Matchmaking Hints For My Clarkii's?

[debdeb]

I have had a really great Clarkii for a couple months (she hosts a Haitian pink tip anemone with zest) and I had decided I want to try to establish a mated pair so I bought another Clarkii (much smaller) from the same lfs and brought it home. By the way it's really pretty and has large white stripes continuing up into the dorsal and caudal fins where there is normally only a thin white edge. Anyway the larger one has just harassed the poor little one continuously. It is still okay and eating but has to hide in the rocks. I've had them together for about a week, is there any hope they will become friends? They are both pretty young does this make a difference? The large one is about 2" long and the smaller about 1 1/4" long. I've got 2 yellow damsels that the larger clown is very good friends with, I am removing them and taking them back to the lfs. Will this help the 2 clowns become friends. I'm also going to rearrange the tank since I'm sure I'll have to take all the rock out to catch the damsels. Do you think this will help? Any encouraging words will be appreciated. This little one is so cute with the white fins I don't want to lose him.

 

[bluekoran]

well.....If they do become a mated pair then ill be suprised, but did you want them to be friends like get along or did you want them to be a pair. In your local fishstore was the new clarikki all alone.....or the largest in the tank. Because if he was all alone hes most likely a female and if he was the largest same thing. Your clarikki now is a female and if the new one if a female then well you don't have a chance and the more dominant one will most lickely kill the other. now if one was a male and the old one a female then yes there is a chance but as far as I know the more dominant one accepts the other fairly quickly (Not certin) but if they don't become a pair then yea they proably will get along but they might not, it's a better chance they will though. Finally no takeing damsals out won't help as far as I know. I had 2 clarikki's before ordered them off this site and one eventualy died but it wasn't the other. The other did haras the small one but he died due to a accident in the tank.

 

[debdeb]

That's too bad about your clown fish. You can get very attached because they have such great personalities. So far the only fish I've lost is a royal gramma that the condy anemone made a nice meal of.

Maybe I need to do some more reading but I thought that clownfish could change gender depending on the circumstances. In a group the largest is always female and the rest are male, but if the female dies, then the largest male becomes the female. Am I thinking of another type of fish? Am I embarrassed if I'm wrong. That's why I made sure the 2nd one was quite a bit smaller. It was not alone in the tank at the lfs. There were 2 or 3 others about the same size.

 

[bluekoran]

No...your right they can change there gender but once thewy turn into a female they can't change back into a male. All clowns are like that. Well if the smaller is a male then possibly yes they might breed, it's rare though and they proably won't have a problem because if they were both females the smaller would proably have been killed by the larger a while ago. Be aware that I used the word Proably, they could still fight. to bad though I just lost my blue koran this morning though...

 

[debdeb]

Thanks Bluekoran, I'm so sorry about your blue koran, what a sad loss. They are beautiful creatures. Any idea what happened.?
I appreciate the extra info. I know I've got a whole lot to learn and this forum is full of people so willing to share, it's great. Well, the little clown is getting braver and now it's kind of funny the two yellow damsels are protecting him from the larger clown. The larger clown is still acting a bit aggressive but not like it was when it would grab the poor little thing by it's fins and then push it into the sand or corner. My husband spent hours sitting by the tank and tapping on the glass every time the big clown would even get close to the little one. It would be nice if they will pair up, but I'll be happy to just have them be friends. The little one wants to so bad, you can tell. :jumping:

 

[bluekoran]

The bluekoran caught a bacteria but i could not treat it due to my anenomes that im am quite pleased with. One thing you should definatley do is get a anenome I got my long tentacle for 40$ and it's amazingly beautiful and my tommato will just swim in there forever and he is quite happy. He doesnt realy buly the clarikki as much. Is ypour tank a reef tank because if it is get a long tentalce anenome or two so they each have one. They will most likely use them. and the little one will hind in it from the big one. Though I warn you that if you do place a couple nice sized beautiful anenomes it might cost a bit and you can't realy treat a fish with sickness because the medicne will kill the anenomes (and any other inverts or corals) Though I do think you said you had like 80pds of Live rock or something so I would give the aneomes a shot there pretty they will help with the clowns and they are fun to watch the clown swim in it. If you do put anenomes and coral in your tank then you should stick with cheap reef fish because if you get a exspensive fish and it get's sick you can't treat it so just becareful.

 

[debdeb]

I do have a Haitian pink tip that I purchased with the first Clarkii because they were already buddies at the lfs. Right now the anemone isn't happy and keeps moving all over, that's sure keeping the clown busy trying to take care of it!

I've got more lighting coming and a new Eheim 2227 canister filter is on it's way also. I definitely got the cart before the horse but I'm trying to correct asap. We don't plan on getting any expensive fish because we are fascinated with setting up the reef and enjoying all of the fun stuff you can have. We probably will stick with the 2 clowns, and maybe one or two other small fish I'm researching. since I won't have halides and my total wattage is going to be approx. 200 watts on my 37 gallon, I can only have lower light mushrooms and soft corals, but that' okay. When I get my dream tank, I'll get the right lighting. I will probably get rid of the condy anemone so I can get a natural host anemone for the clowns down the road.