Introducing black clown with existing regular ocellaris Help Please

ejk17

ejk17

Member
Hi, This is my first post in the clownfish forum. I am wondering if introducing a small black ocellaris clownfish (1inch) with regular larger (2-2.5inch)ocellaris is going to work out. They are both tank raised and the regular one is in a 20 gallon long tank. The regular clownfish has been with many other fish but not a clownfish. PLEASE RESPOND i am planning on doing this very soon because i am shutting down one of my tanks.

Thanks
Evan:beer:
 
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I want to know also, except mine's the opposite. I have the black clown, and want to introduce a regular clown.
 
wont really know until you throw him in...they may pair up right away or the new one may get thrashed by the established one right away...
 
Fish are funny. The only thing I really don't like about this senario is the size of the tank. This can work for you and it may not too. It may be a disaster right away or it could be 3 weeks down the road. All you can do is moniter.
I have two pairs of clowns in a 180. One is black O's and the other percula. They have been fine. I also have a nano 2.5 gal. with 2 true percs. They are very tiny 1/2in. The went in together were and from the same hatch. They got along for 3 weeks and one day one decided he didn't like the other and beat the crap out of him. I had to seperate them. Its a crap shoot. Good luck!
 
given that they're both ocellaris and that one is twice the size of the other, you should be fine. If you're worried, you can put the new guy in a see-through critter keeper or something to let them check each other out first.
 
rssjsb said:
given that they're both ocellaris and that one is twice the size of the other, you should be fine. If you're worried, you can put the new guy in a see-through critter keeper or something to let them check each other out first.
Click to expand...

Yeah i have heard that the size takes a big role in the outcome of the 2. I will float the bag for a while near the current house of the regular clownfish and see how that goes. Does anyone suggest putting him in at night so the one clownfish in the tank is in a bit of a trance state, helping to ease the introduction? I am going to try to add the black one tomorrow night.
Wish me luck:beer:
 
im in on this i have a 55gal with mated pair of false percs and there is a black and white false perc at the lfs i wanted to pick
 
Ill let everyone know how it goes. It should be a interesting looking pair if they do decide to pair up. update later tomorrow.

Evan:beer:
 
Introduced the black clown last night. Everything looked like it was going to be fine, but in the morning I found that the bigger clown seems to be chasing after the smaller one and bitting him if he crosses into his "home". Does anyone know if this is going to persist or will he eventaully stop? Also the fins on the smaller one seem to be a bit frayed, not sure if this is stress or because of the bitting. Anything would help!

Thanks,
Evan:beer:
 
i put my false perc into a plastic bag and floated it in my DT where the lone ocellaris clown is. the ocellaris clown came up to him and then swam away. this went out for about 5 minutes. i crossed my fingers and let the false perc out of the bag and they see be getting along fairly well!! (knock on wood!!)
 
The larger one is probably a female & showing her dominance of the little guy. When larger one charges, does the little guy start shaking & look like it's having a seizure? Keep an eye out & if fins get torn up more & fighting gets worse, separate them. New one eating is great, & good luck!
 
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I did the exact same thing, except mine were in a 15 gallon tank. The smaller black one was always submissive (wiggles/shakes) when the larger orange one pushes it out of her coral. I wouldn't say that they paired up, but they tolerate each other and sleep in separate corals. I think you should be ok, and if not, getting one of them out of the tank isn't that hard, especially in a 20 gallon.
 
They seem to be doing fine now. The fins on the smaller one are growing back. There was never any shaking or anything like that, i have previously seen this with other clowns i have had. But our larger clown is not the brightest, so im not expecting him to understand the whole pairing up thing haha. na17 would understand.

Evan:beer:
 
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