Are sergeant major damselfish easy to breed?

heathsharky

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I had bought a large sergeant major damselfish for $5 which the people at the store called the fish "sergeant major A Hole" due to its very aggressive nature towards other fish it was housed and they wanted to get rid of him for good and to make sure he never came back so I took the "celebrity" home and is doing absolutely amazing. The fish is in my 20 gallon with my maroon clownfish which is about 2 inches long. I was planning to finding and breeding clownfish but now with this big guy around, I was thinking if sergeant majors bred in captivity, but is it easy to take care of their young and what is their sexual maturity size.


20220509_113110.jpg

This is what the fish looks like infront of its den
 

Bucs20fan

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Very aggressive damsel at that! Maroons can hold their own against most things and are usually the aggressors, but in this case you may need to watch the maroon in case its getting beat up. As far as breeding I have no clue but you are a gentleman and a scholar to give that fish a home!
 
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ISpeakForTheSeas

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With regards to the breeding, I found two articles that could be helpful. Long story short, your tank is probably too small to breed these guys.

Article 1:
Basically, spawning for this fish is similar to clownfish, but it sounds like it might be tied at least in part to diurnal (day/night) temperature changes (they seem to spawn when the temp is between 73-77F). Good water quality and a good tank where they feel safe and like they have enough space is a must. Males guard the eggs aggressively until they hatch after ~5-7 days. They should hatch at night/after the tank lights go off.

Article 2:
To sum it up, they collected wild eggs, the eggs were hatched and the fry were raised in 50 gallon circular tubs (they died in the smaller tanks, one of which was a 15 gallons), and they were only successfully raised on copepods - it doesn’t say which, and a few different species are available, so it would probably take some experimentation to figure out which should be used.
 
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dedragon

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those are some of the most aggressive fish, they have actively attacked me while scuba diving to protect their clutches. it is actually very funny because it just feels like someone coming over and tapping you with a wetsuit on. That being said i would not keep them ever as i wouldnt want that jump scare everytime i put my hand into the tank.
Them and maroon clownfish do get rather larger and should be put into a larger tank overtime of around 35-50 gallons depending on what other fish you plan to add
 
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heathsharky

heathsharky

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Very aggressive damsel at that! Maroons can hold their own against most things and are usually the aggressors, but in this case you may need to watch the maroon in case its getting beat up. As far as breeding I have no clue but you are a gentleman and a scholar to give that fish a home!
The maroon clown is about 1.5 - 2 inches and has no anemone to host which I even tried a fake one, but he likes to hide near the rock work and did this even before the damsel arrived. I don't see any problems with the two fish as of now but if there is aggression with the two I would have nowhere to put him as I have a 75 gallon with a pair california rays about 11 - 14 inches long who have a history of eating pretty small fish, and I had a young blue crab that moved to my ten gallon because he was eating tons of my fish in the 20 gallon.
 
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Big Smelly fish

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While they are cool looking fish they are aggressive and can get large. But as far a breeding I don’t think you would find a market for them. You’ll end up with a bunch of fish if successful nobody wants.
But being successful would be an accomplishment.
 
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Bucs20fan

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Yeah Both the maroon and the damsel will eventually duke it out unless you are the luckiest person ive ever met. In normal cases maroons have killed many a tang or trigger thats how mean they can be, but this damsel is on another level in most cases ive seen. Just keep a watchful eye is best advice for now. And by blue crab...like an atlantic blue crab? Like the ones we eat? If that is what it is, it will not last in a 10 or a 20 for long, they get pretty large and although they will eat nearly anything you put in front of them they are a predatory crab any time they are given the chance.
 
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heathsharky

heathsharky

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those are some of the most aggressive fish, they have actively attacked me while scuba diving to protect their clutches. it is actually very funny because it just feels like someone coming over and tapping you with a wetsuit on. That being said i would not keep them ever as i wouldnt want that jump scare everytime i put my hand into the tank.
Them and maroon clownfish do get rather larger and should be put into a larger tank overtime of around 35-50 gallons depending on what other fish you plan to add
If I am putting my hand in the tank I'm getting the shark cage LOL.
 
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areefer01

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those are some of the most aggressive fish, they have actively attacked me while scuba diving to protect their clutches. it is actually very funny because it just feels like someone coming over and tapping you with a wetsuit on. That being said i would not keep them ever as i wouldnt want that jump scare everytime i put my hand into the tank.
Them and maroon clownfish do get rather larger and should be put into a larger tank overtime of around 35-50 gallons depending on what other fish you plan to add

I've had a similar experience. Another one to avoid is atlantic blue tang. I had a couple attack me while diving just t his past January. Darn things.
 
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heathsharky

heathsharky

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While they are cool looking fish they are aggressive and can get large. But as far a breeding I don’t think you would find a market for them. You’ll end up with a bunch of fish if successful nobody wants.
But being successful would be an accomplishment.
If I did had a bunch of the offspring, I would name them "The Cartlets" (named after Eric Cartman from South Park)
 
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