Clownfish pairing - Need advice on how to proceed!

[Raazka]

For three weeks now my male clownfish has been on his own after his mate died from a gill injury and I’ve finally found a new girl for him today. He’s about 1.5 inches long and a regular ocellaris, the female I got is about 2 inches long and an ice storm.

She’s currently in a mesh isolation box while he can roam free in the tank, they haven’t yet payed attention to each other since she’s still a bit nervous and only focusing on her new surroundings. Lights are now off for the night.

What are the signs that I can look out for to know that they like each other and that I can release her safely? Or do clownfish always need to go a bit at each other before deciding if they accept being mated?

 

[littlefoxx]

For three weeks now my male clownfish has been on his own after his mate died from a gill injury and I’ve finally found a new girl for him today. He’s about 1.5 inches long and a regular ocellaris, the female I got is about 2 inches long and an ice storm.

She’s currently in a mesh isolation box while he can roam free in the tank, they haven’t yet payed attention to each other since she’s still a bit nervous and only focusing on her new surroundings. Lights are now off for the night.

What are the signs that I can look out for to know that they like each other and that I can release her safely? Or do clownfish always need to go a bit at each other before deciding if they accept being mated?

They usually will fight a little. I would wait until both are looking at each other through the isolation box and not trying to get at each other. Did this with my maroon female and released the male after and she nipped at him a little then went about her business

 

[Raazka]

They usually will fight a little. I would wait until both are looking at each other through the isolation box and not trying to get at each other. Did this with my maroon female and released the male after and she nipped at him a little then went about her business

Awesome, that was what I was planning to do at first. Thank you!

 

[ReforgeBlade]

How did it turn out? I lost my male 2 weeks ago and am planning to get a new male soon

 

[Raazka]

How did it turn out? I lost my male 2 weeks ago and am planning to get a new male soon

So it actually worked wonderfully for the first time ever. I couldn’t have asked for a better result.

When I released the female (she was in the mesh box for about 10-12 hours) she immediately went to the male and they started swimming very close together. No biting, no bullying, no shaking, they took to each other right away. For about 2-3 nights they didn’t sleep in the same spot, but now they do all of the time.

I think I got very lucky because my last 3 attempts at introducing a new clown to a male or female never went well, one of them always ended up rejecting the other. This couple however appears to have been made to be lol. The female is super sweet towards the male and he looks infatuated with her, even submits without her needing to do anything.

So no real advice on how to make them like each other, they’ll either do or they won’t, but size in my opinion does play a big role. Getting a much smaller male or a much bigger female will up your chances.

 

[ReforgeBlade]

My female is pretty big. She was in my 220 with her original male when my 15g cube started leaking so I had to move a pair of black and whites into the tank with them. They were all swimming together a bit then some chasing and nipping but they would go back to swimming together. Then one day I was out mowing and my orange male who was the main aggressor had jumped out of the tank on me and I found him hours later. After that my orange female started chasing my black and white male around the tank pretty aggressively and swimming with my black and white female all the time. I had a new 32g cube cycling so I could separate them again and one day I found my black and white male swimming in the overflow on the side of my tank so I evicted the orange female to the 32g now I’m planning to get her a new male

 

[PharmrJohn]

Glad to hear everything worked out. Clowns being clowns, you have no adequate predictability in WHAT they're gonna do! Great job my friend!

 

[Gumbies R Us]

So it actually worked wonderfully for the first time ever. I couldn’t have asked for a better result.

When I released the female (she was in the mesh box for about 10-12 hours) she immediately went to the male and they started swimming very close together. No biting, no bullying, no shaking, they took to each other right away. For about 2-3 nights they didn’t sleep in the same spot, but now they do all of the time.

I think I got very lucky because my last 3 attempts at introducing a new clown to a male or female never went well, one of them always ended up rejecting the other. This couple however appears to have been made to be lol. The female is super sweet towards the male and he looks infatuated with her, even submits without her needing to do anything.

So no real advice on how to make them like each other, they’ll either do or they won’t, but size in my opinion does play a big role. Getting a much smaller male or a much bigger female will up your chances.

Glad to hear that your clownfish are getting along just fine and not trying to kill each other!

 

[DexterKarin]

Quick question. Just lost my male clown. Female is about 2 inches. Given what is typically at the stores, can I try a much smaller male? Or should I try to find one a bit older.

 

[Raazka]

Quick question. Just lost my male clown. Female is about 2 inches. Given what is typically at the stores, can I try a much smaller male? Or should I try to find one a bit older.

Nah go for it, a smaller male will do alright. Try and get one that has minimal aggression towards the other clown(s) he’s with.