Maroon clown vs. Percula school

[Kawaii]

We currently have a 29g reef with a maroon clown in it and he is kind of grumpy towards the other fish. We were looking at our LFS and they had a bunch of teeny tank-rasied perculas and we were thinking maybe we'd trade in our maroon for 3-5 of the teeny perculas. What is everyone's opinion on this matter and if we do get some perculas, how many do you suggest? Will they stick together in a school?

 

[ste6168]

i dont think percs are schooler's but i am not 100% sure on that, anyway i think if you get more than 2 in a 29g then 2 will become dominant and kill or harass the rest. someone else chime in here though please...

 

[Blown 346]

Perc's wont necassarily stick together, I have 3 and they go where they want. Also I have found having them in odd numbers works best. If in even groups they can tend to fight, I had to break up my 4 to 3 for that reason and now there is peace betwen them.

 

[Kawaii]

So what kind would be good to school together? We were considering the Perculas because the ones they have are really small, probably about an inch or less.

 

[ste6168]

hmm... that is the opposite of what i have always heard, i thought that if you have 3 in to small of a tank they will pick on one of them until they kill it, i personally know a few people this has happened to in a 75g, 40gl, and a 40gb. Ill have too look up on it though.

 

[unmc2001]

I would just keep your maroon clown. I have two tanks, in one I have a false percula and the other I have a gold stripe maroon and I can say that my maroon has a better personality than my false percula. As long as you are careful about tankmates I think maroons do well. I have mine with a Bicolor Angel and a neon damsel.

 

[Kawaii]

Well he's currently attached to a plate coral we have and whenever another fish swims by him he chases them away. Is that normal or bad behvaior?

 

[TippyToeX]

It's normal for a lone maroon (heck a pair even) to be highly aggressive fish. FWIW, if your maroon has been on her own for some time now, he is really a she.

Don't get the tiny percuals. They are just immature juveniles. Once they mature it will be WWIII between them. There are rare exceptions but the odds are really against you.

 

[Ann1214]

If you want a school of fish - (& mind you I am new to this), I have a school of chromis and they are great to watch traveling around my 90 gallon as a school.

 

[Jon Evans]

I had a mated pair of percs. however, one disappeared and the other one has taken to a torch coral as a host. It is a cool fish, but the marroon has a better chance of survival if you add any other aggressive fish. You want a fish that is either too stupid to care like a chromis, or one that will not be too afraid to eat and die when there is an aggressive fish around. I just lost a royal gramma because the yellow tang that I have scared it to death. Literally.

 

[Shoestring Reefer]

Juvenile perculia clowns will school but, like others have said, they don't when they are bigger.

 

[Kawaii]

Thanks for the info everyone. I guess I'll keep my maroon clown. We've had him/her since April 2005 and grown pretty attached to him, we just didn't want to keep him if he was causing the other fish to be stressed. His name was Todd, but maybe now she should call him Toddina? lol

 

[Lakeside518]

Try Ocellaris clowns. They stay small in size and pair off. Best kept in pairs.