Maroon or perc, that is the question?

[smstrick20]

I have always loved the look of white striped maroon clowns and am getting ready to set up my new 120 reef tank and really wanted to do a nice maroon pair this time around, however I keep seeing more and more negative stories from reefers about their overly aggressive nature. If I plan on keeping other fish including tangs and gobies in this tank am I better off going with another clown even if I introduce them all young and all together?

 

[Anemone]

Maroons are really only aggressive to other maroons... well, and your hand (after the maroon(s) are acclimated and when you are cleaning your tank). They don't really bother other fish, except clowns, unless those fish are getting too close to their anemone or home.

Kevin

 

[Costa reefing]

Maroons are really only aggressive to other maroons... well, and your hand (after the maroon(s) are acclimated and when you are cleaning your tank). They don't really bother other fish, except clowns, unless those fish are getting too close to their anemone or home.

Kevin

Their home could easily be half of the 120. And once they start spawning they will go totally psycho, just my opinion though.

 

[MrTuskfish]

IME, a grown female maroon will not tolerate any other clown in most tanks, except her mate. I have proven this myself, with a adult Fire Clown, another female Maroon, and a big female Tomato C.all being killed by an adult female Maroon. It took me a while to get it. I think this is a territorial, rather than an aggressive trait; the problem is that maroons will claim a big chunk of real estate as their territory. This is a good fish to introduce last, or start with two juvis and let them get just their fair chunk of territory before they reach sexual maturity and really get nasty or even use the timeout in the QT method when introducing new fish. I love these fish and have always had a pair or two somewhere. If you use your imagination, you can usually accommodate their territorial needs, unlike genuinely aggressive fish.

 

[Anemone]

Their home could easily be half of the 120. And once they start spawning they will go totally psycho, just my opinion though.

I've had a wide variety of fish with a couple of mated gold-band maroon clowns in a 65 gallon tank over the past 15 years or so, and I've never seen aggression against other fish (including dottybacks, gobies, sixline wrasses, tangs and yellow-tailed damsels). My hand, OTOH, has been bitten and bloodied any number of times when I've been doing maintenance in the tank. And yes, the female considers the entire tank hers.


FWIW,
Kevin

 

[MrTuskfish]

I've had a wide variety of fish with a couple of mated gold-band maroon clowns in a 65 gallon tank over the past 15 years or so, and I've never seen aggression against other fish (including dottybacks, gobies, sixline wrasses, tangs and yellow-tailed damsels). My hand, OTOH, has been bitten and bloodied any number of times when I've been doing maintenance in the tank. And yes, the female considers the entire tank hers.


FWIW,
Kevin

That's funny; but I think I've heard of more hobbyists being bloodied by Maroon Clowns than any other fish.
Your nudist camp signature reminds me; could a Plastic Surgeon make a pocket for a nudist? This would be a great opportunity, nobody seems to be able to go anywhere without a cell phone.

 

[Angel*Fish]

Ditto what Kevin said. The female maroon thinks the whole tank is hers, and she will see to it that about 30g is dedicated as her kingdom. You'd be amazed what kind of rock moving maroons are capapble of. They are really good at transplanting corals , too

 

[Kahuna]

I have a pair of mated GSB maroons that are being traded in to an LFS because the female was destructive. My female is +4" and my male is +3". I had no idea that the female could be such a little package of evil. She's killed one pavona, some mushrooms, some acros, and just worked over the rockscape to her own liking. As far as she's concerned, the tank is hers.

If you were closer, you could HAVE this pair for FREE. They are beautiful fish, not worth the headache.

 

[Anemone]

Ah, no one said anything about corals and rockwork. Yes, maroons have a definite, um, opinion, on other corals and rockscaping near their chosen home. You can only hope they have the same decorative worldview as you.

Kevin

 

[89Foxbody]

Percs in general seem to be model citizens, and are better looking than maroons IMO. I think the maroons are cute when they are small but their faces are ugly when they are bigger lol. I have a mated pair of Ocellaris in my reef tank and they keep to themselves, other than to occasionally chase my Strawberry Pseudochromis away when he comes close to their rock. They spend most of their time dancing together and huddling around my BTA and the rock its attached to, but they don't bother anything else at all.

 

[Anemone]

I think the maroons are cute when they are small but their faces are ugly when they are bigger lol.

<====== Hey now!!

:lol:

Kevin

 

[ocellaris123]

IME, a grown female maroon will not tolerate any other clown in most tanks, except her mate. I have proven this myself, with a adult Fire Clown, another female Maroon, and a big female Tomato C.all being killed by an adult female Maroon.

This is true about most clownfishes, not just maroons. A mature pair will generally not tolerate any other clowns in their territory so its no surprise she killed the other clownfish. I would go for maroons. I had a 55 gallon reef 8 years ago with a pair of white stripes in it, and she left pretty much all other fish alone. She was really protective of her mate and would lie on top of him when "sleeping" in her anemone. Currently I have a small pair of gms in a 15 gallon quarantine tank. Here is a picture of a past pair of GSM's I had

 

[Parrotfish100]

You'd be amazed what kind of rock moving maroons are capapble of. They are really good at transplanting corals , too

+100000 on that. I have a pair of Gold Bar Maroons. My female is 4" and the male is 1". You might have seen my post about the female completely flipping my new Oxypora 6 inches up through the water where it landed on my Open Brain because she didn't agree with the spot I put it. She also attacks solid rocks... flipped a 2 lb piece of live rock I have reserved for a chalice that I put too close to her nem.

I have a 120 like you are planning to do. My BTA luckily is on the far left hand side. She doesn't bother my Blue Spot Jawfish at all and I will be adding a tang here soon and seeing how they do.

She is curious with anything I put on the sand bed within 8 inches of her home but usually leaves it alone (I haven't tried the left corner of the tank yet).

When you aquascape try to envision exactly what you want where you want and see if the Maroons will put up with it. If you choose to have an anemone, hope and pray it stays where you put it. I got lucky with mine and it only moved 2 inches to the left, its been there now for months.

Maroons are a little more challenging (coral-wise) but completely worth it if you like them. I have never regretted my purchase once even though the female can be the spawn of Satan sometimes when it comes to corals:thumbsup:

Good luck!!


Heres an old pic of the turd :lol: (Excuse the algae, I took care of that very soon after )