platinum percs pair staying on opposite sides of the tank?

organism

organism

code monkey
I hate to be asking such a noob question but it's the first time having this issue. I've had a Sustainable Aquatics platinum clownfish for nearly a year now, she (I'm guessing) is about 1.5" long and hosts in a frogspawn. A week and a half ago I introduced a 1" ORA platinum and they swam together for about 15 minutes, after that the female decided he was a bit close to the frogspawn and she's been fighting ever since.

The ORA one now sticks to the opposite side of the tank, hidden behind the overflow out of view of the other one. During the day it'll come out for food and swim around the half of the tank opposite the female, but once it gets too close she'll chase him off. Sometimes she'll just chase him back into the corner of the tank even if he's pretty far away. She does stop her attacks a bit short now and he turns sideways (no jittering thingy), sometimes when she turns around after charging him he'll rub his nose against her tail, not sure what that means.

I've never had an issue pairing clowns before, even with one established in the tank for a while, so I'm not sure what to do to get them to try and spend a little more time at least within eyesight of each other. They're currently in a 34 gallon, I'm debating putting them in the 11 gallon I just took down so they can get used to each other in a smaller area. The ORA one came from an LFS community tank with 3 others in there, it was the smallest of the bunch, hope this helps...
 
I would just be patient and see what happens.. As long as the female isnt completely shredding the fins of the male you should be fine.

Moving them into a smaller tank may only stress them more, let time take its course. They will pair up.
 
Im curious how it goes.. You would think 34g tank would be small enough for them to have to pair, but who knows 11g might do the trick.
 
i hade my platiums for over a year now in a 30gal and they do the same thing stay on diffrent sides they have not paired up yet and there both ORA
 
i think if you do put them in a smaller tank you should put them in a little biger then a 11 gallon.
 
deangelr said:
Im curious how it goes.. You would think 34g tank would be small enough for them to have to pair, but who knows 11g might do the trick.
Click to expand...

A lot of LFS and wholesalers use the tiny tank method to get new fish to pair up, so I'm thinking it could work. At least they'll have to interact more which should help a bit, either way it should be entertaining.

trueblackpercula said:
Take out the frog spawn and see what happens. Also how close are they in size? They could both be females?
Click to expand...

They're about .5" apart in size and the new one was the smallest one in the community tank so he's most likely male. The female lives in the frogspawn, a hammer and a rock of xenia, so taking all the things she might host out of the tank would overfill the 11 gallon :)
 
<2'' is small, and likely unsexed anyway. Let us know how goes. or better yet take a video and show.. :)
 
Better yet, let me say this... I have a pair of platinums that I got 2+ years ago and I have no idea which one is male or female.. It is so strange. The one I thought was the male the whole time I am now thinking might be the female.. They are basically the exact same size.. One is little longer, the other a little fatter.
 
I wouldn't take them out. It can take a while for them to match up. Maybe move some things around in there. Move the frogspawn over toward the end that the new one hangs out in. My perculas (not platinum, unfortunately) hooked up in about three weeks.
 
deangelr said:
Better yet, let me say this... I have a pair of platinums that I got 2+ years ago and I have no idea which one is male or female.. It is so strange. The one I thought was the male the whole time I am now thinking might be the female.. They are basically the exact same size.. One is little longer, the other a little fatter.
Click to expand...

Interesting, but they hang out all the time? Never heard of clownfish doing that...

Dryfish said:
i think if you do put them in a smaller tank you should put them in a little biger then a 11 gallon.
Click to expand...

The female lived in the 11 gallon for over a year, she stays in basically the same 6" of the 30 gallon, and even in the wild clownfish don't venture too far out of their area. As far as tank size they'll be more than fine in an 11 gallon, short or long term.
 
Alright, check it out..

<iframe width="560" height="349" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/wAxYfCCEToU" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

When I got the pair the one with the black dorsal fin was clearly larger. Over the past year or so though the smaller one (used to have a blacker face until my H. Mag cleaned it all off) has caught up in size. The smaller one (no dark black in dorsal fin) is a little more aggressive and definitely a little fatter.
 
Wow, that's really weird for 2 year old fish, they do look great though! Can't even figure which one should be the female... About what size are those?
 
It is a 4'' clay pot for reference.. They are both around 2.5'' I think... I have no idea which is male or female.

I though they were going to spawn forever ago, they both used to spend significant time cleaning rocks and such. I have been frustrated for about a year with no spawning. I have since had to move them and they are plumbed into a system that is pretty chilly (around 74-76)... I don't think they will spawn anytime soon.
 
I suggest splitting them up and pairing them with smaller clowns... Sometime the two clowns you want to breed won't for some reason or another... Time to revamp
 
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