trying to pair maroon clown

[waelaase]

hello,
the story started 6 months ago, i saw 2 maroon clowns in my lfs and they were alone in the same aquarium, they were both about 6-8 cms
i got them and after 3 days started fighting and one killed the other
the one remain stayed in my aquarium for 2 months, and i asked my LFS to get me 2 small maroon to try to pair mine
lfs got me 2 almost the same size of mine
i put them in the aquarium hoping to have a pair, but one killed in the same day and the other lost it's tail and i could bring it out and put in breeding net
i put the breeding net in the same aquarium and my old one keep attack the net
i tried to introduce it weekly for 3 times and always the old one try to kill the new one
so i give up and put it back in the breeding net and decided to take it back to my LFS to prevent a new death
i was busy for a week and suddenly i did not find the new clown in the breeding net, so i thought it jumped and killed
one day, while feeding fish, i saw the new clown hiding and it came to get food and hide again
the old one try to attack it but the new one shack her body and the old one leave it
this action keep happening for 2-3 weeks and then they both are out and not fighting
they are now together for 2 months with no fight but they dont sleep in the same spot (near but not the same)
the strange thing i saw today was that the new one start to be bigger than old one (so it seems they new one is converting to be female)
could the new one be female and the old one is the male?
could i have 2 females in the same aquarium without fights?
my aquarium is an L shape 400 liter
i'll try to take and submit photos this weekend

 

[Winwood]

My guess is your original never converted to female. I've seen this happen a few times. The fighting probably stemmed from all of your fish being males. Your new fish is probably converting to female now.

 

[Dbax4225]

I've heard maroons are very aggressive. The most aggressive clowns, so there has to be a very obvious size difference for them to pair if there even close to the same size they will fight to the death to establish dominance and there rolls. I would try adding one a lot smaller. That might help...

 

[seamonkey84]

If both are female, one will end up killing the other. Keep your eye on their behavior, see if either is making a submissive dance, and keep them well fed (better with smaller meals two or three times a day than one big one).

 

[waelaase]

Hello,
thank you all for the replies,
i dont see any fights any more, and they sometimes sleep in the same spot but not hanging together in the morning, they are like that for the last 2-3 months
i'll keep an eye on them in case any fights
here is the photo of the old one (she is red)

here is the photo of the new one (she is more brown)