will kill each other in a tank that small.
 
At only an 1", you can add any size percula you want. The bigger the better, but in the end, whatever you get should pair up fine. There probably will be some squabbling, but that's nature.
 
no no no... not true! I purchased a small juvi clown from Rods-reef last feb. it was about 6 months old & under an inch!

I tried to pair it with my older larger perc, she beat the crap out of him to the point I had to take her out. I tried to pair them 3 times before I sold her. I purchased another smaller onxy to put with the rods' one. they were ok for a while but then they attacked.

My assumption is that the rods' clown turned female in the short periods of time she was alone while recovering from her attacks. She was alone about a month each time.

I believe from my own experience they can become female very quickly if left alone.

BTW, the first female, the person I sold her to has her very happily paired with a male.

Go with a smaller clown, you risk alot if you go with a larger one! you might get lucky & the one at the LFS is a male anyway... but you might not! why risk the health of your fish? female & female fights get REALLY brutal!
 
Edit:

It has been suggested that it takes about a month for a single solitary clown to turn female.
 
Last edited:
so they do turn female if they are alone???

they dont stay male...if alone??


i mean i could try it with the clown from the LFS and watch them closely and if it gets bad ill pull one out...
 
Yes, your best bet is to go smaller, but I really don't think if your perc is that small it will matter. You can try the other one and watch them closely. They will bicker back-and-forth, but if one starts to quiver in the presence of the other one, pairing has begun.
 
so they might will bicker at first and if they keep doing it say for a few days-thats bad--

i guess my question is how long should it approx. take for them to quiver??
 
ever think about holding out for a mated pair? or just two clowns paired up? i got bored with my false percs, wanted to go to maroons. now maroons are a pain in the you know what when it comes to pairing. well lo and belhod one of my LFS had two paired up maroons. just putting in my 2cents
 
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