Clown Pairing

[FSU]

Looks great! Anymore updates? Have you gotten any anemones yet or you still waiting for the tank to mature more?

BTW, I suck at plumbing and that's a plumb job if I have ever seen one!

[FSU]

lol, nm I just saw the last pics...missed them the first time!

[RayAllen]

Havnt gotten any anemones yet, want to let the tank mature at least another 2 weeks or so. tank and sump have a estimated total gallons of 50gallons and I kept at least 35gallons of the water in the redo. So in reality its more like I did a decent size water change so nothing should be effected to much. Also during that time I just left the sump fuge full and running not to disturb it so I shouldnt have much of a cycle at all.

Plumbing I find is easy. Ive plumbed probably 6 tanks in the hobby and have not had a one leak from the start. This one is now really quiet thanks to my double durso setup on both ends allowing the line to really burp.

Sorry for the long answer, lol.

[Gseclipse02]

ok this might be a dumb ? but how can you tell if one is male or female certain colors ???

[FSU]

ok this might be a dumb ? but how can you tell if one is male or female certain colors ???

If I remember correctly, younger clowns start off unsexed. As they mature they all turn to males, except for the bigger, more dominant one. That one morphs to a female. If the female is removed (or dies), then then next biggest, most dominant then morphs into the female, etc, etc. I may be a bit off, but I believe this is the cycle.

[g-ray]

As far as I know that is correct FSU

-Gary

[Mr Cob]

As far as I know that is correct FSU

-Gary

That's how I understand it too

[Gseclipse02]

cool cool

so let me get this right ... they need a anemone to host in and the babies just stay in that ???

[RayAllen]

This isnt about breeding clowns, a 1" clown is considered a juvinile. Babie clowns are super tiny and require a whole nother bag of tricks to bring them up in a seperated breeding tank etc...

Basically what everyone is saying is that at a certain stage in their lives before getting into adulthood clowns can morph into whatever sex they feel necessary to survive. Anemones are not needed to keep clown, but in the wild clowns are always seen in or close to their host anemone for protection. The anemone benefits from this because the clowns feed them.

Now in a home reef unless you have ample room its best to either have corals or anemones because anemones are not stationary animals and go where the want; theirfore trampling over your corals and stinging them. Which can stress them out or eventually kill them. Which is why im going anemone/Clam tank only. No corals what so ever in my 39g.

[RayAllen]

Also do not assume just because you have a clown that it will host your anemone. Diffrent clown species prefer diffrent anemone species. For example Cinnamon clowns prefer Bulb Tentacle, Sabae and Magnificent anemones and its rare that they will want to host another kind, but in the home aquarium odd things do happen.