Next fish opinions?

Foxface is the next fish in my tank once I move to the 210 this fall. Might not be a bad idea to have some RO handy so you can start small 10 gallon water changes just in case that ammonia spikes on ya.

 

I did not take his comment to mean you should go out and buy 8 new fish. I think he was saying he did it and the key was they were all from the same tank set up so they were already familiar with each other. I personally would do no more than 3-4 at a time. I just added 3 pajama cardinals to my DT last night but they were QT'd together for 3 weeks in water pulled from my DT.

If you are going to add that a large qty I suggest doing it in the cover of night when existing residents are in their caves and the new ones have some down time prior to being discovered. Good luck.

 

Exactly my point. I'd almost recommend QTing the new fish together so they have a chance to rid any pests as well. Plus once QTed for a couple weeks they wont potentially cause any fights among themselves just the fish in the DT which could shortly the aggression.

 

If you want them to actually pair up, yes same kind.

 

That depends. I think you can get percula with oscellaris and things like that. However, in general, it is best to get clowns that are of the same type. What type of clownfish do you have? and how big is it? Because depending on what type it is, depends on the size to get for the second one. A large mature clownfish by itself will most likely be a female. So, if you buy another large clownfish from the store that has been by itself, chances are you get another female. This would be problems with pairing up. They will probably fight, especially if it is of the maroon or tomato type. So, a slightly smaller, juvenile fish tends to work better (then it will be a male). If the clownfish is a juvenile, then another one roughly the same size works well for adding as a pair. The exception is the maroon clownfish. If you are pairing a maroon, all bets are off. lol. They can be tough. The best strategy is to get a really small one to pair it up.

If you have more details about the clownfish, you could get a more definitive answer.

Hope that helps.

 

Yeah, he looks like a juvenile. I think the picasso are percula and you are probably right, this is an ocellaris. I know people like Sanjay have paired and even bred percula with oscellaris. So, I don't think that would be a problem. The black clowns can be ocellaris. I have a pair of black ocellaris myself. That would not be a difficult set to pair IMO. Since yours if a juvenile, I think you are going to want to get a fish similar in size, just a bit smaller. As they grow, one will take the dominant role and become the female. The other will then stay the male. Someone else can chime in with advice but I think especially a black ocellaris would be quite easy to pair with this one.

 

I would stay away from adding another clown since you can not determine sex until they reach sexual maturity. This being said if the one you have in the tank now is a female and the new one you add is a female they will eventually fight. If you want to have a pair I would say remove this one from the tank and purchase a mated pair. Adding a different variety of clown is a definite no-no. They will fight period. I ran a similiar question by a RC moderator and this was the suggestion he gave me. Here is a link to the thread on RC that I use when I am looking to add new inhabitants. They only offer suggestions but have vast knowledge for why to or not to add specific fish to your tank.

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2068112

 

I agree that it can be risky to try to pair with an existing clown already in the tank. I was under the impression that ocellaris were pretty easy to pair and such. I used the advice below and was able to pair my large female maroon successfully. It was a risk though! /DesktopModules/ActiveForums/themes/_default//emoticons/smile.gif

Here is also a good thread on how to pair clownfish:
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=215098

 

I disagree.





A clown that size is almost certainly male. They are all born male. If you get another smallish one it will also be male. After they "hook up", one will become female.

Next time you are in, check out our long surge tank. It has about 20 clowns in there from about 5 different species all getting along

If it were Maroons, then it would be a totally different story

 

They'll settle their differences later today or tomorrow is my best guess. Another thing I tend to do is feed them a little on the heavy side after I add some new tank mates so they are all running around after the food together. Tends to make them 'bond' a little bit IMO.