Maroon Woes- Need Advice.

[Kgoarmy17]

A few weeks ago I lost my female maroon clown(goldstripe), who was close to five inches long. So took a hardwood floor dive out the backside of my tank.

My male is close to three inches.

My husband and I decided we wanted to get him another female becuase he seems so lonely. We went to five different LFS's to find one. We didn't. However, we did find a 1 1/2" maroon. Tiny in comparision to our current male.

We thought maybe after they have do alittle dancing, the current male might change after he has etablished dominance over the smaller clown.

We weren't sure whether the male would take the newcomer or not. After QT, we put the newcomer in a bag to float him and see how the male would react to him. NO problems, came up to the bag said hello went back to his anemone. "Ok were good, ... i think..." said my husband.

As soon as the clown hit the water the male was on him/her. They were fine for the first few minutes. The male went back to his anemone, the newcomer came close, I doubt he ever saw an anemone before. Once the newcomer started mouthing the anemone, the aggression started.

They did the little push dance, swimming cirlces around the other. Finally the nipping starting and the male established dominance. It didn't end there though. The smaller one was being chased at and picked on by a lawnmower blenny, a YWG, and when he got close to the anemone the male would usher him to a corner and keep him there.

So, my husband removed the newcomer and put him into the refugium. He seems to like the cheato.

Any idea's or suggestions on how to get them together?

 

[dantodd]

Probably pulled the juvie out too soon. There is a good FAQ on pairing clownfish in the FAQ thread at the top of this forum.

Some have had luck with an in-tank specimen container.

 

[Kgoarmy17]

We are going to get a fish breeder box which is clear and attempt to place the newcomer close to the anenome(current terriorty of male clown.) We will update when possible.

 

[TOURKID]

you should have better luck with the breeder box. but even when you take it out prepare yourself that the juvi will STILL get beat up. inevitable. My female was very mean to my juvi for about a day. were talking EVERY fin torn and bitten. 2 days later they were shareing the anemone.

I did the clear box by the nem method as well. My female tore her lip up pretty bad trying to attack it. the juvi couldent care less. like he knew he was safe. well, the next morning he escaped the box. (earlier than i would have let him) and got chased until the lights went out. the next day wasent as bad. but she was still darting him. but he was relentless in getting into that nem. she fibnally gave up

 

[Kgoarmy17]

Yes my juvi is pretty tore up already Will post some shots of both once I upload pics.

My current Male Maroon.

This is the Juvi who is in the hang on Refugium. Sorry for the poor quality photo.

You can see he has already taken some damage on the back fins.

 

[TOURKID]

they heal overnight practically. def give it another go

heres the box

heres mine after battle

a lil before 2 days later

heres a pic of themn months later

 

[dantodd]

Nice to see you chime in Maggie.

 

[Ryanqk]

Nothing wrong with keeping a solitary female right? I have one (my avatar) since last december shes about 2 inches now, very docile to all the other fish. I have the "Nemo" variety in my nano tank, a male and female but she still wont let the male anywhere near the anenome even after being together for about 2 months now...

 

[TOURKID]

dan I havent ben on as much as I want to lately! Decided to make a few halloween costumes... once I started carving foam with turkey cutters and glueing my hands together with glue guns I realised I was in for the long haul! lol

ryanqk.. course its ok to have a solitare fish

I was nervous to add ANY fish after what I saw it do to the juvi and it biting me all the time.
I finally added that tang.
The tang kept swimming up to the bta, i thought for sure there was going to be a war. nope...
My clowns swim WITH the tang all over the tank. first time they left the nem since i got it.

beautiful stuff

 

[dantodd]

Sweet. We are going cameron's wheelchair up as a hunny pot and he'll be pooh!

 

[TOURKID]

that'll be a cute costiume!

My neighbor did an awsome wheelchair costume last year. He was a jack in the box. the box went over the wheelchair and his head and then they made a slinky neck and i donno.. it was sweet!!

Im going to be a grateful dead bear I started looking up mascot costumes and after seeing the 1500. price tag i figured.. i can do that.. lol Having a blast. we bought electroluminecence string to make lightning bolts on the tummys!

 

[dantodd]

Sweet! Cameron was a Jack in the Box in 2004. Last year he was a police officer in a cop car. The same jurisdiction his grand-dad worked.

 

[TOURKID]

lmao the cop one had to be great! sweet!

 

[dantodd]

Kgoarmy,

Sorry we completely de-railed your thread. How's the little guy doing now?

 

[bman2221]

I had the same thing happen to my maroons and I couldn't get the male to take to any others. He actually almost killed two others that I bought trying to get them to pair up. The two I ended up buying became a pair but the one ended up being a loner in a different tank until I sold him.

 

[lazluvtoo]

How can you tell a female maroon from a male maroon?

 

[dantodd]

All clownfish are born asexual hermaphroditic, meaning they are neither sex but have the equipment for both.

They progress from sexless to male to female. The change is based on the social environment in which they live and their age. They must be adult to become sexed. The dominant fish will become female, the next most dominany will be the male and the other fish living in the group will remain sexless juveniles for a long time. If/when the become male they must either chase off the existing male or find a new home. If the female is killed or chased away the male will become female and the dominant juvie will become male.

In an environment where a fish is alone for an extended period they will become female.

Hope that helps.

 

[tgfrench]

I have had a RBTA for over a year and a false perc. The perc wouldn't go into the rbta to save its life. I saw a really cute white strip marron and put it in the tank. It went directly into the rbta and stayed there till about 2 months later when the false decieded the white strip was having too much fun and decieded it want to have some fun and chased the maroon off to the corner. This continued for over a month. Every night the maroon would sneak over to the rbta and sleep just at the fringe. Now both are swimming happily in the rbta.

 

[lazluvtoo]

Yes! That helps quite a bit! I guess my maroon clown is a female since she has lived alone in the tank since the beginning of its exhistence 9 years ago! Thanks so much for clearing that up for me.

LL2