Lonely Clown, Re-pairing

[jonnybravo22]

Hi RC.

Unfortunately I had a clown jump last night. Very saddened by this.

I was wondering if anyone has experience trying to pair a clown when its mate has died. My male is lonely now. I'm considering the following options:

1) get a new juvie clown, hoping that either my male will become a female and they will form a new pair (not sure if he becomes a female or if he stays male and the new one will grow to become female? have read contradictory articles on this)

2) get a handful (4) new juvie clowns and hope they form a group, maybe led by my current clown?

Thoughts? I'm really upset about it and I don't want my guy to be lonely in there for long. Any help is appreciated.

 

[skippy2]

If you get a new clown make sure it is smaller than yours. The 1 you have will turn into a female. I had to get a new clown after my female died. I had her with her mate for 6 yrs. It took a few months to find a new clown but it was pretty easy when I introduced him.

 

[jonnybravo22]

there would be a considerable size difference as my male has grown a lot in the 7 months i've had him. i was a little concerned that he might be too big to introduce a juvie but he hasnt been the aggressive one in the tank since he's the male so maybe not? not sure.

thank you for sharing your experience. so your male became a female when you introduced the new clown? my male had been doing the submission dance a lot, did yours stop doing that when you paired it with a new clown and it assumed the female role?

 

[skippy2]

Yes, my male became a female. I can't remember how long it took. Certainly not more than a couple of months. And yes she stopped doing the submission dance. I would think if your new clown is quite small it wouldn't even be sexed yet. Believe me, I was pretty nervous when I added 'tiny tim' to the tank but it went relatively smoothly.

 

[Chelsey]

2) get a handful (4) new juvie clowns and hope they form a group, maybe led by my current clown?


Something that has not been addressed yet is this option. I think you're much better with the first option, adding a smaller clown. Adding more than one juvi will add additional problems/complications. Generally the golden rule is no more than one pair of clownfish per tank, even if they're different species.

 

[this is me]

Johnny,
I replied to your PM but for the general audience, I do not advise you to put more than one pair of clowns.
I have four clowns in the tank and when they were young, it was fine. But as they aged, the larger pair is constantly harassing the smaller ones.
I'm still in the process of whether to set another tank or sell the pair.
If anyone is interested in a pair of Rod's Onyx, let me know.

 

[bues0022]

Something that hasn't been addressed yet, what kind of clowns? Some more agressive clowns may be harder to pair-up with a new mate. Here's a tip that seemed to work for my female Clarkii that had been alone for ~2yrs. I introduced 2 VERY small juvi's. That way, all her agression was taken out on one of the two small ones, and she ended up accepting the other by default. The "black sheep" of the juvi's did end up dying, but I chalked that up to the price I had to pay in order to get her paired up. I'm working on about 6 months of "acceptance" now, so I'm beginning to think that this method may actually work out for me. My sample size is only n=1, so obviously need more info to say this WILL work, but it's an option at least if your fish is agressive.

 

[1geo]

I have a large Percula (LP) and tried to introduce a juvenile Percula; it was a disaster. The LP relentlessly attacked the juvenile. I had to rescue it from the tank. Now I'm not sure what to do. Fortunately, I had a smaller 20 gal tank set up with no fish in it and that is now the home of the juvenile.

 

[firebirdude]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15207242#post15207242 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by 1geo
I have a large Percula (LP) and tried to introduce a juvenile Percula; it was a disaster. The LP relentlessly attacked the juvenile. I had to rescue it from the tank. Now I'm not sure what to do. Fortunately, I had a smaller 20 gal tank set up with no fish in it and that is now the home of the juvenile.

I am 0-2 on my clown pairing too.

 

[jonnybravo22]

thought i should update everyone. got the new clown and he's doing great. they have paired up it seems as the little guy is now doing "the dance" and they sleep together near my return (which is there anemone at the moment). when i first introduced them the older clown freaked out, didnt know if he should eat it or attack it or let it be, so after first putting half of the new clown in his mouth, it eventually settled for darting at him to intimidate him as an introduction, and quickly began to let him hang around. the big clown (which used to be my male) no longer does the dance he used to do so often. it's all the new guy now. the larger one 'checks' the new clown about as often as my female used to 'check' the old one. not sure if it has fully made the transformation or what, but the behavior is the same as with my other clown as the female.

old pair (female had been darker at different, perhaps less stressful, points). this is right after the move to the new tank. (male on the right still in the tank, female on left is the one that unfortunately jumped)

old male w/ new clown:

 

[1geo]

Large and Small

Large and Small

This time I tried introducing a larger Percula instead of a juvenile. My larger clown is 2 1/4 inch. I purchased it as a true Percula but its probably and Oscullaris. From Doni's Reef I bought a 1.5 inch Percula, this one is definitely a Percula. From the moment I put the smaller clown in the tank they got along. Its been several weeks now and there has been minimal aggression from the larger clown. At night they sleep in close proximity to one an other. There is no question the larger clown is accepting the smaller Percula a lot better then she did the juvenile I tried to introduce earlier.

 

[darichranch]

We bought our maroon clownfish at the same time and they got along great until we bought an anemone and then the bigger of the two decided to try and beat the smaller one to death. My son told me there wasnt much hope of getting them to pair, but I kept trying. I used a plastic cup with a lid (we got a betta in) and drilled holes all over and then put the little guy in. (I opened the cup daily to feed him and then put him back in)
She couldnt hurt him and after a few days, we let him out again....she started all over the chase and attack..... we did this several times and finally she and he made peace and she even shares the anemone a little once and a while.

We now call him Bubble Boy!

 

[1geo]

Photos

Photos

I'm not sure why my photos would not post so I'm trying again. The big girl is my 2.25 inch Ocellaris and the little guy is a 1.5 inch Percula from Doni's Reef, a class B Picasso. They have been together now for three weeks and the large Ocellaris is being less aggressive, mainly at feeding times. They now sleep together and spend much of the day together. I've notice if I keep a strong current going during the day they show much less aggression. Maybe it gives them an outlet for their energy.