I've been thinking about putting a small maroon clown with my big maroon clown to get them to pair up. Two times out of three the little clown will die instead of pairing up. Regretable, but sometimes worth the risk for the end effect.
This is actually the standard method used for pairing maroons. It's how I paired mine, and I'm reasonably sure it's how Matt paired his. Not to mention Joyce Wilkerson and just about every breeder that I've met who has bred maroons. Trick is to put them in clear container or something first to judge any potential problems. I floated my small male in a little Kritter Keeper for a week before adding him to the tank.
My attitude towards "conventional wisdom" in the reef hobby dates back to my intro into saltwater where I was dubbed an idiot because I didn't want to put a sand bed in my tank. Or where I was insane because I didn't have a skimmer for my first two years.
Personally, I would have never thought/said either of these, as it's perfectly fine to run a tank without a sand bed and without a skimmer. Lumping my thoughts in with these people that would think/say something of the sort isn't really fair and I think may give people a false sense that somehow I agree with them and the advice I offer can be discarded as typical conventional rhetoric, when nothing could be further from the truth. I run my tanks with live rock, a sand bed and a skimmer as my only means of filtration and don't do water changes. I also feed my fish, corals, inverts and anemones multiple times daily. Some people would say I'm an idiot for doing that. They're more than welcome to stop by and check out my fish and corals if they'd like. Since I frag frequently and have breeding cleaner shrimp, Banggai cardinal and good overall coral growth, I would argue it's working just fine. Is it conventional? Not really. I have nothing against doing things in an unconventional manner, but there are certain times when it's no so much against conventional norms as it is just a plainly bad idea.
In the cichlid world you can get notoriously aggressive fish to live together by providing a large tank and dividing the tank right and introducing such fish together. Or rearranging the rockwork to get a new fish settled in with the old. All I am is suggesting is that I think Don can handle something a little more difficult in his large tank and work it out right. He has a gigantic damsel against all "conventional wisdom."
Again, this is pretty standard. I've never espoused anything differently on any forum I've ever been a member of or moderated. That said, attempting things like this that tend to be more manageable by experts to people who may or may not have experience with these types of fish is also something I'd never recommend. I know Don has a large tank, but that's not always the way it goes. In most instances, conventional wisdom is the way it is because in the majority of cases, it's true and proven. The rarities that happen to come along don't justify (in my mind) attempting something that the majority of the time will end poorly. Again, this is a case of something you "want" to do, even though you know odds are it won't work. Take that FWIW.
If you want to carry concern for the lives of these animals to the extreme then give up your tank for the good of the reef.
If I felt that me doing this would cause everyone else to do it, gladly. As it is, I propagate a lot of coral and will continue to do so. I don't consider my aquarium a trivial piece of furniture. If I can make any sort of impact by propagating, promoting and selling corals that are not straight from the wild, then I feel it's worth it. I do this (and have no moral qualms with it) simply because I know that other people out there will continue to purchase corals and fish from the wild regardless of whether I do this or not. My ultimate goal is to reach that point (which is nearing quickly) where a majority of the corals I can distribute are tank-raised, at which point I will be positively giving to the hobby.
Let's be clear: I don't agree with the attitude taken towards this in general (by this, I mean most of the hobby as a whole really), and will try and help in any situation I feel I can contribute to. I don't and won't think less of anyone here because they're trying something they want to do. That doesn't mean I agree with it, just that I'm not going to turn my nose up at anyone for something like this.
If Don decides to do it, and it works out, terrific! If not, well, I told you so!
(just teasing you Scott!)
