Hot Clown on Clown Action

[Frozenocean]

Ha.....knew I'd peak your interest.....

Question.....I have a 3" or so Maroon Clown in my 90....she's the Queen Biatch of the tank.

I have a great opportunity to acquire another Gold Maroon Clown,. It's about 3 inches as well I beleive

I'm assuming they're both females now

I have a hunch but I'm thinking I'd end up with an underwater Royal Rumble (fight to the death?!) or is there a possibility they could be friends or at least keep their distance?

Thanks!!

[ponokareefer]

Highly unlikely. Do a search on reefcentral about maroon clowns and you'll find that even if you get a much smaller male for the female, the female might still kill the male.

[untamed]

My experience is that the established clown will attempt to kill the newcomer, regardless of size. A larger new clown might have a better chance of surviving. If you can protect the new fish long enough, biatch will eventually accept "her", and she will change to a male and you will have a happy couple.

[Nebthet]

Once a clown becomes a female, there is no going back.

If the new clown you want to add is also female, you will have a fight on your hands.

[freddy]

The largest clown is the female and the smaller is the male,if you bought a larger clown than the one you have,that would become the female,I am also thinking of adding a marron clown to the one I already have,tried it once years ago with another one I had ,acclimatized the newcomer put him in the tank,he lasted about 2 minutes if that,the one i already had killed it almost instantly,if I do it again I will put the new clown in a floating container,so the pair can see each other for a few days,but can't attack,let them get used to each other.

[ponokareefer]

I had read somewhere that Maroon's don't change back to males after becoming female. I'm trying to find the link, but haven't been able to yet. I know with occelaris, percula, skunk's and clarkii's, they can change back, but I believe Maroon's are different. Best to do your own research before attempting something like this.

[freddy]

I just researched on marron clowns and they are the same as other clowns they change sex.

[ponokareefer]

Here are a few links about the discussion on maroon clowns:

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1857485&highlight=maroon+female+change
http://knol.google.com/k/forming-pair-bonds-in-clownfish#
http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1895683&highlight=maroon+female+sex+change


I guess they never say that a female maroon won't change back into a male, but that they will probably kill themself trying to show she is the more dominant fish. Bottom line, if you have a larger maroon, try to find a very small one to pair with it and have a container to keep the small fish in until the larger fish accepts them.