Maroon Clown Mating Question

[dedvalson]

Hi all,

I have an adult Gold Stripe Maroon clown in my tank living in a Condylactis Anemone. A few days ago I came across a small juvenile Gold Strip Maroon and thought I would make an attempt at pairing them. I put the juvenile in a critter keeper and placed it near the anemone. The adult showed minor interest and then went away. After a couple of days, I released the juvenile into the tank. The adult female was only slightly agressive towards the juvenile and they pretty quickly settled down to ignoring each other from opposite ends of the tank.

Now (4 days later), the female is seriously courting the little juvenile. She keeps swimming over next to him in a totally non-agressive way. Prior to introducing the small clown, the female would never leave her anemone except very briefly to feed. Now she is following the little juvenile around and they almost look like they are a pair except that the little clown is pretty much ignoring the big one. The juvenile is now hanging out and sleeping in a small cave in the live rock about 4 inches from the anemone.

The female is going back and forth between her home in the anemone and his home the live rock. It is like she is trying to entice him to join her in the anemone, but he is mostly just ignoring her.

I am probably just being impatient, but is this pretty much normal behavior? Can I expect the juvenile to join the female in the anemone at some point? How long does this generally take?

Thanks,

Don

 

[jake levi]

Behavior

Behavior

Better then average by far, as the little one settles in more I think that you will have a pair. Its day by day for now.

 

[Higgy2010]

That's great! I tried to pair tomato clowns before, but didn't succeed. The one was way too aggressive towards the other. I currently have a pair of maroon gold stripe clowns. They never leave their haddoni carpet home.
Good luck!

 

[vessxpress1]

When I released my male maroon juvie into the tank, he was in the anemone with the female in a matter of hours. They ended up laying large batches of eggs on the back glass about once a week. That was my one and only experience and I might have just been lucky.

I think your male maroon will come around eventually. There's nothing more you could have done. At least you protected him at first.

 

[zeeter]

I tried to introduce mine the same way, but the container I used didn't work so I did it the old fashioned way and just stood there with a net, ready to extract one of them if needed. After about three death rolls by the juvi she accepted him and they've been inseparable ever since. They used to hang in a sebae anemone but since it died the female swims around more but the juvi still hides. I don't think he turned male yet.

Male maroons have the greatest life. Just submit to the female a couple of times upon meeting and, assuming she doesn't kill him, his life is set. She'll protect him at all costs. All he has to do is fertilize eggs, eat, and aerate eggs. Man...I wish I was a gold striped maroon male.

 

[dedvalson]

Still watching and waiting. The Female keeps swimming over to the juvenile and they almost play together, but then the Female swims off and the little one stays behind in the rocks.

She is still coaxing him I guess.

Don

 

[jsbzmcdaniel]

Maybe a drink or two and he will come around .......lol

Sent from my HTC EVO using Tapatalk.

 

[davocean]

I'd say the most difficult part of pairing is behind you, and I'd expect them to become more of a pair fairly soon.