Maroon clowns

username

New Member
Help! Last night my maroon clowns beat the poop out of each other. They're swimming around with stubs for fins. Is this normal? Will thier fins grow back? They have been living a very peaceful life for about a month, and now we have a domestic violence situation going on here.
Thier home is 30 gl. that has been up and running for about 3 1/2 months. I test my water twice a week and do water changes every 2 weeks. Nitrates are at 5 but everything else is at 0.
I feel so sorry for the little fellas. Is there anything I can do to curb this or do I just let them duke it out?
 

bang guy

Moderator
Welcome to the board!
Maroons are especially difficult to pair. They are now deciding who will be the female. You have no choice but to let them figure it out if you want them to be a pair. This usually ends in the death of the less aggressive fish. If the less aggressive manages to survive then you'll end up with a nice pair.
 

username

New Member
Okay... are my fish not right?? They have been behaving since my last post, but last night when I turned out the lights, I turned off the regular light first and noticed that they immediately started attacking each other. I quickly turned the light back on and they immediately stopped. I watched them for a few minutes and everything seemed fine so I turned off the light again. Again, as soon as the regular light was off and just the actinic was on, they went buck wild at each other! I did this a few more times and each time with just the actinic light on, they would attack.
Anyway, my question is this, and please forgive my ignorance, but is my light driving poor Leroy and Earl slowly insane? The lights are 130 watts PC.
Thanks
 

biggie18

Member
Maroons can't be paired up at all. Donate one to somebody before you have to flush one down the toilete :yes:
 

fishtanker

Member
Maroons can be paired. I had a female for 5+ years, she never had a mate, about 3-4mos ago i introduced a small juvi GSM clown. The female went after him of a few days and now they never leave each others side. Constantly "dancing" and hosting 3 BTA's
 

snailheave

Active Member
yeah the submissive one got beat up a little. he misses parts of his fins. he still has his tail fin unlike the picture suggests. paired up in the end.
my 'big one' is about 3" and the smaller one is only half an inch smaller.
they didn't really fight. the small one just gave in from the start. the big one chased a bit but didn't really bite hard. they paired up after four hours or so.
good luck
 

snailheave

Active Member
i also find that gold stripe maroons pair easier than white stripe maroons.
i had fatalities when i attempted white stripe ones earlier.
 

viper_930

Active Member

Originally posted by Biggie18
You had fatalitys with percula's?

I wouldn't be suprised. Perculas arent' as aggresssive as a maroon, but they still fight.
 

bot587

Member
biggie have you been into aquariums long? (no offense meant)... marroon clowns are pretty easy to mate, it just takes time effort and maybe more than try. Luck is a side factor... its only a matter of time before two maroons find eachother and fall in love (how sappy lol)...
 

bang guy

Moderator
I disagree. IMO it's uncommon for a hobbiest to place two Maroons together and get a pair. Maroons tend to change --- young so if you have a Maroon single for any length of time it will quickly become female (a few weeks).
 

biggie18

Member
I agree with bang guy.. how long you been into aquariums bot? (no offense) just curious. Me... heavy for about 2 years, with a second job at a all tropical fish store. I've had the pleasure of working for a guy who has been in the business for about 25 years and is really passionate about it. He also recommended to me not to pair the maroons unless i really knew what i was doing.
 

gregvabch

Active Member
i successsfully paired my GSM's. i started out with one, had it for 6 months or so. i then purchased a significantly smaller one from my lfs; they had gotten in a whole school of them from a breeder, very young. it took them a week or so of the larger one chasing around the smaller one, but now they're inseperable and have been for quite some time now.
 
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