Maroon clown sexing

[fishy888]

I have two Maroons that were introduced within 3 days of each other. Last night I introduced the smaller of the two (2 inches from mouth to tail). There was of course a fight which I expected. After almost an hour of fighting and submitting, back to fighting and submitting again, the two slept on opposite ends. Today they have passed each other a few times that I saw and other than the dominant one chasing the submissive one there was no fighting. I have read that if the fish is two inches it is probably a female already. If so is it possible for two females to be in a 120 and not bicker? That is, assuming the smaller one is a female. I would think if both were female that they would have fought to the death already. Please let me know your thoughts on this.

 

[fishy888]

Well 24 hours later both fish seem to have their own corners of the tank. The smaller clown seems afrais to move from the spot it is in even when food enters the tank though the larger one has no problem going after food no matter where it is in the tank. Both ate however the bigger one ate much more than the smaller one. Am I wrong to assume that either one or both must be male? Wouldn't two females have fought to death already?

 

[Exoristos]

The have a weird behavior. If they did not kill each other yet I would say wait and see how it plays out. Mine had same issues which lasted about a week and now they are ok.

 

[fishy888]

Thank you Exoristos. Did yours turn out to be a male and female? The one I think is male has some pretty tattered fins but looks ok otherwise. The larger fish looks pretty much unscathed.

 

[fishy888]

I fed the tank a whole cocktail shrimp, in pieces of course. The female is eating quite well. The male is still hanging in the corner mostly. At one point this morning the female came within 6 to 8 inches of the male, glanced at him and went back to her corner. No fighting or even chasing in almost 36 hours. I am feeling a lot better about things.

 

[CNiNi]

God please make this sound easier...I have a maroon I plan to try and pair soon and I have only really heard horror stories about these fish. My current maroon is agressive towards anything that comes near "her rock" my goby etc.... I hope to see this working for you, because I was told along those lines to just put a smaller one in with a bigger one and they would " lucky pair".

 

[altolamprologus]

Maroon clowns are notoriously difficult to pair. Even the easiest option of letting two juvis grow up together doesn't work too well. They're just too darn agressive. Your best chance at getting a maroon pair is to just shell out the cash to buy an established pair. The small one very likely is a male, but that doesn't mean the female will ever accept him.