Pairing clowns

[MikeyZo]

I have a 14g biocube that is a little over a year old. It houses a semi-onyx clown, a 6-line, a starry eyed blenny and a royal gramma, amongst the varying clean up crew tank mates and corals, both SPS and LPS. My clown hosts a small mix of hammers and a frogspawn in the rear corner of the tank. My starry eyed blenny had killed any other potential fish tank mate I’ve introduced.

Overloading the bioload of the tank aside, if I were to think about trying to pair my clown, it would have to be another of the same species, correct? I believe onyx clowns are a version of a. percula, so any ocellaris is out. Would it work best with only another onyx? Is there a method to pairing them? My clown is an adult, so would getting a smaller juvenile instill aggression? I’m sure there is a ton of info on pairing clowns out there, but I figured I’d go right to the best info I know, this forum. TIA

 

[KrisReef]

Bioload aside, the tank is currently housing fish with personality tendancies that lets call "Mike Tyson, George Forman, Jeffery Dahmer and Charles Manson." WIth all those great (fish) personalities in the same tiny foot print your tank;s aggression potential is probably going to limit the success probability of a new punk juvenile clownfish to be a very low number, imo.

If these fishes decide not to attack the new clown because of space competition, then you have to toss the dice on finding a juvenile male that the female will accept. That is another issue, as females like to chose their companions and if they reject your choice of tiny fish they will pick at it until it dies, ime.

Or, if you find a juvenile that is tough enough to beat back it's cell mates in the general population, that fish may be tough enough to kill your current female, and I have seen this happen, ime you are tossing a lot of dice with this scenario. GL

 

[Daniel@R2R]

Bioload aside, the tank is currently housing fish with personality tendancies that lets call "Mike Tyson, George Forman, Jeffery Dahmer and Charles Manson." WIth all those great (fish) personalities in the same tiny foot print your tank;s aggression potential is probably going to limit the success probability of a new punk juvenile clownfish to be a very low number, imo.

If these fishes decide not to attack the new clown because of space competition, then you have to toss the dice on finding a juvenile male that the female will accept. That is another issue, as females like to chose their companions and if they reject your choice of tiny fish they will pick at it until it dies, ime.

Or, if you find a juvenile that is tough enough to beat back it's cell mates in the general population, that fish may be tough enough to kill your current female, and I have seen this happen, ime you are tossing a lot of dice with this scenario. GL

Came to give my .02, but I can't improve on this. Great explanation @KrisReef.

 

[KrisReef]

Came to give my .02, but I can't improve on this. Great explanation @KrisReef.

My life time of experience has been useful now and again

 

[MikeyZo]

Yeah I figured something like that would be the case. And good choices on your personality IDs .

Is it just the usual that the larger becomes the female?

 

[KrisReef]

Yeah I figured something like that would be the case. And good choices on your personality IDs .

Is it just the usual that the larger becomes the female?

When two juveniles pair, the most aggressive dominates the relationship. If they “like” the other juvenile they may successfully pair up. If they don’t like each other they will fight until death, in a tank.

The most aggressive fighter generally is going to eventually “win” and survive to adulthood- transitioning into a female.

The crapshoot with clownfish is the age and sexual maturity of the fish is generally unknown when we get them. We may make decisions based on size but maturity and sex are not always clear until a pair happens.

My mother wanted me to date this “nice single lady” at her church. I can’t tell you how repulsive I found this person, but I do think about it when reefers start talking about pairing clownfish. If she doesn’t like our choice, it’s not likely that it will work out the way we think it should. These fish are very particular about their own mates so making a match isn’t necessarily a straight forward arrangement that we can successfully make
.

 

[Daniel@R2R]

When two juveniles pair, the most aggressive dominates the relationship. If they “like” the other juvenile they may successfully pair up. If they don’t like each other they will fight until death, in a tank.

The most aggressive fighter generally is going to eventually “win” and survive to adulthood- transitioning into a female.

The crapshoot with clownfish is the age and sexual maturity of the fish is generally unknown when we get them. We may make decisions based on size but maturity and sex are not always clear until a pair happens.

My mother wanted me to date this “nice single lady” at her church. I can’t tell you how repulsive I found this person, but I do think about it when reefers start talking about pairing clownfish. If she doesn’t like our choice, it’s not likely that it will work out the way we think it should. These fish are very particular about their own mates so making a match isn’t necessarily a straight forward arrangement that we can successfully make
.

LOL That gif is going to give me nightmares...

 

[MikeyZo]

LOL That gif is going to give me nightmares...

Makes me think of the Vogons reciting their poetry

 

[vetteguy53081]

I have a 14g biocube that is a little over a year old. It houses a semi-onyx clown, a 6-line, a starry eyed blenny and a royal gramma, amongst the varying clean up crew tank mates and corals, both SPS and LPS. My clown hosts a small mix of hammers and a frogspawn in the rear corner of the tank. My starry eyed blenny had killed any other potential fish tank mate I’ve introduced.

Overloading the bioload of the tank aside, if I were to think about trying to pair my clown, it would have to be another of the same species, correct? I believe onyx clowns are a version of a. percula, so any ocellaris is out. Would it work best with only another onyx? Is there a method to pairing them? My clown is an adult, so would getting a smaller juvenile instill aggression? I’m sure there is a ton of info on pairing clowns out there, but I figured I’d go right to the best info I know, this forum. TIA

Two types of Clowns will mate but its up to them to pair off. Placing two together is a gamble and my best success was placing 12 together and letting them pair off in which I got 4 breeding pairs out of the mix

 

[Mandarinkeeper]

ALL juvenile clowns are male.
Most juvenile pairings will work things out- especially if one is 1/3 bigger than the other.
A mature female will sometimes accept a smaller juvenile as a mate, but it is less likely than if both clowns have yet to establish sexual dominance- which means transitioning to the female.