Pairing golden nugget maroons

[Chad_P]

I came across a killer deal on these two so wanted to give it a shot. Ran into my BTA right away and seemed ok for a few hours.

Things changed and they turned pretty aggressive. Locking jaws and twisting. These guys are less than 2” but any chance they are both female? Maybe I made a mistake getting two that are so close in size. They stay at opposite sides of tank until they go at it for a bit. Some fin tearing is occurring as well.

These are in a 180 gallon reef. Other inhabitants are a yellow tang, purple tang, blue hippo, two pajama cardinals and 3 golden dwarf morays. No other clowns.

 

[davocean]

Hard to say just from pics, but if they are both actually 2" it's a good chance both could be female.

 

[Chad_P]

Hard to say just from pics, but if they are both actually 2" it's a good chance both could be female.

Thanks. That’s what I feared. I thought that 2” was still small for these guys and a chance they were both still male. Will see how this goes.

 

[davocean]

Thanks. That’s what I feared. I thought that 2” was still small for these guys and a chance they were both still male. Will see how this goes.

W/out a female keeping them in check usually inch and a quarter max to be sure still male, and preferably even smaller if you can.

 

[Chad_P]

W/out a female keeping them in check usually inch and a quarter max to be sure still male, and preferably even smaller if you can.

Thanks. I’m likely taking these back to the LFS tomorrow and gonna try and get another pair that’s not maroon. Too aggressive compared to other clowns I’ve had.

 

[davocean]

That's maroons, normally aggressive.
Their plus is they take anything for a host quickly, and look pretty in pics.

All clown species can potentially be aggressive and territorial, but I have found often tank bred clowns that have not been introduced to aggression from other fish yet tend to be a lot more passive.

They also seem more familiar w/ the benefit of the hand that feeds.

I lean towards percs personally, but skunks are usually on the lower end as aggression goes in clowns, usually.