Should i get a Maroon Clownfish?

[aleok]

Setup:
112 gallon display(48"x30"x18"), 30 gallon sump/refugium.
120lb 3 month old live rock
2, 800gph powerheads
Reef Octopus Diablo XS 250 Skimmer

Livestock:
Kole Tang
Flame Angel
Coral Beauty Angel
Four Line Wrasse
Mated pair for percula clowns
4 Blue/Green Chromis
Some soft corals

I have a empty cycled 33 gallon long (48"x12"x12") gonna keep it fish only, I was thinking about taking the coral beauty and two perculas and put them in there and in the big tank add a maroon or two and possibly a small yellow tang. I don't mind selling it when it gets too big. or something else? or maybe the maroons in the 33 with the coral beauty?

Anyone have any input or advise on this? Thanks!

 

[b0bab0ey]

Please don't do this. Especially to your mated pair of percs. :uhoh3:

 

[aleok]

please don't do what exactly?

 

[jaa1456]

I believe he thinks the maroons will be in the same tank as the Percs. I would just put the maroons in the 33 and maybe something that can hold its own with them. This might not work well though if the maroons become a pair and spawn they might try to kill off other tank mates.

 

[MrTuskfish]

Assuming you plan on keeping the clowns together, I can't really tell from your post. Clownfish 101.
Never mix species of clowns and, once they reach sexual maturity and form bonded pairs, never keep more than one pair (of one species) in the same tank. Mated clowns may be the most territorial fish we keep. A single maroon will almost always become a big female. She will destroy the Percs when she matures. This is not an exaggeration. Clowns you see at a LFS are usually juvis and can be kept in big herds. This is not the case with adults.

 

[rssjsb]

I think he's planning to put the maroons in his larger tank after moving the percs to the 33. If that's the case, you won't have the multiple clown issue. Be aware, however, that maroons get big (5 or 6") and can easily claim all the real estate in a 4 foot tank, which would be bad news for your other fish.

They're really pretty fish, but you have to respect their needs and their natural proclivities.

 

[b0bab0ey]

I have a pair of Maroons in my 150, and I can tell you the only reason they're still there is because of my wife. I'm lucky in a sense because the large female doesn't seem to mess with any of my other fish. But she'll attack my hand anytime I'm in there, is always throwing sand everywhere with her tail and will knock over any coral frag that's too close to her anemone. The 1/3 of the tank that she's staked out as her "territory" is all crap corals (GSP, Xenia, etc.) just to accommodate her.

Wife even set a picture of the damn thing as my avatar! :mad2:

 

[msn711]

Personally, I love maroon clowns, but they are extremely aggressive. If I were you, I'd set the 33 up for the maroon, especially if you get lucky enough to find a mated pair. Let the tank get established and eventually get a BTA and you'll have a gorgeous nano/species only type of tank.

 

[MrTuskfish]

Personally, I love maroon clowns, but they are extremely aggressive. If I were you, I'd set the 33 up for the maroon, especially if you get lucky enough to find a mated pair. Let the tank get established and eventually get a BTA and you'll have a gorgeous nano/species only type of tank.

+1 I love Maroons too. Well worth a species tank, as long as its large enough; a 33 would be great. My son keeps a pair and a BTA in a 29 at school. Nobody calls him a "fish-geek"; at least not more than once.

 

[runintoluck]

I think large female maroons are beautiful, especially gold bars. As many have mentioned before, they are terrors and won't be afraid to defend what they think is their territory. In my friend's tank, his large maculosus angel is terrified of the 6 inch clown. That should put you in perspective how feisty females can get.

 

[DDRR]

I had a Maroon Clown once. It was very aggressive, It would jump out of the water and smack me in the head when doing maintenance over the tank. Cool looking fish but the meanest little sucker.

 

[Davckowski]

I will second this maroon clowns are beautiful but can be hard to keep a large female with a community. Not sure about a pair. I had one in a 50 gal mushroom tank with a yellow tang and they were the only 2 in there for at least 3 years I tried twice to add new fish but the maroon would immediatly attack. Ended up taking her to the lfs so i could get a couple more fish in there

 

[aleok]

Thanks for all the words of wisdom. I like the idea of having the 33 as a species tank for a pair of maroons. My LFS always separates the maroons that they get in. So is the only thing i can judge two of them turning into a mated pair is by there size? Should they be the same size? different size? under 2"? under 1"?

 

[haynesw]

+1 with MrTuskfish's comments above.

 

[srf11]

Had a maroon that was entrenched in the reef tank that another collector needed to part with due to a move.

Set it up at my house and started to do some needed equip adds. The maroon would bite me when I tried to adjust or fix the smallest thing. Finally got to the point where he would draw blood and leave bite marks on my arms.

Of course, the fish trap took a week and a half - every other mate checked it out a few times. Finally got him out and traded him in at the LFS.

Will never get a maroon "bachelor" again - the pair I owned earlier were a treasure - constantly laid egg carpets, and then there was HIM.

 

[srf11]

Thanks for all the words of wisdom. I like the idea of having the 33 as a species tank for a pair of maroons. My LFS always separates the maroons that they get in. So is the only thing i can judge two of them turning into a mated pair is by there size? Should they be the same size? different size? under 2"? under 1"?

Somebody please correct me if I'm wrong, but get them different sizes and put them in the same tank at your LFS to make sure they are compatible.

From what I remember they're anamorphic and the larger one will be the female. That's what happened in my case. The smaller male protected the eggs like a hawk whenever they had a brood.

 

[Reefcrazy85]

I used to have a beautiful pair but they had to go... They were super aggressive and kicked sand up all over my tank constantly!

 

[CedzAquAddictio]

I've had my maroon pair for a couple of years now. Yes, they are aggressive, but only to anything that goes close to the RBTA that hosts them. They literally won't stray more than 10inches from the RBTA. They don't bother any new fish more than once (they teach the new fish not to come near the RBTA), and new fish avoid the clowns by avoiding the RBTA. The clowns are the last of my worries when adding new fish.

Yes, they attack me when I have my arm in the tank, but I rarely have my arms in the tank...

The only thing that constantly gets attacked is my mag-float...

 

[Monkey_Tang]

I have a single maroon about 4.5" and I'm shocked after reading all these horror stories. My clown is very timid. Doesn't bother anything in the tank, sometimes it gets a quick chase from a lunar wrasse but it just darts away and acts like nothing ever happened. My tank is 125g with a naso tang, yellow tang, lunar wrasse, and a small black and white damsel. I don't have an anemone for it so maybe that's why its so timid? but so far its a model citizen I'd say, it even seemed to start being buddies with the naso tang I recently added.

 

[Reefcrazy85]

Try adding a male maroon clown in there Monkey Tang and you'll most likely see it die rather quickly. I had this great idea that I could pair my maroon by introducing a small male. I placed the smaller male in a specimen container for a few days in hopes that the female would get used to seeing the male in the 180. After feeling like the female had calmed down enough to release the male into the tank was when the blood bath began. The poor male died with in 5 min of me introducing him. I was doing the best I could to get him out of the tank but by that time the female had taken his entire tail off and done a number on all other fins. This may not happen in all cases but if it were my tank I wouldn't take the risk.