Ebony and Orangy. A pairing attempt

ficklefins

ficklefins

New member
I've had a black ocellaris in my system now for a few months and I recently ran across a tiny Orange clown (not sure if it is a perc or ocellaris). I purchased and introduced him yesterday (June 10th) to the current setup. By putting together this thread I hope to get support and possibly provide some info for anybody in the future.

Introducing the participants:

Ebony:
ebony.jpg


Orangy:
Orangy.jpg



June 10th:

I introduced Orangy in the morning when the lights were off, and I kept the lights off for few hours. A few hours later I turned on the tank lights to see if there may be an encounter. The initial introduction was pretty uneventful with Ebony just swimming over to check out the new addition. There wasn't really any signs of anything more than interest.

For the most part the first day was spent with Ebony peeking over at the new introduction to see what was going on.

June 11th:

When I got back home today there was really no sign of progression. The little guy is still learning his new surroundings so he doesn't move around much. One issue that may be keeping him from moving away from the front glass is the powerheads. He swims like crazy against the current and I'm not sure if I should turn one powerhead off for the moment.

During feeding time I turned off the powerheads and the little guy started to swim around a bit more. He even caught the eye of Ebony who swam over a few times to say hi. I think the little guy noticed the bigger Ocellaris but the interest wasn't mutual. Here is a pic right before Ebony darted back to the anemone:
meeting.jpg


My next idea is to turn one of the powerheads off and point the other one slightly away from the center.

Question: Do you think that if I decrease the current it may give the little clown a chance to roam around the tank and become more comfortible?
 
I think they know where each other are and will work it out.

Only other comment I would add is that in my experience of pairing (which is relatively limited so take it for what its worth) , when a larger female choses a smaller male, she tends to take the largest and healthiest she can find, so putting that small of a juvi may be a bit risky. if nothing else he may not have the strength to handle the initial agression or she may ignore him until he gets a little more "manly"

Edit: this post sounds harsh on rereading it, It is not intended to be. :) Off to get more coffee so I stop sounding grumpy. Best of luck with the couple and let us know how it goes.
 
Cindy,

Thanks for the comment. I think I may have over stated the little clowns swimming. It isn't that he isn't able to keep up with the current it is that he chooses to swim through the current instead of exploring the tank.

I haven't seen any charges, vibrating, or anything from the two. I actually don't know if the the black clown is a female, but she hasn't shown any outright agression either. I have paired some clowns in the past (pink skunk, maroon) so I sort of know what to expect.

Thanks again Cindy, I'll make sure to keep an eye him, and I'll watch for the agression level.
 
Quick update:

During feeding today I noticed an attempt by the larger clown. The black clown swam over to the smaller clown and swam next to it. No charges, attacks or agression at all.

Unfortunetly once the powerheads came back on everybody went back to their corners. The small clown is exploring the tank more, with the larger showing more interest in the small clown.

Tomorrow I may keep the powerheads off a little longer to see what happens.
 
i got my smaller clown in feb after having my other clown for months and months... at first barely any attention... then constant aggression... but for the past month or so i havent seen any charges, aggression, etc... they just swim EVERYWHERE together... and are really only apart when hosting (the baby likes the torch coral and the big one likes the silicone on the glass)

give it time... rome wasnt built in a day...
 
Oh thats gonna be a cute pair! good luck with it. how old is ebony?

Mind if I tag on my pairing woe's since your hoping this thread will be informative for future pair'ers?
 
Thanks for the comments. I realize that it is still early so I'm not too concerned. I hope my pair doesn't take months and months, but I'm glad yours are doing good now.

Jovreefer, feel free to post anything you can. Thanks.
 
June 14th:

Today I may or may not have signed the small clowns death certificate.

Before I do water changes I like to clean the glass and some other small cleaning things. While trying to clean the corner of the glass I eased the small clown to the other corner. Right as he hit the corner he noticed that anemone where the bigger clown was. With no hesitation the little clown jumped right in! I thought to myself, this could be good, or bad.

Well it turned bad real quick. The larger clown charged the small one, at which time the smaller clown turned to the side and did the typical shaking motion. Things were looking good, till bam the large clown grabbed onto the small clowns side fin (pectoral?). After seeing this damage I reached for the lights and turned them off. After pairing maroons I learned quickly that darkness diffuses tension.

In the end the damage wasn't bad, they are both together in the anemone, and my water change was done with the tank lights off. I guess the next few days will be the breaking point for the pair. I'll keep anybody reading along updated on any news and possibly pics tomorrow.
 
maybe you could give the little guy something new to host in if the brutality keeps up.

ok... my attempts :)

I had a small WC true perc in the tank a few months alone, the mate I bought for her died from brook in QT a few days after I got it. So I ordered one of rods onyx. It came in smaller than half the other clowns size... guess mine was not a juvi as I thought. I put it in the tank and the female thought it was food & grabbed onto its tail and tried to eat it. After a few moments of me gasping for air and banging on the tank she let go and the baby ran and hid. She chased it for a few days and then things stopped.

The co-exsisted in the tank for 3 months together not paying any attention to each other. Then all the sudden the female started chasing the baby really bad again, she chased him into the overflow a few times till I put a screen around it to keep him out. He hid for a few days behind the overflow only running out to eat. Then I was cleaning the tank one day and noticed her charge the glass out of the corner of my eye... then I felt a slap on the forehead (I kid you not! the baby jumped out of the tank and hit my forehead)

After that I moved the female to the sump, she's now been in there for over a week and the baby is being beefed up. I will try a pairing again sometime in july.
 
Wow, this happened in the past few weeks? Crazy I tell you.

Last night I was feeling bad about pushing the two together so I went down to look at the tank and see if the little guy was still alive. That is when I saw him on the edge of the anemone really pale. I thought to myself, great he did end up dying. So I turned on the lights to scoop him out, well he woke up and darted to the rock work. I watched him for some time as he slowly tried to sneak onto the anemone. She wasn't very happy about the idea and would charge him anytime he came close.

After turning the lights off again she calmed down and he jumped back into the anemone.

When I get home from work today I'll see how things went when I was gone.
 
Thanks Rachel:

To update things....

June 15th.

Little guy is still alive and seems to have no damage. When I got home from work today he was swimming arond the tank away from the anemone. No damage to the fins or anything. I guess things went alright, or he was smarter than I thought.

Well night time came around and I'm assuming he is in the anemone. I think he knows that nightime is the best time to sneak into bed, so that is where he can be found now. For now my worries are gone regarding the larger female kiling the male. So the next question will be... How long will it take before they pair?

updates will come tomorrow...
 
Nice clowns you have. However, Orangy is not a percula. That is a tomato clown from what I can see. I believe Ebony will kill him. Im surprised no one else has said this but maybe I missed it.
 
I really don't think it is a tomato, but I can understand how you may think that from the picture. When the lights turned on the other day the orange clown was very white in color, and I saw the faint start of the middle bar.

I also think the body structure is wrong for a tomato. The small clown if very long and doesn't resemble the rounder (lack of term) body shape that is apparent in tomatoes.

tomato.jpg

amphiprionpercula.jpg
 
I thought orangy was a stripless clown from ORA ...

I tried to re-arrange my live rock last night to confuse the big one when I put her back in... but I wound up REALLY screwing up my rockwork :( now I gotta spend all saturday trying to put it back together lol.
 
I had a young tomato that looked exactly like that for about 2-3 months, then it developed the center stripe and lost its bright orange color as the body became more round. Also, look at the tail, thats not a perc tail. Just my experience and what I can tell from those pics. Either way it is an uphill battle trying to pair these two.
 
June 16th

Since spending the past two nights in the anemone the little clown has turned the corner in terms of his approach. He is making baby steps in trying to court the female and host in the anemone. She is still charging him when he approaches but he has gone from being allowed within 5 inches to right next to it. He still hasn't gotten permission to jump in during day time, but it isn't from a lack of trying.

Here is a picture of the approach:
theApproach.jpg


And here is a picture of his new stripe developing. May be hard to see on this pic, but hopefully it will aid in IDing him. Sorry, the glass needs some cleaning.
orangy3.jpg
 
I dont think that's a Tomato. Tomato Clowns,When Juevenille,Have a solid black bar and the body shape is totally wrong. Definately and Occ/Perc
 
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