Maroon Clown Aggression

[ColdFish]

Finally got to the point that I was ready to add a couple fish to my new 90 and went by the LFS tonight. They had a cute pair of maroon clowns that they just got today, and since I've always wanted a maroon clown I decided to take both of them. They are about 1.5" each.

Noticed right away that these guys are nothing like the pair of percula's that I have in my other tank. My percs have been buddies ever since the day I got them. These 2 maroons were fighting in the bag on the way home from the LFS. Tore up fins and all now 8O

Since getting them acclimated the fighting has stopped, but they have taken opposite corners in the tank. I fed them some formula one with garlic added and they are typical clowns in that respect, they eat like pigs.

Does anybody have experience with maroon clowns? Should they be kept solo, or will my 90 gallon be big enough to give them their own space? I don't see these two ever hitting it off.

 

[Hara]

They are the most aggressive of the clowns, IMO. The problem is that they are similar in size. I have two in a 55 gallon, one was very small and then I introduced a large one. They have been getting along for 3 years now. I would think that your tank is big enough, but really, only time will tell.

 

[demodiki]

Agreed, only time can tell. My one maroon rules my 55.

 

[hackteck]

my first sw tank i made the foolish mistake of getting a maroon clown and percula clown i ended up taking the maroon clown back, he harassed the percula and would dig up the sand hehe

 

[melosu58]

I only have one big maroon clown. They are beautiful but fight all the time . Esp. with my tomato clown.

 

[ColdFish]

Thanks for the replies. I was kinda worried the way things were going last night. It seems now that a truce has been declared. They actually bedded down together sometime after lights out. When the lights came back on today they sperated back to their respective sides of the tank. If they can live with that then I definetly can also

 

[Andari]

I bought a book just about Clownfish. I had no idea there were so many species of them. I'm really glad I started with the most mild tempered.

 

[ColdFish]

Hmm, it seems that I've confused this situation even more. I was still having some aggression between the 2 clowns. The LFS had actually gotten 3 of these guys in together and 1 was quite a bit larger than the other 2. After reading Hara's post regarding size difference, I decided to go back and get the larger clown to see what difference that would make.

Now the situation is that all aggression has completely stopped and 1 of the smaller clowns is constantly with the larger (female?) one. Sounds good, better than before at least, but now I'm concerned about the other small one. He's not being picked on or bullied, but it seems like he's been excluded. I don't mind having 3 in the tank as I really like these clowns, and I was planning on keeping the bio-load fairly light with mostly inverts in the tank anyway. I guess my question is should I be worried about the little outcast, or do you guys/gals think that he'll do alright on his own? He's eating and otherwise doing fine, but I feel kinda sorry for him not having anybody to play with

He's a beautiful little fish otherwise and I'm sure I can trade him for something else without a problem. What do you think? Pretty amazing social interaction going on.

 

[Hara]

glad I could help...to be honest, I would return the third fish. You may end up with serious problems later on.

 

[The Gillman]

My stepson had a rather large maroon clown that would constantly push corals off the live rock.It became a trade-in at the lfs.

 

[afilter]

Concur with Hara return the third smaller clown. I have had a pair for over two years and love them. It is likely they will pair up(larger one female) altough it is common for some monor agression from time to time. The third could complicate things as they mature.

Be preparred for them to get big. In a 90g the female could easilt reach 6+ inches. My female is already over 4.

Good luck,

 

[ColdFish]

Thanks again for the advice. The third one became a gift for my neighbor across the street. He had a percula in his 46 gallon that was about 3 years old and pretty good sized. He moved the percula to his 100 gallon to make room for the maroon. Probably pay me back in beer or something, but that's cool too

I don't mind if they get large. I'm not planning on a lot of fish. My current stock plan now in addition to the 2 clowns is:

Yellow Tang
some type of watchman goby, or maybe a jawfish
a small reef safe wrasse, undecided what species
a dottyback, probably neon
possibly a couple of purple firefish

and thats about it. I'm leaning towards the dottyback and the jawfish because I'm trying to keep it different from what's in my FOWLR as much as possible. I have a watchman goby and a gramma in there.

Hopefully I won't have the problem that The Gillman mentioned. That one will have me back at the LFS too

 

[roka64]

Generally the way clowns work.
There is one female, the rest tend to be male. Once the female dies, the next male changes sexes and becomes the female and the next one in line becomes the dominant male....

 

[proverbs]

my first two fish were maroon clowns. i had to return the larger one the following week because of the fighting. the larger one would always attack the smaller one and bite off all its fins. the weird thing was, that the smaller one would keep trying to follow the big one even though it kept getting beat up.

i then made the mistake of getting 2 more clownfish - a true percula and clarkii. about a week after i got them, i noticed that my maroon's fins were chopped off, but the other two clowns had no signs of fighting. then, all of a sudden, my percula died. the next day, the clarkii was dead. i don't know what my maroon did, but he is .

now he just hides in the corner of my tank and only comes out to eat.