yellow stripe maroon clownfish

[NOTSOSHARPE]

I've had a pair for a couple of years now. My female is much larger than the male, and the female has the spine on the gill cover, and the male does not. I suppose that is why the maroon or yellow stripe clown fish is also sometimes called the "spine cheek." Also, the female's stripes are more yellow than the male's. They are very active, but not mean. Of course, they do chase my clown tang and checker board wrasse from time to time. I do not presently have any anemones, but when I did, both fish enjoyed rolling around in them. Now, only the smaller male rolls around in my big palythoas. I purchased them from a store where they had just come in from the airport in the same bag together. They never fight, but seem to be pretty good friends.

[FossilReef]

Yeah, and don't forget the cheek spines! Ouch!

Always a pain netting them for that same reason...

[Kristy]

We had one GSM and added another, they fought for a few hours until the lights went out that first day, then the next day were just fine together and are now a bonded pair. I think it helps to get them two different sizes, so they don't have to really fight to sort out the gender thing, as with clowns the larger one will always become the female.

They are the most agressive of the clownfish and the female will chase other fish away from the anemones (we have two, so they split their time between them, or hang out individually). They have been known to attack us when we are in the tank and near their spots, and they also don't like anything new to be placed near them, so have moved, knocked over, or rearranged coral frags placed around them.

They are very hardy, but get pretty big and the bigger they get, it is reported the more aggressive they get. All in all, my wife and I agree, if we had it to do over, we probably would have gone with a different species of clownfish.

Just my two cents... Mike