[zbandit]

These two just met and as soon as the new one was in the tank the bigger lighter colored one started becoming very submissive. Could i get a pair this easy?

[c-c]

zbandit,
Sounds like the perfect pair. Do you have the percula species? They are such sweeties. Let us know how they get along.
c-c

[zbandit]

Well so far they seem to be doing great...they sleep together on that pink rock...its really cool they are always together--i get my sand tomorrow so i get to get rid of that nasty freshwater rock...yay

[DMNCLNR]

I have a very aggressive clown, and I jsut added a baby clown to the tank. They are always together as well. THe clown however did not settle down at all. He attacks my hand when i put it in the tank. !

[medic]

I love my true perc, my only problem is keeping a pair. I bought a pair then found that one jumped out the back. Took the other one in a few months later and got a new pair. Same thing happened again. So now i'm down to one again. This is so frustrating. I would love to have a pair. And would like not to have to take one in and buy another pair. I have been thinking of just getting on that is a bit smaller and hoping that they would get along. We will see.

[islander]

Have never bought a mated pair, but have 3 pairs. Just buy 2 BABY clowns. 1 will become dominant and hermaph into the female. Boom! you have a pair. Takes a while for them to grow but a lot cheaper and fun to watch take place. GOOD LUCK!

[nemo all the way]

my clowns seem to be getting along fine...once in a while i will see the bigger one snip at the smaller one...does anyone know why....should i be concerned?

[islander]

The nipping seems to be part of the mating ritual that mine go through.

[Mattfish]

As part of our new reef tank, my wife is absolutely set on clowns. We're still several weeks away, but since she wants to breed them if possible, and we're thinking of 2 pairs based on our 125 g tank, does it make sense to get 4 at the same time? Or does that make for more confusion and uncertainty in bonding?

Thanks!

[nemo all the way]

i dont think it is a good idea to get more than one pair. this is because they are all males when they are born, once they start to mature the largest out of all of them becomes the female. then from there on its all about competing for the female. the female will choose who she wants to mate with and the males will continue to fight because the male she chose will protect her and this could lead to him killing th other males. so it probably is a good idea to only get one pair and eventually if they want to breed then those two will be the ones. this doesn't happen over night it could take months or even years for them to breed. they have to feel that your tank is a mirror image of the ocean so they feel safe when they lay eggs. also they probably wont lay eggs unless they have an anemone.

[Mattfish]

Makes sense. We'd planned to find one either bonded to an anemone, or get an anemone or two for the tank and hope they bond. We'll start with one pair and see how we do. We can always add another pair later, or a third and fourth slowly. With a 125 g tank, they should have enough room (I'd think) to find separate areas, but not knowing much right now, we'll take this a step at a time.

[nemo all the way]

well the smart thing to do is to get only one pair. adding more later on might still case some problems...but the best thing to do is when you go and buy the clowns, ask someone there if it would be ok to add a pair later on...normally clowns are a little protective of their homes so they might still defend it if you get pairs later on. its better to ask when you are there instead of buying them and having them fight and get killed...

[Mattfish]

Good points. Plus, I'm sure as we populate the tank, we'll discover many other breeds we want to keep. We've been so focused on the tank preparation and the stuff we need to get, we haven't thought too deeply on which breeds, although some of the books I have discuss what is comfortable with what.

And while fish breeding isn't a major part of the plan, any thoughts on other good looking fish that might be easy to breed? My wife is kinda focused on the idea of spending some time on what she can breed, where I'm thinking more about variety and color. Maybe that's a Mars/Venus analogy for life, but it also seems to be the focus for our ideas about fish-keeping, FWIW.

[marciemp]

I bought a second hand tank that had 2 clowns very close in size. The tank was a bit run down when we got it and we have spent a lot of time cleaning it up. Since we got the tank 3 months ago, one of the clows has grown much larger, and is obviously dominant. Now they are obsessed with cleaneing the back corner of the tank, and they spend most of their day wiggling around and nipping at the sand, like they are trying to get it perfect. I know this is a sign of considering spawning and it is very cute. It seems like the larger clown nips at the male too, she is nagging him to get it just right (she probably learned that from me!) Part of me wonderied if she could drive herself crazy tryin got get it just right, as she is very obsessed and has been doing this for weeks. I considered putting something in there nice and smooth for her, but my hubby pointed out do I really want to try and raise the babies, and in reality I am too busy with all of my own babies (a 3 year old and 1½ year old twins).

Did anyone ever think about Finding Nemo? Hubby and I were watching it with the kids the other day and I had to point out that in that situation Marlin would turn into a female!

Marcie

[starfishlover]

OCD clown fish ? LOL

[pyromaniac398]

I just added another true perc to my 50 gallon and my other true perc seemed to welcome it with open fins they go everywhere in the tank togeather

[mltmtascp]

Originally Posted by Mattfish

Makes sense. We'd planned to find one either bonded to an anemone, or get an anemone or two for the tank and hope they bond. We'll start with one pair and see how we do. We can always add another pair later, or a third and fourth slowly. With a 125 g tank, they should have enough room (I'd think) to find separate areas, but not knowing much right now, we'll take this a step at a time.

Adding a pair of clowns with another pair usually does not work even in a large tank. We had a pair of false pecs in our 120 and thought we had room for another pair. We added a black and white pair. Life was good for about a month and then the battle began. We had to move the black and white pair to our other tank.