black and white clowns

[abrahamavelar]

hello i have a fish less 75 gal tank due that i got ick and and i only got to survivors and they are 2 oc clowns and they are in my qt. so ive been thinking on buying some more fish and i have a craving for black clowns and my question is can i add a pair of black clowns if i add the oc's and them to the dt at the same time or they will just kill each other?????????????

 

[dannyb]

Are your other clowns paired? If not. I wouldnt. If they are, its a hit or miss thing. They could be friends and have there own space, Or they could be aggresive. IMO, Get them, but be ready to take them back if they fight. But only if your other clowns are paired.

 

[thincat]

Abe, your 75 is not big enough for four clowns, mated or not. You will end up with only one pair of breeding clowns.

 

[abrahamavelar]

oh ok thanks for your answers, they are not mated yet they are still too small imo the big one is 1 /12 long and the other one about one inch long

 

[thincat]

When you stock a tank you have to consider the adult size of the fish or you will get into real trouble down the road. Like putting an Oscar in a 10 gallon tank just because it was only 1" when you bought it. They grow to be ~10", if you see what I mean.....

 

[abrahamavelar]

thanks so much also how do i know when they are pair off??????? do they just hang out all the time or they start having babies?????

 

[thincat]

Abe, you need to have two fish (clowns), one much larger then the other. Clowns are all born as males. The larger one will morph into a female and then you will have a pair. When they are old enough and conditions in your tank are correct they will clean off a flat spot and lay their eggs.
PS: if the two are the same size, they will fight to see who will become the female/ Sometimes to the death of one of them.

 

[abrahamavelar]

oh ok. my clowns died but im about to buy some more and on my lfs they have a tank thats 55 gal with 4 pairs of clowns one pair of tomatoes one of black one of oc and one gold banded and they are all happy with out fighting they even hang out how do they do that? or what do they do so they wont fight

 

[thincat]

Abe, they sell them out to people like you and me. They turn over these fish so often that they don't have time to form territories to defend. Remember that clowns are Damsel.

 

[abrahamavelar]

im planning on getting the black ones,their faces are almost black but not completely will they get darker, im buying them because they are on 45 percent discount and with the discount ill end up paying 28 dollars a piece also i know he had this ones for ever i talked to the owner and he said he had those for about 6 months

 

[thincat]

Besides the fights, what else cause you to lose all your clowns? Correct that before you buy any more fish.

 

[abrahamavelar]

well my hippo got ich and my yellow tang got black ich so i put all my fish in a qt and then all of my fish got ich except the clowns and then they died but the clowns survived and then when i woke up they were getting sucked by the filter so i try to get them free but they died so i check the parameters and they were good even the temperature was good so pretty much i think it was stress that killed them i lost 9 fish total

 

[abrahamavelar]

but they never fought

 

[thincat]

So you better leave that tank empty at least 8 weeks or so to be sure that the ich is gone.

 

[abrahamavelar]

like empty without water or wit out fish? If it was wit out fish thats not a problem, also i did hundred percent water change due that somethin happened and we had to move the tank and now its re-cycling so i have my fish in my qt tank

 

[thincat]

Without fish so the ich parasite dies. It seems that your tank has to settle back anyway.

 

[abrahamavelar]

yeah and just hopping i wont get ich ever again

 

[thincat]

The best way is QT,QT,QT.

 

[abrahamavelar]

yeah now im putting all my fish there when i get them, also should i qt my corals and CUC and lr or just the fish????

 

[thincat]

IMO it would be very expensive to QT corals as they would need lots of light to make it. So just the fish is fine.