New Clownfish - Twitching, is this pairing? - Aquarium Advice

SHARPiE · 10-10-2009, 10:55 PM

Hi All,
In my 42g FOWLR build tank I have a juvenile yellowish clownfish, and he has been in there for a week or two now by himself. Yesterday I went and bought it a mate - another juvenile reddish clownfish (ever so slightly smaller).

All was going well when I introduced the new fish into the tank, they were doing this weird twitch dance next to each other - see pics:

After they finish the dance, the red one chases the yellow around quite a bit. They stop this, and resume their dance. The chase does look quite aggressive, but if the yellow didn't like it, there are hundreds of places for him to hide in the rock.

I fed them some live brine and the red one ate a few, but spat them back out.

Today, the red clown has eaten and they look happy - they stay close to each other and it doesn't look like the red is chasing the yellow anymore.

Will see how it goes - hopefully these two pair off!

Will keep you updated

match55 · 10-10-2009, 11:08 PM

they r fighting out who is gonna be the female if they r in similar size.
after they decide who is gonna be the female, then they will pair up if they like each other haha

here is a good article for clownfish pairing
http://knol.google.com/k/anonymous/f...75wpxc39w72/5#

Tank2379 · 10-10-2009, 11:08 PM

The larger of the 2 will establish it's dominac over the other The Twitiching is normal. The larger will be the dominate Female and the smaller one will be the male hopefully they pair up...

cambridgechris · 10-10-2009, 11:09 PM

I added a larger clownfish and the smaller one did exactly the same thing. I believe this is the smaller one submitting to the larger one.

Tank2379 · 10-10-2009, 11:14 PM

That is correct. It's usually the smaller one submitting to the larger Female. She will chase him around for awhile till he becomes a male then it's up to her if she accepts him or not... Sometimes Clowns will not pair up especailly if they are two close in size they can continue to fight sometimes till dead... I had a simliular situation with my two clown one was slightly smaller by a 1/2 inch but the both keep fighting and fighting evenaully one killed the other and they both were Ocellaris Clowns... Some clowns are just weird that way I guess..

dkpate · 10-10-2009, 11:15 PM

Well, they are SUPER cute!

SHARPiE · 10-11-2009, 05:35 PM

They were next to each other all day and all night.
Most of the time they were doing the dance, but otherwise, they were just swimming side by side. The red clown is usually in the more dominant position (on top and looking down on the yellow clown).

I don't know if its just my eyes playing tricks on me, but the red clown is looking a bit bigger than the yellow.

The red has definitely stopped chasing the yellow one around, for now.

match55 · 10-11-2009, 05:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SHARPiE

They were next to each other all day and all night.
Most of the time they were doing the dance, but otherwise, they were just swimming side by side. The red clown is usually in the more dominant position (on top and looking down on the yellow clown).

I don't know if its just my eyes playing tricks on me, but the red clown is looking a bit bigger than the yellow.

The red has definitely stopped chasing the yellow one around, for now.

thats a good sign showing that they r accepting each other.
keep the water in good condition, feed them well and when they physically mature, they will pair up. ^^

your clowns r in the same situation as mine clowns, you might see them start cleaning one area as their home if u don't have an anemone.