Maroon Clowns

[hrdneglcry]

Keeping Maroon Clownfish: It is said that all Maroon Clownfish start out life as males, and as they grow larger they will turn into females. It is also said that if you have two of them together, and if you can keep the peace, that the less dominant one will stay small, and a male, and that the dominant one will become a female, and grow to the full 6" size of Maroon Clowns. Anybody want to add anything to this?

 

[AJF]

you can't put 2 small marroons, cuz they will fight to death.
You have to buy a pair, or put one let it stay dominant and female, and then try to put a small one with a cage or something like that!

 

[hrdneglcry]

maroon Clown

maroon Clown

Right. either try having one full size female, and one tiny male, or buy a pair that is already in sync with each other.

 

[Toddrtrex]

When I bought my pair, about 3 years ago (I just recently sold them) they were both small juveniles, they were in different tanks at the LFS.
They were maybe about an inch in length. After a couple of months, one started growing (became the female) and the other (male) stayed the same size. When I sold them the female was about 3 times the size of the male. So if you get them small enough (before one has changed to female) you can put 2 small ones together.

Here is a picture right before I sold them, like I said they were both
the same size when I got them, you can see how much larger the female got.

 

[AJF]

Hi Todd, and when u've put them together in your tank did they fight?

 

[Toddrtrex]

Actually I don't think they did. It was awhile ago, so I could have forgetten. But if they did it wasn't anything major.
They were in a 29g by themselves. The BTA they had was rather large, at least a foot across.

 

[Safir]

my two juveniles fight, but not bad - one was dominant from day 1 and the fins on teh other are a little rough from time to time, but he never seems distressed.

after a few months I've seen him start to do the little submissive dance for her and they swim together from time to time. She has also started growing and is now noticably larger than he is.

I don't have an anemone for them at this time, fwiw.

 

[AJF]

yes.. pretty curious, i don't know yet how i am going to introduce marrons in my 60 gal... probably i am not going to find a couple!

 

[TOURKID]

well. i paired mine up a few weeks ago.... I also made a thread about the whole experience. should help u
dont get discouraged from what you read and hear. gotta try it.
here they are

and heres the thread

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=855632

 

[dantodd]

hrdneglcry,

Please read the FAQ on pairing clownfish in the FAQ thread at the top of this forum. http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=282136

It will answer most of your questions and it really represents the collected wisdom and experiences of the keepers here on Reefcentral.

 

[tsmitti99]

my gf and i waited nearly 3 months to have a pair come in to our lfs, but it was well worth it, they are gorgeous specimens, and i encourage anyone interested to wait it out and to just remain diligent, and they will eventually fall onto a pair. Matching random maroons on your own, imo, is not a reef friendly practice.

 

[TOURKID]

my lfs sells pairs... problem is... they arent actual pairs.....

when i got my juvi that i paired up, the lfs had recieved the HUGE anemone, 4 large maroons.. a couple mid sized and about 12 juvis....

the lfs had to put every single one in a different tank because they were fighting so bad. so the pairs were seperated and it would have took a fish phycic to tell whitch ones were pairs to begin with.

I never understood the buying pairs thing.

are there breeders that pair up fish just to make a couple and sell em off? the profit for this cant be worth it

 

[IslandCrow]

I've also read that you have to be careful even when buying maroons as a pair. The stress of shipping or even transporting them from the LFS can sometimes cause the female to take her displeasure out on her mate, so you may have to be ready to separate them when you get them in the tank if it gets too bad. I don't have any personal experience with this, so I don't know how common it is.

 

[hrdneglcry]

Tourkid

Tourkid

Maroon Clowns: I bought my first for $35 at 2". I bought my second for $15 at 3".
The first one was purchased a few weeks before the second one. I wanted these because they get so big, and they are mean. I am a Predator Keeper, and I gambled, and put the first Clown into my 120 gallon with 3 Niger Triggers, a Bluefin Damsel, and a Sail Fin Tang. I chickened out after a short while as the Trigger could severely hurt the Clown in an instant. I moved the Clown back to a 23. My second Clown was purchased, and put it into my 33 Ricordea tank. I dropped the little clown in with the big clown in the dark right before bed. The next morning the little clown was beaten badly. I put it into the 23 again, but it would not eat. I got worried as the tank was small. So I took a chance again, and put it in the 120 with the Triggers. This was two weeks ago. The little Clown is thriving in this tank. It fights for food. Anyway, I know that it is very dangerous, and I will not encourage others to follow my lead. But the little Clown is healing nicely (from the beating from the big Clown), and eats something at every feeding. My original plan was to put a pair in the 120 with the Triggers because of the Maroon Clowns' maximum size, and aggressive disposition. Anyway, I'd like to put the big Clown in there, but things are stable now. It is very possible that the big Maroon would attack the little Clown, and getting them separated might stress the whole tank. Time will tell. My Triggers do not see the Clown as a threat. I think two Maroon Clowns could make it in this tank, but I am not yet prepared to try it.

 

[TOURKID]

Ok... well.. Id work on getting the little guy into the same tank as the big girl. whatever tank u choose.. but id like to see them in a less violent tank they may be mean.. but there teeth just arent as big if u know what i mean. maybe start an anemone tank?

I guess after the babys first beating, Id have left it be... its a start of the whole dominance thing. The thread I gave u in my last post will show u what/how I did it.

basicly keep baby fish in a viewing container for a day or two or three while female gets used to it. EXPECT baby to get beat up and shunned... if baby decides to be submissive and back down (whitch they REALLY hate doing.. ) then you have a decent chance!! My baby dident have much fin left after the first day of beatings. He submitted after that (shimming, spine cheek kissing mostly) He was aloud in her anemone after the third day.

Follows her everywhere now

 

[55semireef]

pair of maroons

pair of maroons

Will a pair both host and defend an anemone? Or will only the female? Will maroons torment the all tank mates?

 

[ChunksInClemson]

Toddrtrex, How much did you sell them for? Were they a breeding pair? Those things are beautiful! I just got a BTA for my occ's today. There were 2 maroons in the anemone and I would have gotten them but they were like 120 bucks for the pair.

 

[AJF]

i am curious about the maroon pair with the other tankmates!

 

[hrdneglcry]

Tourkid

Tourkid

I am not going to be keeping Anemones because I do not have the proper lighing, and I do not have the equipment for the best filtration. The tank the big Clown is in is a Ricordia tank. Although I know how badly this can go with the little clown in the Trigger tank I do not think that there is going to be a problem. I was offered a mated pair of Maroon Clowns for $115. I think I'd really like to see a pair of Maroons living with my 3 Nigers. Not to breed, just for the beauty of it. So I might try to put the big one in at some point. Thank you for the good advice. I might take the little fella out, but I am afraid that he has already turned into a she.

 

[TOURKID]

how long have you had the smaller one by itself?? it takes quite a bit of time. I qt'ed for 4 weeks and the lfs had him for a week and a half. you have a 6 week window at LEAST. and thats just to turn into a male... then it takes a bunch more time to go from male to female

I donno about having other tank mates I havent had the time to find a good fish and qt it.. just 2 clowns right now.
I know that if ANYTHING gets to close to the anemone my female picks it up and spits it across the tank (snails and hermits mostly, but im sure any fish in there better stay away too)

and...

I havent seen my juvi/male defend the anemone much. a LITTLE bit... but nothing like the female. he'll dart at the tongs if they are close, but he doesent freak out. i figure he knows the females got it covered