how aggressive are maroon clowns?

[Reefski's]

i have a 700 gallon tank. what fish will they bother? Can i have other clowns like black saddlebacks in the tank too?

how big will they get? coral magazine said the females can be 9". is that right? wow.

right now they are only about 3.5" female and 2" much less mass male.

she is already digging a hole in the sand about 3" deep. the sand bed is very deep though. is she trying to get to the bottom to lay eggs?

 

[dalilgriffith]

Re: how aggressive are maroon clowns?

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12888554#post12888554 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Reefski's
i have a 700 gallon tank. what fish will they bother? Can i have other clowns like black saddlebacks in the tank too?

not sure

how big will they get? coral magazine said the females can be 9". is that right? wow.

not 9 but around 5-6 in captivity

right now they are only about 3.5" female and 2" much less mass male.

Seems about right..

she is already digging a hole in the sand about 3" deep. the sand bed is very deep though. is she trying to get to the bottom to lay eggs?

NO

 

[davocean]

My maroon is more mean to me than fish, though in my 180g if I added another clown I'm certain she'd kill it.
In a 700g, you might be able to get away w/ it if opposite side of tank has a host for them and they don't see each other, but if they do it could be war.
Not worth it IMO, there are so many other fish choices.
Agree 5-6" is more like it on size.

 

[Tom-Kat]

they can be quite agressive

 

[dalilgriffith]

My maroons are arriving from saltwaterfish.com tuesday... fun fun.

 

[Noise]

I have seen a maroon clown kept with 3 ocellaris in a 90 gal. A 700 should be big enough to house two types of clowns. Getting the 2nd clown settled in may be difficult though.

 

[marisol]

My experience...

My experience...

I have a sad story- I introduced a tiny gold striped maroon to my 40 gallon tank, and the resident 2" gs maroon rammed it to death while it was still in the bag- acclimating. I had heard about their aggressiveness, and was going to put up a tank divider, but never had the chance. It was bruised around the gills, and couldn't breath. It was HORRIBLE. The beautiful maroon was no longer beautiful, a cold blooded killer when given the chance.

So, when someone was giving away a 4" gs maroon, I thought- it's butt kicking time... not that I'm a violent person, but I figured the killer will have something to contend with this time. The moment I put the new maroon's bag in the water to acclimate- my maroon was in love.. I'm sure the bag distortion made the fish look even more huge... and had to wait the long 3 days of a tank divider separating them, and they have gotten along fine since... the smaller 'he' (I'm assuming he has converted) does the love-fear shimmey when big bella is near, but she shows no interest at all- ignores him completely.

In all that I've read, introducing the smaller sized one first, keeping them separated for the first 3 days makes a difference in diffusing some of the aggression. I've seen multiples of different species of clowns together in much smaller tanks... maybe just the care in how they are introduced. Hope it works out...

 

[Reefski's]

so are they only agressive to other clowns? can i house just any other fish i want with them in the tank?

they are already in the tank and would be very difficult to remove.

Carl

 

[Slakker]

They are also aggressive towards others, but in a 700g tank I would think other fish would have plenty of room to avoid them.

 

[davocean]

Usually very aggro toward any other clown.
The only other fish I've had attacked by a maroon(I've had several over a 25yr period) was a flame angel a GF "surprised" me w/ on my B-day.
She put it in my tank during the day when I wasn't there, came home from our day/night out, and we were both "surprised" all right!
My present fem hates ANYTHING red, including my kent scraper, her reflection in my watch, my red headed neighbor, and girl came over w/ a red sweater that made her cheekspines poke out and bump glass at her.

 

[marisol]

Maroons are aggressive towards other clown fish primarily, but even with that warning, you can find hundreds of stories of them getting along fine. The only fish I wouldn't have in the same tank is a Lion fish (and triggers I am told)- which will eat them, and maybe because your tank is so large, introduce any other clowns very carefully. This is a general chart- but I would still introduce clowns cautiously even though they say they are compatable: http://www.reefs.org/library/compatibility.html

 

[davocean]

I'm sure those "hundreds of stories" of diff clowns getting along were very short term, and I myself would have one of those back b4 I knew better.
When they mature, diff story.
That chart has incorrect info IMO(like many online vendors)
Just looking at clown compatability shows clowns NP getting along, yet not getting along w/ damsels or rabbittfish.
I've had several clowns w/ damsels over the yrs NP, and friends w/ clowns and rabbitt NP.
Most if not all exp reefers will tell you clowns do not get along w/other species or more than one pair except maybe in the wild where there is one fem w/ a harem of unsexed or bred clowns of the same brood.

 

[LulusMoogle]

I had a maroon clown in a 40g tank at one time. We kept him with a domino damsel and he bullied the damsel literally to death even though he was introduced after the damsel. We tried adding another, smaller false perc. a few weeks after and he again bullied him to death. I'd be cautious with introducing a maroon into a tank. However, your tank is fairly large and I don't think that he'll cause much of a problem. Just be sure that he is the smallest fish in the tank when you introduce him. Maybe that'll keep him less aggressive...?

Our maroon clown also dug a 3" hole in the sand... We had live rock and one piece had a cave. He hung out in that cave and dug a hole. I think that's just what they do when they've found a place to call home.

Just be careful when adding other fish to the tank. If he is bigger than the new fish, he'll show his dominance and aggression by beating them to death. >.>

We kept him with a green bristle starfish and a few hermit crabs and snails (basic cleaning crew) and he did just fine with them. It was just other fish that he didn't like. =/

 

[LaDonaDorada]

i keep my maroon with my volitans lion

 

[Reefski's]

what fish have they harassed besides other clowns?

 

[finsurgeon]

My maroon female did well when added after the male had already made a home the anemone, but after 6 months the anemone (most beautiful purple LT I've ever seen) "jumped" into a power head - and I have a film of it "jumping" - anyway, when I got a new anemone, the female saw it first and never allowed her already paired "mate" into or around her new home. I had to take her back to a store to trade for another female, who was darn glad to meet the male and move in with him in the anemone that by then he had claimed, though he did do the dance of submission and all that goes with it. Awhile later I got the idea of adding a true perc to another large BTA that was over 4 feet from hers and completely out of line of sight, but as soon as it hit the water at the far end of the tank, she came out of her anemone (which she had really never done before) to investigate and kick tail on the invader. I had to intervene immediately and was lucky to get the newcomer into a net to take him back out before she killed him. He made it safely to another tank, but she spent hour after hour over the next few days looking for him to finish the job. Otherwise, she doesn't bother with any of my other fish, except for a brief introduction to stay away from her area for any medium to large newcomer. She ignores little fish and all inverts, but chases one particular heniochus a bit more than the others, and she really swishes water at me if I appear above the surface or work near her area. And she bites the heck out off my net if I put if near her current group of 3 clones of green BTA with pink tips.

 

[misterd]

My gold striped maroon is definitely the most aggressive eater in my tank. I have it in my 100g with a few tangs, and whenever its feeding time, he comes up to the top before everyone else. He has easily doubled his size in one year, but i still love his character .