jumping into the saltwater game

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SeymourFRESH

Aquarium Advice Freak
Joined
Dec 14, 2005
Messages
381
Location
St. Louis, MO
hey guys. i just started my first saltwater tank. i got my live rock and live sand in there already, with a maroon clownfish

i mistakenly picked up the maroon clownfish from my work without researching it first. but now that i've read about them, i've found out that there are practically no suitable tankmates (including coral!). is this true?

i know they're aggressive, but i was wanting to keep them with a dwarf angel and a jawfish or something for now, until i upgraded my tank

do any of you have a maroon clown? what do you keep with it?
 
I dont have coral but as far as I know all clown fish are great reef fish.

I have a maroon clown in a tank with an angel, 2 fairy wrasses and a toby. The clown sticks to his territory, and doesnt bother anyone else so long as they dont go near his corner (he only forces out the wrasses, he doesnt care too much about the angel and doesnt even acknowledge the toby.

Maroons, from what I know, can be more agressive than other clowns but still make good tank mates.
 
The maroon doesn't like other clowns. How long has your tank been up and running? I trust you allowed it to cycle before you added the clown>????
 
yeah i left the live rock and live sand in the tank for a week, then added the clown. the tank has been running for 2 weeks as of now

i just picked up the clownfish because i thought the maroons looked cool compared to regular ones, and i knew they were aggressive, but my information on the internet is telling me that they are REALLY aggressive, to the point where most tankmates are risky to add, including coral

tropical fish hobbyist said in an older issue that you can't keep maroons with coral too

it's a 20L gallon tank (yeah i know, that may end up being too small when the clown reaches full size). i get good deals on tanks and was planning on upgrading to either a 37 gallon (which will fit on my same stand) or just moving all my saltwater over to my 55 gallon in about a year

other tankmates i'm considering: greeneye jawfish, a dwarf angel of some type, a starfish of some type, a flame hawkfish, and possibly way in the future a fu manchu dwarf lionfish (after everything grows up of course). i'm not planning on having all of these in the 20 gallon, but that's in the long run for when i upgrade
 
Unless you got sand and and rock and water out of an established system I don't think your tank actually cycled. You may want to get a few test kits and keep and eye on your ammonia levels as I'm sure they are going to rise!!!!!


I've only ever heard that the maroon will try to host just about anything including LPS corals and that they can damage the coral doing this. They are aggressive "rooters" if you will.
 
Unless you got sand and and rock and water out of an established system I don't think your tank actually cycled. You may want to get a few test kits and keep and eye on your ammonia levels as I'm sure they are going to rise!!!!!
I agree. It is very important to know your tank has cycled prior to adding livestock. Get some test kits for NH3, NO2, NO3, Ph and see how your levels are doing. Best bet is to take the clown back and wait until you know your tank experienced a good hard cycle, then add the livestock slowly. Can you list some tank info for us...size of tank, amount of LR, any other filtration, etc?
 
I too wonder about weather your tank has cycled. You might be losing him if your tank does cycle. Read this article on the cycle and why you dont want fish in there during the cycle.

http://www.aquariumadvice.com/article_view.php?faq=2&fldAuto=15

As far as the maroon in a reef setting you will be OK. I have a pretty big maroon in my reef tank and he does not bother any of the. You can view my tanks in the sig below. Here is some info on the maroon.

http://www.fantasyreef.com/database/index.php?p=getitem&db_id=7&item_id=24

http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_Display.cfm?pCatId=105
 
alright. i'm taking the clown back to my store today

the live rock is cured and from a mature aquarium, but nothing else is. the sand is supposedly "live reef sand" but i guess i should have known better than to trust that the supposed "bacteria" with it would cycle my tank like it claims on the package

i just figured the live rock would have enough bacteria already but i guess i should have known better

i'll keep posted
 
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