GSM pairing?

[sjkarrow87]

First off merry christmas everyone. I recently setup a 40 gallon breeder and its been cycled, water params are steady and their currently is 1 royal gamma swimming around in the tank. I went to my local pet store the other day and noticed they had 2 (1 in each tank) baby gold stripped maroon clowns. They were easily less than an inch and have read that it is best to try and establish a pair when small. The gamma will be removed, was going nuts seeing an empty tank with nothing but rock in it

IF i were to get these fish would my 40 gallon breeder be sufficient for them for some time...? My main goal is to try and establish a pair, so if these 2 less than an inch aren't the best size/age please let me know. I will eventually once the tank has been up for atleast 7 or 8 months I will slowly add my 3 rose bubbles for them.

 

[velvetelvis]

Merry Christmas!

A 40 breeder will be fine for a pair of maroons and their BTAs. As far as pairing them up goes, that's tricky. I've always read that even when they're tiny, it's always best to make sure one of the clowns is significantly larger than the other, so the larger one can establish dominance right away without fighting. Joyce Wilkerson's book goes into some detail on how to pair up maroon clownfish; if you don't have a copy, it's a worthwhile investment.

 

[sjkarrow87]

awesome, thanks for the help. they are both equally the same size which i imagine will present a problem. i may get 1 for now and then once it gets bigger i will look for a smaller one.

 

[SkullV]

Look for a mated pair or order one from Ibluewater or similar. It is worth the extra money to get them already paired!

 

[mrbigshot]

you can do it as Juvenal's but there will quite a bit of fighting between the two in till one clearly becomes dominant. i would rather see you locate a much larger gold stripe first and carefully introduce the smaller Juvenal at that point. generally a breeders net, peanut butter jar (drilled), strawberry container etc can be used so the smaller one can be safe until it learns to submit properly. it can be done in a week or it may takes 2 months. dont get to attached to the Juvenal because the larger may never accept it. at that point you trade for another Juvenal and try again. be aware female maroons will sometimes kill there mate for no apparent reason a few years down the road so pairing may need to be done once again.

 

[milhous3er]

I've always wanted a pair of my GSMs. But after reading Joyce's book, and asking around I found it was best for me to just keep one in the tank. IF I were to do it all over again, I would have bought 2 different sized GSMs and placed them in the tank at the same time.

Good luck to you, and keep us posted. Maybe YOU can show me that it can be done fairly easy !!!

 

[garygb]

yeah, a 40 g breeder is perfect for a pair of maroons and a few BTAs. You might be a able to observe them in the lfs tank and determine whether one is dominant and one submissive. If not, you could get one and grow it out a little for a few months. Then, in a few months purchase a very small one and put a barrier such as a piece of glass between the two. The good thing about a dedicated tank is you can put such barriers up easily. After a week or so, the smaller one may be submissive as you can observe through the glass when the larger one approaches it. if that is the case, then you can remove the glass at some time that you can keep an eye on the two of them. I have a pair of GSMs and the female was alone for a while when I introduced the small male. They quickly established their pecking order and now they spawn every few weeks on a rock, in the same place, under the tentacles of an RBTA. It's cool seeing something play out just as it does in nature.

 

[stevetcg]

The way I paired my GSMs was to get 1 and let her get established in the tank and grow to about 2 inches. I put up a piece of eggcrate through the middle of the tank she was too big to pass through but a juvi could. I also added eggcrate over to top to prevent a hasty retreat.

After that, I added in my juvi to the established side. The female immediately went after him and he went to the safe zone. To coax him out to enemy territory, I always fed on her side.

Eventually they paired off and how are living happily for over a year in wedded bliss.

 

[sjkarrow87]

i bought 2 gsm's today. one is about 1 inch and the other is around 2-2.5. they were in tanks side by side at the store so hoping that helped. for now they are seperated by eggcrate in the tank.

my plan is to keep the crate up for the first few days then slowly take it out for a few hours so they get used to each other... after a few days of that the crate will be completely removed and hopefully they atleast wont kill each other.