pairing ocellaris clowns

[blueboy]

i'd had two tiny tank raised false percs that i was hoping wuold pair up, unfortunatly when i moved into my new 120 about 4-5 months ago one of them weny over the overflow. :( the remaining fish is about 1.5" , so would it be advisable to add another pair, or should i remove the old one first, or should i just get another single of a similar or smaller size and play fishy match maker?

[Reef69]

If you add another pair, the clown you have left would be hassled 24 /7 by the already paired up clowns..so, thats not a good idea...there are many many articles on how to pair up clowns but the truth is, it is up to them..all you can do is buy a bigger or a smaller clown for the one you already have..clowns change sex depending on the need of the group..in the wild they live in groups of 5 or more, with one dominant female, her male companion..and other small males, once the female dies, the next in rank will take her place by changing sex..and so on...but the bottom line is, pairing up is up to them...

[kaiser]

As long as the pair of new clowns is at least 30% larger than the one You have You will be ok. A small clown like that most likely has not developed a sex yet. I had 3 clowns host in the same anemone. The biggest of the 3 was chasing the others off whenever they got in her way. They will establish some sort of hierachy amongst themselves.

[blueboy]

i was kind of thinking of a harem sort of arrangement :-D .....uh, ....for the fish!, ...yea

[Reef69]

a "harem"..will work for a short period of time until pairing up occurs..then , the pair will chase off the other clown, no matter how long they might have been living together...it is possible in larger tanks to keep a a whole family, but in the long run, it will not work

[kaiser]

They are found 3 to 4 clowns per anemone in the wild. The biggest clown becomes the female, the second largest the male and smaller clowns stay gender neutral. Should the female disappear the male becomes the female and the next largest clown will become the male. I have kept my 3 for over a year and just recently sold them along with their anemone, because I had to give up my tank.

[Instar]

The last two posts are both right. Kaiser has much experience and had a large tank. His success keeping 3 can be attributed to these things and his reef husbandry skills. But, unfortunately this is not the wild and the pair will kill the extra 9 times out of 10, often even in something as large as a 100 gallon setup. Since you said the remaining one is an Ocellaris clown that is 1.5 inches, then its too late to hope it will be anything but female. If you want a pair, get a small Ocellaris to mate with it. The new one, if tank raised and small will turn into the male. All it takes in that case is paring skills and you keep the one you have all happy as well as the new one. The new one may get beat up a lot unless you rearrainge the tank rock work and introduce both about an hour before darkness falls. Be sure that the new one is in QT for a while and as healthy as the one you already have.

[blueboy]

thanks to everyone for all your suggestions/expertise

[Reef69]

no prob...you will see that clowns love living in pairs instead of chasing out clowns around..

[blueboy]

yea, when i had the other one they sort of stuck together, now it makes me sad to see him all alone.

[Reef69]

I have 3 black and white ocellaris in My 90 gal...2 paired up so, they dedicate their day to chase the other guy around

[don-n-sa]

I was the one who bought the three from kaiser along with the anemone that they are attached to...they are all getting along great, no problems at all so far...but they are in a 240g now.

I love these little guys. I was concerned for them at first due to my set up (aggressive reef), but they more than hold there own...they defend their anemone very well and they even venture out during feeding time.

[Reef69]

yeah, as long as they have an anemone where to go for protection, they are fine in aggressive reefs..in the wild, they dont go further than 10 ft. away from their host anemone..

[adaminaustin]

Don, what types of fish are in your aggressive reef?

[don-n-sa]

Don, what types of fish are in your aggressive reef?

here is my fish list for my 240g

1-porcipine puffer (7")
1-niger trigger (5")
1-snowflake moray (22")
1-yellow tang (4")
1-purple tang (4")
1-hippo tang (5")
1-fat a**ed blenny from port A (4")
1-lawnmower blenny (3")
3-false percs (2")
1-flame hawk ( 2.5")

future additions

either a harliquin wrasse or midnight puffer( jet black )

[adaminaustin]

I've been thinking about a blue throat trigger and a moray for a while. How do they treat your fingers? I'm guessing no shrimp in your tank.

Sorry to jack you thread Abe. :oops:

[don-n-sa]

blue throats are one of the so called "reef safe triggers"
what kind of moray were you thinking?
I have not been bitten yet but I usually feed my moray with a long wooden skewer...but sometimes when I feel lucky I feed him by hand

If I add shrimp when the lights are on the puffer, trigger and moray make quick work of them, but I do have a couple of peppermint shrimp that only come out at night. :grin:

[Instar]

either a harliquin wrasse or midnight puffer( jet black)

Even though it has teeth hanging out all over, the harliquin wrasse is most definitely not an aggressive fish at all. Its quite the opposite. Not a good idea to put that in with an established 4 inch purple tang at all.

[don-n-sa]

Even though it has teeth hanging out all over, the harliquin wrasse is most definitely not an aggressive fish at all. Its quite the opposite. Not a good idea to put that in with an established 4 inch purple tang at all.

I appreciate your insight...but I must say that I believe with the proper technique in acclimating the wrasse ie...at night and do some rock re-arranging I do not believe there will be any major problems.I actually plan out every new addition to my system with extensive research. One place that I learned about the harlequin tuskfish is here http://www.wetwebmedia.com/marine/fishes/wrasses/choerodon/faciata.htm which is not an online fish store. One quote from this site:

Predator/Prey Relations

Most everything leaves a harlequin tusk alone and vice versa. Though I've seen incorrigible triggers and angels make passing forays at a Tuskfish, they rarely do damage or continue

again thanks for you opinion, it is appreciated
:D