Clown questions

[kirkwood]

1) Aggression - I have had false percs in the past that were bullys (one slowly bullied a yellow tang till it died). What is the most peaceful, true percs, false percs, blacks? I plan on getting a pair of snowflake, picasso, blacks, or a mixed pair and am not sure when to add them. The most aggressive fish I may to add to the tank would be a yellow tang, purple tang, mystery wrasse, or yellow coris wrasse.

2) What is the best thing to do to give the best chance of pairing up? Buy juveniles? Same classification? I may look to pair a snowflake with a black. Is there any difference between different classes pairing up versus say 2 snowflakes or 2 picassos?

 

[cedzaquaddiction]

Best bet is to buy when juvenile, and not mix clown types. I've seen some very limited success with mixing clown types as a pair, but have seen great success with same type clowns being raised from juvenile. Allot of people try getting one larger than the other as the female is normally the larger of the pair, but, that sometimes results in bullying.

Try juveniles of the same type, and add at the same time. They'll figure out who the female is going to be amongst themselves.

I've heard stories of aggression from clarkiis as well towards other clown types regardless of size.

Perhaps James Cook will chime in...

Best of luck!!!

 

[jamescook]

What Ced said. +1
In general I find the true percs to be the most peaceful. So Picasso if you want designers.

 

[kirkwood]

jamescook;821023 wrote: What Ced said. +1
In general I find the true percs to be the most peaceful. So Picasso if you want designers.

So would you add a pair of juvenile picasso's before or after a yellow or purple tang?

But if I added a juvi perc and juvi black at the same time, they would still have a chance of pairing??

 

[jamescook]

I can pair up any fish. I even have a darwin paired with a white-stripe maroon! But usually it's harder to pair different color variants and species. There's always a chance though. My Smoky Os are part ocellaris and percula.
I've never had a problem with clowns and tangs at any stage. Your bully ocellaris was an anomaly imo

 

[frantz]

I paired a maroon a year apart but it was a 2 month process. As I've posted before, I had to mix a clark with my established ocellaris pair and the clark almost was killed. Now they each have their own side of the tank and i've considered adding a juv clark to see if they'll pair. Mixing is bad, and I'd buy em all at the same time if you want many, from what I've read, they should pair up based on how many suitable hosting sites they find, or else only two will mature.

 

[cedzaquaddiction]

I ended up getting two white striped marroons juveniles from my LFS. There were about 8 of them in the tank, and two sets of two that hung together very tight even at a young age. I watched them for about 2 weeks before I purchased them. I literally stopped by twice a day everyday the store was open and observed them. They were separated at times, but never for more than a couple of minutes, and they always sought eachother out and hung out in the same corner of the tank 24-7.

When I purchased them, I was nervous that they would part ways or start fighting when added to my 55g QT with other fish, but, they never did. They have made their temporary home by the return of my HOB filter in QT, and are very seldom separated. If they get separated an night, they find eachother as soon as the lights come back on, and hang out together for the rest of the day. Never seen any aggression towards eachother, and they often bring eachother food as well. Hope this luck continues when they make it to my DT.

From what I've read, maroons are among some of the more aggressive clowns as well. We'll see what happens as they continue to grow and age...

 

[kirkwood]

jamescook;821038 wrote: I can pair up any fish. I even have a darwin paired with a white-stripe maroon! But usually it's harder to pair different color variants and species. There's always a chance though. My Smoky Os are part ocellaris and percula.
I've never had a problem with clowns and tangs at any stage. Your bully ocellaris was an anomaly imo

when you say you can "pair up" any fish, what types of things are you doing to encourage pairing? I assume it relates to the environment you offer them?

My plan is to first add an RBTA and get it situated and happy in my tank (120gal mixed reef).. then i will add 2 clowns at the exact same time, whether they be the same or not.. The most different I would attempt would be a snowflake with a black ocellaris.. I won't mix ocellaris and percs...

 

[jamescook]

Yes, you just want to have a comfortable environment for the fish and they'll usually bond. If one is older/larger then it's clear which one will be alpha/female and no need to fight. I'd be surprised if you have a problem with ocellaris. It sometimes takes a while for them to both share the nem.

 

[jamescook]

I'm not sure what your valentini is, but I've paired up an older clark with a new young male. You should be able to put a small boy in there. Clarks always act like they fight even after they pair.