How should I pair this lone ranger?

[cwazy clown]

Now that I'm upgrading my tank from a 7g to a 14g, I'd like to try and get a second clown since the first female died. Heres the situation, About 9 months ago, I got my pair of semi snowflake clowns. about 6 or 7 months later, the female (or more dominating, larger one) died due to some issues. Thus my little smaller clown has been single for about 3-4 months. And s/he is very aggressive, biting me when I put my hand in the tank. My little guy hasn't really grown much since the death of the larger fish, it still sits at about 1.25-1.5 inches long. (the bigger fish, which died was 1.5" when it died)

Now what should I do? Is this fish now a female? or is it still juvy? And if I'm going to try and pair it up, should I put in a smaller fish? Or should I just get one thats about the same size? Its kinda tough to get one smaller than it right now, I fear that anything smaller could be a risky decision especially if I want a small 1" designer.

Any advice is appreciated,
Thanks.

 

[Conrad25]

They usually change over pretty quickly when they are the "lone ranger". So I would def. go the route of finding one smaller or it could be a real doom and gloom scenario.


Conrad

 

[cgauer5]

It sounds like your lone ranger is still a juvenile. Do you have a picture? Since the clown is most likely not yet sexually mature you should be able to pair it up with either an already established female which is larger or a smaller juvenile male. I would stay away from a specimen of the same size and other than that just try and find a clown that your lone ranger gets along with well.

 

[davocean]

My concern would be both in a 14g tank.
I guess it could be done, but you would have a pretty big bioload.
Maybe WC's could help it work.
Smaller new clown is always the safest route, hard to say what yours is, could only guess.

 

[DeathWish302]

My concern would be both in a 14g tank.
I guess it could be done, but you would have a pretty big bioload.
Maybe WC's could help it work.
Smaller new clown is always the safest route, hard to say what yours is, could only guess.

Not a problem if you keep up on the WC. I change 2gal everyday from the main tier when performing the 175gal system's WC. Haven't had a problem with bioload and even have a GBTA with no problems to date. The ABSOLUTE MUST is maintain water quality by WC or aggressive skimming. If you prefer to set and forget, a nano is not for you. I will say my 12gal nano results in half my maintenance regime compared to a 175 multi-tier system...

 

[cwazy clown]

oh no worries on the bioload, I change 30% every week and also skim super wet from my aquac remora HOB.

I'm trying to find a picture of the fish right now.

But from a general consensus, it seems as though I should just get a smaller one and pair it.

 

[Jakester59]

I agree with davocean on the size. Smaller is the safest route. I had a already small ocellaris clown and had to pair it with an even smaller juvenile. In a 90g tank it took 2 days for them to pair up. Now they are the KING AND QUEEN of my tank.