Snowcasso Replacement Options

StillerNat

New member
I am sort of torn on what to do right now.
here is my blight. I bought a pair of Snow's from Doni in November 09 and recently one died. i dont know how or when, cause i didnt find a carcass. (my CUC is exceptional) Parameters are perfect, No ammonia, nitrates, nitrites. tested using salifert kits.
tank is jbj 24g hqi nano. other fish include, YWG randall shrimp, friedmani dotty, pygmy angel, blue coral banded shrimp, rbta. all fish are healthy and have no signs of anything wrong. last fish added was a month ago or later. no predators, like stars or mantis.

so, after that is out of the way here are my questions. how old are clowns when they become male/female? if 2 females or males are added will one be a male/female eventually? Since i have a very nice clown left that i estimate is about 7 - 8 months old here is 2 choices i can do to try and make a mated pair.
i have a person who would sell me their similarly aged snow to pair up with mine ( their clown died like mine and they have 1 left) . if they are around 8 months old, can they become a mated pair? or is it too late for them to change their sex?
my other choice is purchasing another clown from the breeder i got them from, and try to pair the new baby with my clown. which i am wary of this due to the fact its much smaller and dont want it to be picked on excessively.
or 3rd, i could try and sell my clown and get another small pair. i would hate to do this last step cause i wanted to see if they would mate and lay eggs eventually. and it would set me back 6 months or so to start over again

my main concern is getting the older clown only to have 2 females ( or males) duke it out in my tank. its not like they are a pair of $20 clowns to try it out with, this is a $200 fish. so i want to be absolute certain before i go diving into this. i was told that the clowns are born males and after about a year they are permanently sexed? true?
 
Unlike other fishes clownfish are born with no determined sex, meaning they can change sex. In a group of clownfishes the largest individual will become a female, the second largest clownfish will become a male. If you remove the female from the school the the current male will change to female and the next larger individual will become a male.
 
i would reccomend buying a juvi clown to add to the tank. because of the bsize difference there should be little fight over who would be the dominant female. if you add to fishes of the same size/age, there will be alot more fighting over who will become the dominant.
 
If they were both juv they may not be sexed just one is dominant. Throw in a smaller and you should be good.
 
so i guess i should get a juvi then? thats what i figured since it would be easier to have the newer one to sex itself second after the older one sexes first.
thanks everyone. i guess i will have to wait for Doni to sell some Snow's shortly.
 
Yes, get the juvi. When adding a clownfish to pair its always better to go with one smaller than the existing clown.
 
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