Dealing with goldstripe maroon aggresion

[azonic]

Here's the thing, I've got a 2 inch or so goldstripe maroon in my 90 right now. There is also a 1.5 inch clarki in there. These two guys get along fine now. They pissed each other off for about a week but they are being more and more friendly with each other every day. Here's where it gets fun....
Wednesday of this week I'll be adding a second goldstripe maroon who is a little bit longer and more mature then the current one that I have. I'm hoping they will pair up over time. I'm anticipating some fighting amongst all three when the new guy arrives....what would be the best way of dealing with their aggresion short of returning one to the store. Do you think an anemone of some sort would help?
TIA.

 

[azonic]

bump

 

[slick]

I'm not posotive but I think if you want a mated pair you have to add them at the same time when they are small.

 

[justinl]

I have two clowns, a pink skunk and a maroon and gold and I can say that an anemone will most likely add to your problems because the two clowns will fight for it. At one time, I had 3 anemones- 2 bubble tips and a long tentacle, and despite my best efforts, both clowns wanted the biggest bubble tip and ended up fighting constantly.
In the end I sold all of my anemones and now the clowns don't fight.
I would not advise you to get another M&G clown if you have one already along with a clarkii. You're just asking for trouble, since M&G's seem to be quite aggressive by themselves, let alone in a pair- they will most liekly fight one another and/or gang up on the clown of a different species.

 

[danrw84]

i had a small maroon like you have. gold stiped. He sat in his big BTA.
i added a big maroon, 2 to 3 times his size, a week + laterthey didnt bother eachother at all. the big one immideatly went into the anemeone and the clowns were soon snuggling up. maybe i got lucky.
unfortunatly last week my BTA died...then a few days later i lost the little maroon the big one is still fine.
make sure the one u add is big enough to defend itself. then again, even the biggest fish can be bullied by a smaller one!
good luck. keep us posted

 

[scarybo]

I had luck with this several months ago. I added the smaller maroon first. Once he was comfortable I added a bigger maroon. About 3 times bigger. I would be nervous adding another clown if you already have a clarki. I belive even if the maroons form a pair they will want the clarki out.

 

[azonic]

hrmm...the original post in this thread was made by me a month ago....hehe...I went ahead and bought the 2nd maroon, he's a centimetre longer then the original....all 3 clowns have been getting along fine for a month.
the maroons hang out together in my purple mushrooms, and the clarki goes in my bubble coral.
All is well.

 

[justinl]

Glad to hear it. Goes to show you never can tell until you try.

 

[saltyrich]

All I can say is good luck. I would not recommend it. I think that enless you are lucky one of the three is going down. If not sooner, it will be later. Maroons are particularly meaner as they get older. They are worse than tomato clowns and those are bad enough. The mated pair thing is typically done by introducing them together. Stranger things have happened though! Who knows!

 

[azonic]

saltyrich: The clowns were added very close together. They were in the same tank at the LFS for about 2 weeks on hold for me....then I took them home seperately. Neither of them pick on any of the others. The largest of the two maroons is close to 3 inches easy and he doesn't give anybody any trouble.
In addition, I find that the gold striped maroon's are far less aggresive then the regular maroon's. I have tried different combinations of clowns and thus far this seems to be working...perhaps since they come from different ocean's has something to do with it? I don't know.