oscillator
New Member
Hello all,
I was hoping to get some feedback on my specific situation on pairing my 2 clownfish. I have found info online with good suggestion and recommendations but I had some questions I hope more experienced people could answer.
I have had clownfish in the past, almost always in pairs and I have had good success in having them pair or what at least thought looked like pairing (they would not really fight and stick close with eachother and would show behavior of pairing like twitching and submissive/dominant behavior). I think I had good luck because I would purchase clowns from a LFS that already showed signs of pairing. I unfortunately lost clowns to ich or unsuccessful QT. I then purchased from an online vendor who sold QT'd fish but at the time of purchasing only had one ocellaris clown. I would have preferred to purchase and introduce 2 clowns at the same time but went ahead and purchased it anyways and have owned it for about 6 months. Over the last month I noticed that the clown started getting a lot larger and sticking to an area in the tank, underneath an overhang and would clean and dish out the sand as it was hosting or claiming this territory. I had always intended to get it a mate and finally did so earlier this week, this is the first time I have added 2 clownfish at different times. I purchased a black occellaris clown from the same vendor and specifically asked for a smaller clown as my current clown was showing signs of having become a female, as that is what I found from research and was recommended.
I placed the new smaller clown in a breeder box Tuesday when it arrived to isolate it from the old clown so they could get familiar with each other and avoid any attacks. I noticed in that time that the old clown stuck close to its area and would 'patrol' it most of the time, this may have been due to the new clown or addition of an unfamiliar breederbox but likely both. I would like to mention that this clown has never really been aggressive. After about 3 days (last night) I released the new clown and watched closely. The new clown is a bit mindless and was swimming around randomly, at the first instance of coming across the old clown it showed signs of submission, twitching and getting close to it. The old clown accepted for a short moment but then I don't know if it tried to show signs of dominance or simply tried to chase it away but it looked like it tried to nip its tail and kept charging it when it got too close in its area. Eventually the smaller clown got over it and swam away.
Interestingly the old clown started looking for the new clown right after and swam towards it keeping a small distance. When the new clown would turn its direction, the old clown would turn back to its area almost as to say come and follow me and they repeated this action for a short while. The old clown was pretty consistent and would almost get impatient, go to the new clown try to give it a little nip as in to say, hey pay attention, then swim back a short distance and repeat. This went on for a short while, the old clown got over it and went back to its area. The rest of the night, periodically, the old clown would peak out look for the new clown swim to it, watch it for awhile and try to nip it as if it was trying to get it to submit then swim back. The new clown would avoid the old clown and would continue about, swimming mindlessly, lol.
This morning when I was servicing the tank the fish swam and hid as they usually do when I first start and the new clown was in the territory of the old clown, the old clown let him hang out for a bit but then started charging at it again, the new clown would avoid him but stayed put. Some info I had found to help pairing was to rearrange the scape to help remove any territorial issues. As my scape is a one piece design I made, that wasn't really possible, I did however have some fake plants that got included with the breeder box. I went ahead and placed the plants in the old clowns area and that seems to have cured the territorial aggression as the old clown is now in other parts of the tank without causing any harm.
It seems as if the old clown may be making an effort to pair as it made efforts to establish dominance and would seek the new clown but the new clown is just not going along with it right now. I know this takes time and I'm likely being impatient but I would like to promote pairing and avoid anything that may prohibit them from pairing in the future. What do you guys think, should I just let time take its course and hope they pair? Is there anything I can do to help them pair? I was wondering if sticking both of them into a breeder box may help as aggression isn't really an issue and even less so after placing in the fake plants. I plan to watch them for the next few days and see what happens, in the long run if they at least get along in the same tank that would be ok too.
Tank Details:
20gal Tank
1 Tailspot Blenny
1 Purple Firefish
1 Ocellaris Clown
1 Black Ocellaris Clown
1 Green Clown Goby
Thanks in advance for any helpful info!
I was hoping to get some feedback on my specific situation on pairing my 2 clownfish. I have found info online with good suggestion and recommendations but I had some questions I hope more experienced people could answer.
I have had clownfish in the past, almost always in pairs and I have had good success in having them pair or what at least thought looked like pairing (they would not really fight and stick close with eachother and would show behavior of pairing like twitching and submissive/dominant behavior). I think I had good luck because I would purchase clowns from a LFS that already showed signs of pairing. I unfortunately lost clowns to ich or unsuccessful QT. I then purchased from an online vendor who sold QT'd fish but at the time of purchasing only had one ocellaris clown. I would have preferred to purchase and introduce 2 clowns at the same time but went ahead and purchased it anyways and have owned it for about 6 months. Over the last month I noticed that the clown started getting a lot larger and sticking to an area in the tank, underneath an overhang and would clean and dish out the sand as it was hosting or claiming this territory. I had always intended to get it a mate and finally did so earlier this week, this is the first time I have added 2 clownfish at different times. I purchased a black occellaris clown from the same vendor and specifically asked for a smaller clown as my current clown was showing signs of having become a female, as that is what I found from research and was recommended.
I placed the new smaller clown in a breeder box Tuesday when it arrived to isolate it from the old clown so they could get familiar with each other and avoid any attacks. I noticed in that time that the old clown stuck close to its area and would 'patrol' it most of the time, this may have been due to the new clown or addition of an unfamiliar breederbox but likely both. I would like to mention that this clown has never really been aggressive. After about 3 days (last night) I released the new clown and watched closely. The new clown is a bit mindless and was swimming around randomly, at the first instance of coming across the old clown it showed signs of submission, twitching and getting close to it. The old clown accepted for a short moment but then I don't know if it tried to show signs of dominance or simply tried to chase it away but it looked like it tried to nip its tail and kept charging it when it got too close in its area. Eventually the smaller clown got over it and swam away.
Interestingly the old clown started looking for the new clown right after and swam towards it keeping a small distance. When the new clown would turn its direction, the old clown would turn back to its area almost as to say come and follow me and they repeated this action for a short while. The old clown was pretty consistent and would almost get impatient, go to the new clown try to give it a little nip as in to say, hey pay attention, then swim back a short distance and repeat. This went on for a short while, the old clown got over it and went back to its area. The rest of the night, periodically, the old clown would peak out look for the new clown swim to it, watch it for awhile and try to nip it as if it was trying to get it to submit then swim back. The new clown would avoid the old clown and would continue about, swimming mindlessly, lol.
This morning when I was servicing the tank the fish swam and hid as they usually do when I first start and the new clown was in the territory of the old clown, the old clown let him hang out for a bit but then started charging at it again, the new clown would avoid him but stayed put. Some info I had found to help pairing was to rearrange the scape to help remove any territorial issues. As my scape is a one piece design I made, that wasn't really possible, I did however have some fake plants that got included with the breeder box. I went ahead and placed the plants in the old clowns area and that seems to have cured the territorial aggression as the old clown is now in other parts of the tank without causing any harm.
It seems as if the old clown may be making an effort to pair as it made efforts to establish dominance and would seek the new clown but the new clown is just not going along with it right now. I know this takes time and I'm likely being impatient but I would like to promote pairing and avoid anything that may prohibit them from pairing in the future. What do you guys think, should I just let time take its course and hope they pair? Is there anything I can do to help them pair? I was wondering if sticking both of them into a breeder box may help as aggression isn't really an issue and even less so after placing in the fake plants. I plan to watch them for the next few days and see what happens, in the long run if they at least get along in the same tank that would be ok too.
Tank Details:
20gal Tank
1 Tailspot Blenny
1 Purple Firefish
1 Ocellaris Clown
1 Black Ocellaris Clown
1 Green Clown Goby
Thanks in advance for any helpful info!
