pairing clownfish

[thresher9]

I used to have a pair of clownfish but the female died. It's been maybe a year or more and now I'm thinking of getting my one clownfish a buddy again. The only thing i'm worried about is that my clownfish might kill the new one. I have a 65 gal. tank with a yellow tang, flame angel, yellow tail damsel, and a scooter blenny.......the clownfish is the boss over all of them. My clownfish thinks he's the boss of me too seeing how without a doubt i get attacked and bitten (too bad for him it does nothing to me. ^^). This is why I'm afraid death will fall on a new clownfish, but when I added the damsel, my clown did nothing to him, so I'm still optimistic. Also, when the female dies doesn't the male become the female? so I would get another male or juvenile. One more thing every piece of coral in the tank is the clownfishes house, All Of Them. I wonder if he'll or she'll be able to share...

 

[mr. limpid]

Males only turn into females with other clowns present otherwise they remain male. I would be concern on adding another clown if this one is being so aggressive. I would make sure you have a back up plan if he attacks the new clown.

 

[btldreef]

A male left alone for a year will turn female as well.
Do you have a QT?
Pull out the existing clown and try to pair them in a smaller tank, OR pull out the clown and replace with the smaller one. Once the smaller one has established its territory, add the original clown back in.
This may or may not work.
Personally, I don't like repairing clowns after the mate has died because it usually doesn't work out.

 

[mr. limpid]

Quote:
Originally Posted by BTLDreef http:///t/392142/pairing-clownfish#post_3480954
A male left alone for a year will turn female as well.
Do you have a QT?
Pull out the existing clown and try to pair them in a smaller tank, OR pull out the clown and replace with the smaller one. Once the smaller one has established its territory, add the original clown back in.
This may or may not work.
Personally, I don't like repairing clowns after the mate has died because it usually doesn't work out.
Thanks BTLDreef for clearing that up.

 

[btldreef]

Just thought I'd add that males can change to females in as little as 3 weeks if the female is no longer present. They all start as males, so getting a juvenile would be the safest bet as far as ensuring you have a male, but it's not a guarantee that your female will accept it.

 

[thresher9]

well I don't want to get rid of my current clown.... I'm glad that she's protective of the coral so I know my flame angel will never be able to nip at any of it. One more thing the clown wasn't aggressive until after it's mate died. I think i'm going to try and get the clown another buddy once I fix my nitrate dilemma.

 

[thresher9]