Large clown constantly digging

[atraperegrinus]

How long does it take for Maroon to reach 6"? I have had mine now for little over 2 years and she is only about 3 1/2" right now. Maybe a little bigger hard to measure when she in tank and never really leaves her cave when I am around the tank up close.

good question, mine is tiny, barely over an inch right now, maybe 1 1/4"

it'll be a year or so until i finish my last basement room and am able to get a bigger tank, so if it takes years to be an issue then would I be okay?

it'd be between the maroon and the perc, but i'd love to keep both if i could.

the maroon as it is right now, is a lazy butt, just sits in its cave and kinda sticks to one main area right front and center of the tank, the perc is all over and i love how active it is.

i think they would both be more active if the clarkii was re-homed though.


edit: okay now im confused, i thought you said not to pair any of them up because they will take over? Or did u mean not to pair up 2 different sets?

like i said overall goal for this tank as it is now is just the clean up, snails, hermits, maybe a shimp? a BTA anemone and the current inhabitants, obviously with whatever changes i need to make now. Plan to rehome the clarkii for sure at this point. that leaves the maroon and the perc. thats a very tough decision. esp if i need to pair one. kinda makes me sad.

 

[davocean]

You may pair up one of the species.
Your maroon may be more active when the clarki is gone.

 

[atraperegrinus]

Oh, that still leaves the purple damsel, will it be okay? totally forgot about that little guy.

if i get a second perc, then do i 100% for sure need to get rid of the maroon?

also for the perc, could i get a generic perc, or would i need to find a specific picaso perc like the guy above mentioned?

So confusing. Slightly regret buying the tank as a whole now, wishing i would have started fresh. lol

 

[Reeferz412]

My maroon did it daily in the corner and she pushes any frags I glue near her cave until it falls off. I placed a rock between the glass and the end of my rockwork to blockade the corner and the flow of sand she piles up to the front. Now when she digs, it hits the rock lodged between the glass and rockwork and falls back into the small hole she digs. She was pretty ****ed but the anemone she hosts moved from her sand storm hitting it so she stopped all together. Solemnly, she will brush some sand up now.

 

[davocean]

Don't regret, you are off to a better start than many.
Keep only one species of clown.
You can add any perc you wish to that picasso.
Most will tell you to ditch the damsel, it may not be bad, it won't harm clowns, it could be aggressive to other fish especially later as it gets older or claims territory, especially to new additions down the road.

 

[GilliganReef]

My maroon did it daily in the corner and she pushes any frags I glue near her cave until it falls off. I placed a rock between the glass and the end of my rockwork to blockade the corner and the flow of sand she piles up to the front. Now when she digs, it hits the rock lodged between the glass and rockwork and falls back into the small hole she digs. She was pretty ****ed but the anemone she hosts moved from her sand storm hitting it so she stopped all together. Solemnly, she will brush some sand up now.

Mine blows up sand in the same spot right in the middle of the tank by her cave. Even when I had a GBTA she still would swim to the same spot to whip up sand. Now inside her cave she dusted all the sand out and doesn't do that much anymore. I had to clean off my rock off which had GSP on it once a week, cause she would cover it up with sand.

 

[Sk8r]

The maroon behavior is a lot like the dascyllus damsels. Reef putty helps. I don't know how they know, maybe picking up vibration from some rocks and corals as they fan the water, but once putty has set, they seem to give up on the project. Maybe it's evolved to prevent them being trapped by rockslides (joke) but they are quirky in that regard. Whatever you value, putty it.

 

[Reeferz412]

Yep my yellow damsel whips up sand and all the fish hang out to eat whatever it whips up.

 

[davocean]

I saw a post that was interesting, pretty sure it was by Snorvich, it said a maroon likes 3-4 times their body length of space around their host unocupied, it sounds about right from my exp.
My last maroon would bite or headbut anything w/in that range, broke many corals.
A flat rock laid down below host often stops the sand storm, and you will see them clean that rock instead.
They require a very clean area for laying eggs, you will always see them do this before spawning.

 

[scootshoot]

I can understand if you had corals or anemones but..what's wrong with a little sand on those rocks?

 

[atraperegrinus]

In my case the Clarkii is burying rocks under the sand, at least the lower rocks. It's bad, my one rock with some basic growth on it is higher up so it doesn't get covered thankfully.

 

[bat21]

Keep the perc, trade in the other 3 (and get a second perc, of any kind/color if you want a pair). Going forward you can have a peaceful tank. I got rid of my damsel for this reason, in a tank similar in size to yours. He was preventing me from getting peaceful fish I really wanted. And I didn't like the tension that always seemed to be going on. Now I have 6 fish and everyone loves everyone. It's much better.

 

[scootshoot]

Heh. Yep. Damsels are spunky little guys. My yellow tail one used to face off with my Coral Banded Shrimp all the time. CBS would flick its claw if it got near his cave. Stead of Damsel swimming off he'd come back for more, rotate it's body to the side and using a swinging tail motion, flick gravel sand onto the CBS...sort of like baseball managers kicking dirt on umpires. My tank inhabitants have been peaceful and stress free once I finally caught that little bugger, lol.

 

[Dkuhlmann]

Don't go with your heart or desires. Go with reason here or you will be sadly disappointed!