?'s on clowns

[Garrett706]

I've been really wanting to add a black and white ocellaris clown to my tank but I've already got an established orange and white ocellaris clown and only 2 anemones that he has called home for awhile now ... My ? Is if I get another clown will they fight with each other over territory... I've read that the clowns are extremely territorial... If so what can I do to fix this... More anemones???

 

[obscurereef]

Introducing a new clown will cause a lot of fighting for dominance and sometimes death. When one becomes the female (larger one), the other is the male and they stop fighting so much. Adding more anemones won't help. It's common for them to fight at first. Maybe get a larger clown than what you have now so it can defend itself and be dominant?

 

[kdpuffer]

Introducing a new clown will cause a lot of fighting for dominance and sometimes death. When one becomes the female (larger one), the other is the male and they stop fighting so much. Adding more anemones won't help. It's common for them to fight at first. Maybe get a larger clown than what you have now so it can defend itself and be dominant?

If you only have one clown now chances are its already female so adding a larger clown will most likely be disastrous as it will likely also be female. You want to add a smaller one, the smaller the better and more likely to pair up. If you get the smallest one in the tank at your LFS it's a pretty solid bet its male and will be ok with your current clown.

 

[JesseMessykinn]

I was in the same boat as you a few months ago, without the nems. I decided to go with a larger black one, theyre was a little sparing in the start but after a few days they really started to settle. The size difference isnt much maybe a 1/4 inch. Now the are happy to swim with each other and enjoy swimming in the flow.

 

[kdpuffer]

Something you must understand with clowns is how they mature and determine sex. If you have a tank with 30 clowns they will battle for dominance. The most dominant one will become male then become female and the next most dominant will become male. The female will be larger. With this in mind if you have 1 clown in a tank it is the dominant one and will most likely be female with the likeliness of that being more so th longer its in the tank solo. If you buy another "larger" clown you have a high probability it will be female also and females will fight to the death. If you get the smallest one you can it will be less dominant and more likely to be undetermined sex wise or at the very least a male. You don't need to breed your clowns but you will have better success either way if you have a male and female.

 

[Garrett706]

Thanks everyone for your input I just have one more ? Does the difference in species play any factor in the male/female difference and also them pairing up

 

[obscurereef]

Something you must understand with clowns is how they mature and determine sex. If you have a tank with 30 clowns they will battle for dominance. The most dominant one will become male then become female and the next most dominant will become male. The female will be larger. With this in mind if you have 1 clown in a tank it is the dominant one and will most likely be female with the likeliness of that being more so th longer its in the tank solo. If you buy another "larger" clown you have a high probability it will be female also and females will fight to the death. If you get the smallest one you can it will be less dominant and more likely to be undetermined sex wise or at the very least a male. You don't need to breed your clowns but you will have better success either way if you have a male and female.

Thanks for correcting me. Wasn't exactly sure on that, but you cleared it up.

 

[kdpuffer]

Thanks everyone for your input I just have one more ? Does the difference in species play any factor in the male/female difference and also them pairing up

When you do add your new clown you will want to make sure it's the same species. Don't throw a maroon in with a percula. You can however mix color morphs of the same species. Gold stripe maroon with lightning maroon, Platinum with black and so on.

 

[Garrett706]

Thanks guys for your input it has been very helpful