Any sebae clown keepers?

[Moort82]

As above anyone keeping sebae clowns? just interested how you find them in a reef situation and if you have had luck spawning them?
Looking for a new project and I love a challenge. They have also been one of my favourite clowns for a long time and was specifically looking for the yellow belly variant and captive bred if possible.

TIA

 

[ThRoewer]

I had them in the past. They are one of the bigger and more aggressive clowns.
The melanistic form (yellow areas becoming black) are related to them living with certain anemones. I had clarkiis changing color on me when I gave them an anemone.

 

[Moort82]

Thanks.

I didn't think the saddleback complex was overly aggressive though? yes more than the smaller clowns but not in the same league as clarkii or maroons?

I wouldn't be getting an anemone, so the melanistic change hopefully wouldn't be an issue.

 

[ThRoewer]

I would say they can be as bad as clarkii.
All clowns can be quite rough, even the small ones. After all they are damsel fishes. And of all the fish I had clownfish and damsels were the only ones that never showed any fear or intimidation when defending their territory or nest, regardless how big the intruder is.

Last week my 2 inch percula female got my almost 3 inch P. fridmani male by the tail and shook him around like a ragdoll. I had to go in-between to save him and he looked like a freshly plucked chicken afterwards. Of course the fridmani had it coming for always trying to pick a fight with the percula. And so far it doesn't look like he has learned his lesson...

But even the most peaceful clowns can take down fish many times larger than themselves.

 

[snorvich]

But even the most peaceful clowns can take down fish many times larger than themselves.

And from the perspective of a diver, the most aggressive ones will take on a diver with no fear whatsoever. Smart fish, they seem to always go after the eyes.

 

[davidfrances]

Thanks.

I didn't think the saddleback complex was overly aggressive though? yes more than the smaller clowns but not in the same league as clarkii or maroons?

I wouldn't be getting an anemone, so the melanistic change hopefully wouldn't be an issue.

I do not currently have any Sebae's, but here is a photo of my Saddleback pair. I keep them and their host anemone isolated in a 40G breeder attached to my frag system. The big female won't hesitate to take a chunk out of my arm when I try to clean their tank.

I have a pair of true Percula's in one of my DT's, and a large female Maroon in another. The Perc's are so docile I can cup them in my hand. The DT the Maroon is in is a pretty rough neighborhood, but she hold her own.

 

[phender]

I have had a couple sebae clown pairs over the years. They were kept with haddoni carpets, their natural host. In both cases the fish lost their yellow bellies over time. One of the females actually had her yellow tail turn black as well.

I had them in a 20 gal tank. I was never able to get them to breed. At the time no one had been able to get any of the polymnus clowns to breed. I think ORA occasionally produces some CB sebaes these days, but I don't know if anyone else has had any luck.

My first pair before I sold them.

My second pair a couple years later. Same anemone, different fish.

 

[Moort82]

I would say they can be as bad as clarkii.
All clowns can be quite rough, even the small ones. After all they are damsel fishes. And of all the fish I had clownfish and damsels were the only ones that never showed any fear or intimidation when defending their territory or nest, regardless how big the intruder is.

Last week my 2 inch percula female got my almost 3 inch P. fridmani male by the tail and shook him around like a ragdoll. I had to go in-between to save him and he looked like a freshly plucked chicken afterwards. Of course the fridmani had it coming for always trying to pick a fight with the percula. And so far it doesn't look like he has learned his lesson...

But even the most peaceful clowns can take down fish many times larger than themselves.

Interesting you say they can be very aggressive but is this the norm rather than an exception? I know clowns have different temperaments depending on individual fish and their tank mates etc and have experience with a wide range when I ran a lfs but never kept sebaes (others in the complex yes but only smaller individuals).
The tank mates will be mostly planktivores and I'm thinking of just growing them up for a while in the display and then moving them to a large refugium style tank to try and get them breeding. Should work out ok if they then get a little nasty.

 

[Moort82]

I do not currently have any Sebae's, but here is a photo of my Saddleback pair. I keep them and their host anemone isolated in a 40G breeder attached to my frag system. The big female won't hesitate to take a chunk out of my arm when I try to clean their tank.

I have a pair of true Percula's in one of my DT's, and a large female Maroon in another. The Perc's are so docile I can cup them in my hand. The DT the Maroon is in is a pretty rough neighborhood, but she hold her own.

Don't really mind them biting me (famous last words), its more the tank mates I'd be worried about but a breeder is where they will likely move into once they are bigger and mature.

 

[Moort82]

I have had a couple sebae clown pairs over the years. They were kept with haddoni carpets, their natural host. In both cases the fish lost their yellow bellies over time. One of the females actually had her yellow tail turn black as well.

I had them in a 20 gal tank. I was never able to get them to breed. At the time no one had been able to get any of the polymnus clowns to breed. I think ORA occasionally produces some CB sebaes these days, but I don't know if anyone else has had any luck.

My first pair before I sold them.

My second pair a couple years later. Same anemone, different fish.

Thanks, beautiful clowns. Can I ask if you had them with any tank mates and if so how were they?

I have found someone who can get these in over here as captive breds and they come from the US so first thoughts was SA as that is where this shop sources their fancy clowns.

 

[ThRoewer]

They are usually not aggressive bullies like for example Pseudochromis porphyreus or paccagnellae or all the Dascyllus. But they defend their anemone and territory viciously against anything the conceive a threat to their anemone or nest (nesting clowns and damsels are the most aggressive).

I actually don't know if I got the ones I had to breed - I think I did. But nobody wanted them so I didn't put any further effort into it.

Usually it helps to keep several breeding pairs in one water system to get a new pair to spawn.

 

[Moort82]

Thanks again. I've bred a few species of clowns before and its more about the challenge and getting the fish into the kind of condition they need to be spawning that I enjoy. I had a similar experience with pink skunk clowns where they would spawn but I only chose to raise a small percentage as although I like them, there wasn't a local market for them at all. It was more about seeing if I could do it if you know what I mean.

 

[phender]

I had a small yellow tang in with them. They never paid any attention to it.

 

[ThRoewer]

I had a small yellow tang in with them. They never paid any attention to it.

Tangs don't eat anemones

 

[Moort82]

I had a small yellow tang in with them. They never paid any attention to it.

I have a convict tang and its the only large fish in there, everything else is a wrasse so good that they were relentlessly going for things.

Tangs don't eat anemones

None of the fish I have would but I've known plenty of clowns to not be that discriminating when it comes to aggression:lmao:

 

[phender]

Tangs don't eat anemones

Neither do the wrasses, pseudochromis, the purple tang or my hand, but my Akindynos clowns enjoy chasing and biting them anyway.

I sort of doubt that a clown can tell the difference between a tang and a butterflyfish or angelfish.