Maroon pairing and hosting ?

[fez]

Ok here is my plan...
I curently have a yellow strip maroon clown about 2" long. i would like to try pairing it up with another of the same species. i have had her for about 6 months and is doing very well. i am assuming at this point that she is a female for being the only clown in my tank for the six months. from what i understand i should get a smaller clown to pair them up. is this true? how will i very that the new fish is male? :help:
part 2:
i would like to also introduce an anemone for the new couple. is it a good idea to introduce the anemone after the sucessfull pairing or should i introduce the anemone before the new clown? i was thinking of a bubble tip or riteri anemone. anyone have experience with maroons and anemone?:thinking:
any help would be great
tank specs:
1.024 salt
8.2 ph
0 trites
0 trates
0 amo
300W pc/no
500 gph flow (fluval 404 + ph's)
prizm skimmer
other habitants:
cb angel
three stripe dam
1/2 dozen hermits
thanks!

 

[stupid_naso]

OK, first of all what's the size of your tank? Because the thing is if it's larger then it'll be easier for the pairing process. Or let me just say, less painful.
The reality is your clown's been living there for 6 months. She's relatively small if she's just 2" Are you sure that she's just 2"? If she is, then this might be even less painful. Get a smaller clown. There's no guarantee that it'll be a pair. It'll take a long time. What you can expect is that your maroon will harass the heck out of the new smaller one. And a lot of the times the smaller one cannot handle it and DIE. So that's something that you might want to consider before doing this.
Maroon clown is one of the more aggressive species of clowns. They are very territorial. My suggestion for adding this new clown would be...
1. Make sure you add this new clown at night to prevent stress both from the new environment and preventing the other clown from harassing him immidiately. Well make sure that the other one is asleep.
2. Try to rearrange your aquascape, assuming that it's not hard to do so. This way the old clown will have to readjust and hence thinks that she's in a new place. Therefore she'll become somewhat less aggressive.
If anything not having an anemone right now is a good thing. Clowns get even more territorial when there's an anemone. Most likely if you do add the anemone now, the bigger one will definitely host and kill anything that gets close to the anemone, including your new clown. I say just get the new clown wait for the anemone until later. If you do decide to get anemone, get BTA (Bubble Tip Anemone) or RBTA (Rose Bubble Tip Anemone). Your clowns will love them. But make sure they pair up FIRST.
Good luck...
stupid_naso

 

[stupid_naso]

Sorry about the confusion, 2" is pretty big, nvm. I've been away from this hobby for awhile and I'm getting rusty, lol. Yeah definitely get a smaller one.
stupid_naso

 

[fez]

thanks for the input, i am on the hunt for a small maroon at this point.

 

[robn]

Agree with naso, change your aquascape if possible, DO NOT put an anemone in until after you have paired up, and be prepared for some possible warfare. I have a 4" white stripe maroon clown and it is VERY aggressive. I tried pairing up a smaller clown the same day the larger one went in and it tried to kill it immediately. I finally had to separate them and put the smaller one in an empty QT tank (about 2 weeks later the QT tank broke and the smaller clown died

). I've even tried a Coral Beauty Angel a couple of times, no go. The only fish I have in there with him are a bicolor blenny and a Watchman goby (in a 40g hex).
I have 2 green bubble tips and 1 rose bubble tip in the tank with him.....he loves all three but prefers the rose bubble tip.
Something you might try.....you can get something called a Fish Corral....it's acrylic and has a revolving door on one end. Release your smaller clown into it and let your larger clown get used to seeing it for awhile. When it doesn't show any aggressive interest anymore (if that happens), release the smaller clown into the tank. Just a thought....

 

[fez]

thanks robn. where can I see a pic of a fish coral?

 

[robn]

fez,
It's a Fish Corral, 2 "r's", not a fish coral But there SHOULD be a "fish coral" too, huh?
Here's a picture of a Fish Corral:

 

[fez]

robn,
thanks for the spelling correction.
Thank for the pic. looks kinda small. my fish would feel trapped. really don't want him to feel trapped.:happyfish

 

[verde_ad]

I think you put the new fish in the corral. They are meant for this purpose, so I am sure the fish would be fine. I believe you can also get them in different sizes.