Mixing clownfish 33day with 19day?

[Tahoe Reefer]

I have 2 baby A. Ocellaris hatches that have made it through meta. The first hatch I was only able to collect 6 larvae, 3 made it through meta. I decided 3 wouldn't give me enough morph options for the fish I wanted so I caught another hatch 2 weeks later. The second hatch I caught about 130 larvae using the Vossen trap, at least 90 made meta. I have 2 larval 5g tanks running and would like to cut my work load down to one tank by combining the 2 hatches. The actual grow out tank, a 40g breeder, won't be ready for 2 weeks.

 

[shifty51008]

I would not mix the 2 batches, it usually ends up bad for the younger clowns

 

[Dkuhlmann]

You don't think so even with that ratio of 90:3? I would think the 3 would get lost in there.

 

[shifty51008]

I was always told to keep them sperate unless they are a day or 2 apart. So thats just what i go by. I guess i have never tried it so cant say from my personal experiance.

 

[Tahoe Reefer]

The largest of the clowns from the first batch of 3 is easily twice the size of any fish from the second batch. It could do some serious damage if it decided to. Im going to put them all in a 10g with a cheap plastic divider and let them see each other for now. The first batch doesnt behave like large numbers of juvenile clowns, they dont swim together in a ball. Each of the 3 has a corner and there is a definite pecking order.

 

[D-Nak]

This is going to sound terrible, but I'd just cull the 3 -- not worth the potential trouble for only 3 babies.

 

[shifty51008]

Sell them to a lfs or for store credit.

 

[Tahoe Reefer]

I found a couple of lines in Joyce Wilkerson's book about mixing clown hatches. It mentions a scapegoat and a police fish both being moved to other hatches. The scapegoat in with younger clowns and the police fish going in with older clowns. Pages 215 n 217. In both cases she states they often thrive, if not into a solo basket they go.

I went ahead with the cheap divider in a 10g tank. It took some silicone to close some small gaps and to keep the divider in place. Once the move went down two of the fish from the first batch really started going at it so I put the little one getting picked on in with the second batch of clowns. At first it stayed to itself but soon joined the others at the surface to eat. It was being very defensive if other clowns touched it but not facing off nose to nose to fight. Lights went out a few hours early. The big move and new tankmates was probably very stressful. This morning all is well. The new addition was swiming and feeding along with everyone peacefully... for now.