I have had my Red Sea Max set up with fish for about a month now and bought 3 tiny Percula clowns for some of the first fish a month ago. Now they are growing and 2 are growing faster than the third and the two larger ones are "posturing" and shaking at each other quite often. I assume this is because the two are males and the little one is female. Now, do I need to remove one or can I get another one to solve the problem? Also, if I can get another how do I tell if it is a female?
Percula Clown?
- Thread starter Juice It
- Start date
Packersfan21
New member
No, the largest cloen is always the female and the smaller two would be males. i've heard that if there is going two be more than one clownfish in a tank of the sam species they should be kept in even numbers.
2OceanLovers
New member
You should never have more than 1 pair of clownfish per 100 gallons of water or so. Any more, the 2 that pair off will kill the straglers. The two that are getting bigger than the other one will be the male and female(biggest one being the female). The shaking that you are seeing is aggression toward the other. You need to remove the one that is getting picked on or you will lose it pretty quick.
The two larger ones are the ones messing with each other. They don't really bite each other, they do that shaking. Neither seems to be dominant as they both do it and all three stay together pretty much all the time. How can I tell which one needs to go? They both seem to hang with the smaller one the same. No chance of getting another to balance it out?
2OceanLovers
New member
Not in a tank that small imo. Keep a very close eye on the 3 you have now and wait till two of them start ganging up on the other one, then pull that one out. The two bigger ones are fighting over who will be the female right now. They will almost definitely be your pair.
cbr600rri
New member
Or....which doesn't happen frequently, all 3 will get along. Eventually, your 2 larger ones will become female/male and the 3rd one will just stay as a juvenile male. Since you got all 3 at the same time, your chances are better than if you bought 2, then introduced the 3rd one. But yea, keep an eye out on the 3rd one, just in case 
Good luck!
Good luck!
I agree with the previous post. My father has 3 Ocellaris Clowns in his 180 with a large BTA. They all go in the anenome and get along fine. The two larger ones have paired and lay eggs on a regular basis.
He has 3 because he had 1 originally and I moved across the country so he took my pair. They all got along from the start. Actually the 2 I had would never go in an anenome until they were added to his tank and saw his Clown in his anenome. HTH
He has 3 because he had 1 originally and I moved across the country so he took my pair. They all got along from the start. Actually the 2 I had would never go in an anenome until they were added to his tank and saw his Clown in his anenome. HTH
