I have a pair of Clarkiis that I am trying to get to breed/spawn, but I am wondering if I truly have a male/female combo. I got these fish from of all places, florida aqua farms. They were a combo from a few years back that they had spawning but they don't breed saltwater anymore. I have had them for about three months now. These fish had been in a forgotten about tank for 2-3 years. The female is huge and the male is about half her size. I have them in a 33 gallon tank connected to the broodstock system. They seem to only tolerate each other and don't host together. The female hides quite a bit, but the male is hyper aggressive. He will literally jump out of the water to bite my hand at feeding time (while the female is hiding). Joyce Wilkerson mentions the Clarkii pair that became two females despite the presence of a dominant female. Could this be the case? Who has some experience with Clarkiis and can help?
Clarkii question
- Thread starter CanesDave
- Start date
David M
New member
Interesting thought, I'd think in a 33 two grown clarkii's would kill each other if not a true pair but maybe not. I know my buddy and I have been trying for a year or more to establish some breeding clarks and our experience has been that the females are pretty quick to break the pairbond if they get unhappy. Simply moving a pair from one tank to another can cause them to go postal and kill their mate. We have seen this happen several times so I don't think it's a fluke occurence.
Will be interesting to see how others weigh in on this.
Will be interesting to see how others weigh in on this.
Fishboy42
Premium Member
If they aren't killing each other, I'd leave them together for a while. I've had trouble pairing clarkii clowns as well. I had a female that went through two mates (killed one of them) before accepting a male, but they haven't spawned yet. The "reject" male from that pair went along to become a female and accept a new, smaller mate (after chasing the new male around for a few weeks). They spawned for the 2nd time this evening. I did obtain a spawning pair of clarkii several months ago; they started spawning ~3 weeks after the move (they are laying as I type actually), although their current tank (and diet) is identical to their previous one. I have clarkii pairs in larger tanks, but my spawning pairs are all in 10g tanks 
Matt
Matt
My Clarkii have never acted like that even after a couple of different moves, but I've had a similar situation with a young pair of gold stripes. they had a couple batches laid before a tank move.
after the move, they got along somewhat ok. Then suddenly the female would not stop picking on the male. It was rather violent a couple times to the point that I was going to seperate them.
Then it slowly started to subside over the next couple weeks.
Now they are now back to normal laying again.
about a 3 month ordeal
after the move, they got along somewhat ok. Then suddenly the female would not stop picking on the male. It was rather violent a couple times to the point that I was going to seperate them.
Then it slowly started to subside over the next couple weeks.
Now they are now back to normal laying again.
about a 3 month ordeal
