what are the chances....

[Ron Popeil]

currently i have a delightful pair of a. nigripes in a 60 gallon cube. they inhabit two large heteractis magnifica anemones and i almost never see them. they are the shyest fish ive ever owned. when i replaced my 120 gallon with my 60 gallon, i removed nearly all of the fish in their tank, thinking that the lack of food competitors would decrease their shyness and increase chances for spawning.

so far neither objective has occurred. theyre still super shy. theyre still not spawning.

i started thinking then about trying to create a colony of nigripes. a family group of 5 fish. the dominant male and female and three little juveniles. just like in pictures.

now i know this in general is never recommended, but i would like to hear some thoughts on something like this, especially folks who have bred them like ahbrody and...dan (havent you bred these?) are little units possible? or would the alleged super aggressiveness of the nigripes species be devastating to three newly added juveniles in a tank with no other fish and two nearly 16 inch anemones?

tell me just how crazy i am at even considering this...

 

[traveller7]

Mine are front and center of the 300g and breeding like clockwork but the behavior of the female changed when the male was introduced. Prior to the introduction, she was defense but did not wander far from home.

Breeding mode kicked in, she(and he) cruise the whole tank at feeding time. There are 2 large triggers, a tusk, a cbb, and some other fish in this tank.

IMHO: you need a few dither type fish out there, like chromis, anthias, etc. to singnal the clowns it is safe.

fwiw: you can try a colony which would be cool, but I would worry about disease introduction and them not getting along. There are a few local that just don't play nice and they are 1/3 the size of mine.

 

[Flighty]

I would try adding 10 tiny chromis. They might end up being anemone food over time, but I always see a dramatic difference in the behaviour of my other fish when I have a school of them swimming out in the open.

 

[Flighty]

LOL, I just looked at your tank pics. I guess you are familiar with chromis already

 

[Ron Popeil]

hey scott, thanks for chiming in. i removed the dither fish initially because i had read somewhere that food competition may inhibit breeding. but really, even in my 120 gallon, when they had lots of other fish with them and their magnificas, they rarely ever were seen. im thinking ill go with a small school of dispar anthias in this tank....

as for adding more nigripes to the tank, i think it would very cool as well, and i think it could work if i could get my hands on some really young fish, but i too worry about aggression even with three or so more fish to spread it out between. i think ill try the dither fish first.

thanks for the help cindy and scott.