who has successfully paired up tank raised maroons?

[DMK]

- i also posted this in clownfish forum, but want it to be seen here too.
i'm going tomorrow to try and pair up juvenile maroon tank raised clowns and leave w/ just 2. i bought a RBTA on wed and it's settled. the thank the RBTA came from had 15 or so small, 1-1.5" beautiful juvenile TR maroons. they had a true pair of big wild caught ones, but i don't want so big and i don't want WC. i was going to just get the biggest and smallest juvenile, but i just read this technique does not work w/ maroons. what did u do to pair your maroons up. i wish it was easy as getting a big 1 and a small 1, even thought they are close to same size. there is only a small difference in size. guy at store said to buy 3, he said 2 would pair up, then start picking on other which would then be removed. i don't want to do this though.

 

[Joboo]

Well. I can tell you from experience that pairing maroons is a pain!! I tried it twice without success I have a fairly large maroon that has been in my tank for almost 2 years. Definitly is a female by now since she is the only clown I have and she is VERY big. I tried a number of times to introduce a smaller sexless/male to the tank and both times the male did the shaky-shaky submissive dance but both times the female beat the heck out of him!! Unfortunatly both instances the sexless/male died! I finally gave up and accepted the fact that my girl does not want a boy friend. I think maybe trying to pair juveniles may be a different experience. I wish you luck!

 

[crpeck]

Stephen Pollock at Coral Dynamics is knowledgeable about Maroons and has raised them. He was a big help when I was raising Ocellaris. I think he's been an RC sponsor on and off. Knows what he's doing and a really nice guy.

You can contact him off his site:

Coral Dynamics

Good luck!

Cathy

 

[DMK]

jpboo why do u think pairing juveliles would be different? easier?
thanks crpeck i emailed him.

 

[Joboo]

Not sure if it would be easier or harder. I just know that I had a very dominant female and she was definitly the boss! I'm thinking maybe if the clowns were more around the same age size and the female was not determnied yet then maybe the beatin wouldn't be so one sided. I'm sure there would be nipping but then each would retreat after they engaged. I guess eventually one would be more dominant and become the female and the paring would be a success?? I am not an expert so please take the above statement for what it's worth. Let us no how it goes.

 

[CaliforniaDreamer]

Here is the trick that I used. I donââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢t know if this will work for pair and there is a few problems with it but it worked for me. I put two tank raised gold stripes in my 90 gallon hoping that they would form a pair. What they did was squabble a lot and when they werenââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢t fighting they were in opposite ends of the tank ignoring each other. I then got a somewhat smaller maroon and added it to the tank also hoping that it would pair up with one of the other clowns (a bad idea by the way). But what did happen is that after three or four days the new clown decided that it would on longer take any abuse from the older clowns and started attacking the old clowns with a vengeance. I donââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢t know if having a common enemy is what did the trick, but the old clowns teamed up against the new one and the fighting became intense enough that I removed the newest clown before anyone got hurt. From the time I removed the new clown the old ones acted as a pair and are now breeding ever couple of weeks.

 

[Snakebyt]

i will be trying to pair up some in the next couple months as well. Hoping to get some insight from this thread

 

[DMK]

i just spoke to someone else that crpeck recommended(coral dynamics), and he said it's somewhat less complicated dealing w/ 2 juveniles. i'm going tomorrow and getting 2, 1 slightly bigger. i'll let u know.

 

[crpeck]

He would know. He's been raising clown fish for a while. I sent a bunch of my babies to him to sell. I couldn't have done it without him.

Cathy

 

[thugmebaby]

mine have been together for 1.5 with no spawning... but def are hitched as they both protect the LTA with fierce biting

 

[crpeck]

I think they need to mature a while even after they're paired. My Ocellaris pair were together well over a year before they started to lay eggs. I think Maroons mature more slowly than Ocellaris.

The biggest change I noticed before they started making nests was that they quit moving all around the tank and stayed just in or around the anemone. It took time after they paired for the Mama to get really big.