my new maroon is being attacked by my larger maroon

[yamaha racer]

i have a big (3-4) maroon clown and i wanted to get a mate so i got a smaller 1 so they would pair up but as soon as i put my new 1 in the tank he went strait for the anenome and my big clown attacked it and eveytime he gets near it he gets attacked. will they work it out or should i get rid of him?

 

[Jakaru]

well it depends on the harshness of the attacks. The new clown you got was it the only one in the tank or the biggest one in a group. It's possible that you just put two females in together in which case you should get rid of one. Otherwise, the female asserting dominance is normal and may take a good while for her to allow the other clown near her "nem".

If you fear for one of their lives I would suggest to take one of them out.

 

[BonsaiNut]

Yamaha Racer - check out the FAQ's at the top of this thread and do a search on maroon clowns. There has been a lot of discussion on this topic. Bottom line - maroons can be very aggressive, and introducing a male to a female is very dicey and must be taken slowly. Females can kills males if you aren't careful. They can even kill them if you ARE careful.

 

[TOURKID]

How small is small?
Was the small fish with other maroons or by itself?
When the large maroon attacks, does the small fish fight back?
Or does it hide, or shimmy?

I introduced my smaller juvi carefully. By putting it in a specimin container with holes and putting it bu my females anemone for 1 1/2 days.
My female attacked the container very badly, but my juvi was safe.

After it escaped (yeah, shotty lid) My juvi had all its fins bittin, and was chased about 1 whole day. After that it submitted everytime it was chased and she would stop short of biting it.

If your pretty sure the new fish you added isent a female. just let things play out. the biggest mistake people make is getting scared of what they are seeing and pulling the fish prematurely

dont pull out the new fish unless your really sure its going to die without your intervention. if the new one fights back and shows no sign of submitting, take it back and hold off until you can find a baby

 

[GSMguy]

you should have read about this if that fish dies its on you

 

[TOURKID]

A lil help might be a better approach. an lfs lied to me when i first got a 'pair' of maroons. I had to return one of them after it was almost beaten to death. I qt'ed it let it completely heal then took it back. I waited over 6 months to finally find a juvi maroon after that. My approach to the whole thing was wrong. found reef central shortly after that. what a help everyone was

 

[GSMguy]

i paired mine as a beginner with not one nip of the male otherwise you might as well just put to siamese fighting fish in the same bowl
this is what i did put the smaller male in a specimin container with holes drilled in it and put that close to the larger female leave the male in there for two days then swithch them put the female in the container for a day when you let them out if they are going to pair the male will shimmy and vibrate if he does this the femal should leave him alone if he does not shimmy he is allready a female or thinks he is take him out and go find a smaller one you could tyr the specimin container one time but she should not be hurting him if she grabs his fin and drags him this is bad she should really only mouth him all this help is im sure in vein as the poster hasnt even replied i bet the fish was murdered allready

 

[TOURKID]

could be at work. besides, maroons are the 'hardest' to pair. in the book 'clownfishes' wilkerson says to dont even try it!

your approach is an oddity and is usually the other way around. your pair has only been together for a month or so right?

pairing can b difficult. With my first attempt i did the same thing as you, taking the female and putting it a speggetti strainer that floated near the top. it dident work

 

[GSMguy]

my pair is new i get that they are hard but i think my method really works i wish i had another clown to test it on

 

[TOURKID]

i tried your method, and it dudent work for me. but i do question if they were both females.