gold strip maroon clowns

jon1985

New member
I am thinking about getting a pair of gsm clowns for my new 100 gallon tank. I want to keep a few wrasses (reef safe), goby, and maybe a small tang.

The clowns will be last into the tank.

Few questions:

is there more, less, or no difference in aggression with an anemone?

is there a body type of fish they tend to be less aggresive with?



Any general thoughts from people who have or have had gsm clowns.

Thanks
 
I have had my GSMs for about 3 years now. This is what I have observed is that you need to have a healthy anemone that is fairly large for it to survive the beating that a female GSM that is about 4 inches long can give. They are also fairly territorial so, they will probably run anything off that tries to swim close to their anemone. Other than that they are a great fish to have.
 
I plan to have an island with several BTAs on it, will she spread the abouse around or likly focus on one or 2?
 
My male GSM will go between my two anemones (mainly because she is rough with him too, lol), but the female stays with "her" anemone. She does however sleep in a hole below the anemone while the male fans eggs at night.

Its probably hit or miss, but I would bet that if you get a pair and they start breeding that they will stick to one anemone that is close to their egg clutch. But someone with more experience may have a different experience.
 
I have a spawning pair of white stripe maroons with GBTA. Tank mates include Yellow Tang, Singapore Angelfish & two Mandarin Dragonets. All of the current tank mates are free to swim within a centimeter or two of certain areas of the GBTA. I'm often surprised at how close they get to the waving tentacles without getting stung or harassed by mama Maroon. The eggs are generally deposited around the back of the rock holding the BTA and there's little room for anything to swim by there, so no potential for aggression. I've seen the female Maroon give my larger Mandarin a shove or two during the spawning event if he gets a little too curious. Never any harm done though.

Some fish that are no longer with me and were less fortunate in the way my Maroon treated them included Chromis, Blue Devil Damsel and a Lawnmower Blenny. The Chromis were somewhat tolerated but eventually all died off for various reasons. The Blue Devil was public enemy #1, but after pairing my Maroons and the female doing a major growth spurt, he was no match for her and stayed away. The Lawnmower Blenny was ok for the most part, female Maroon would take the odd run at him as he cruised past too close to their territory. Never hurt him, just let him know not to waste any time around there.

From what I've seen in various posts, there are general assumptions that may be made with certain species of fish, clownfish included, but everyone's mileage seems to vary. I've read about Maroon and Tomato clowns drawing blood from the hand of an unsuspecting reefer. My Maroon has made the odd run at my hand as well, but generally she can be considered mild mannered by Maroon standards. The only thing she attacks with real ferocity is the toothbrush I wield occasionally to scrub hair algae off the rock work. Often I need to scrub right around the anemone and mama goes ballistic. After a couple of hits on the hard object she gives up though, realizing she's not causing any damage and the object is not going away.
 
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