Common Name(s) : Maroon Clownfish/Anemonefish, Spinecheek Clownfish, Gold Bar/Gold Stripe Maroon Clownfish

Scientific Name : Premnas biaculeatus

Family : Pomacentridae

Origin/Habitat : Indo-Australian archipelago, Indo-Pacific. Typically found in lagoons, seaweed reefs and protected coastal reefs at a depth of 1-16metres

Max Size : 20cm; 6"

Minimum Tank Size : 30 UK gallons; 30 US. Preferably bigger for a pair

Care : This is one of the largest clownfish and also one of the most aggressive. Unlike other clownfish of the Amphiprion spp., the maroon clown is alone in the Premnas genus and is the only clown to have cheek spines, which can easily get entangled in aquarium netting. This fish should not be kept with other species of clownfish and should only be kept singly or in a mated pair. It should not be kept with other small peaceful species although my Maroon clown at 10cm bullied my 8cm Royal Gramma to death! Due to this aggressiveness it should be added last. This is a fairly easy fish to acclimate and like most clownfish is generally considered quite hardy. It is a reef safe fish and shouldn't bother inverts. However they are very territorial and will happily remove anything you put in their territory which doesn't meet their approval. This includes rock work and corals.

Feeding : Maroon clowns will accept most foods but do best on a meaty diet. I feed mine on frozen artemia, mysis, krill and marine pellets although she will readily eat prawns, chopped octopus, chopped raw fish and she even picks at nori. She has been known to take a whole prawn into her hidey hole to eat over a few days. I feed mine 3 or 4 times daily at least and she is doing much better than when she had only 1 or 2 bigger meals a day.

Sexing and Breeding : Maroon clowns are sexually dominant. All start as males and the biggest most aggressive will then become a female with the next largest becoming her mate. Other smaller males would stay as non-breeding males. In the home aquarium any single maroon clown will become female. Females are significantly larger than males and are more aggressive. Juveniles and smaller adult males are bright red in color. Females become maroon to nearly black as they mature. They are difficult to pair. A female will most likely kill any male put into her territory. If you can get them to pair they should spawn fairly easily.

Comments : Maroon clowns are beautiful fish with lots of character. They do recognize their owner and will swim up to see you. Mine begs for food and will eat from my hands. In the wild a mated pair will host in a bubble tip anemone Entacmaea quadricolor, but they will readily host in anything provided including Sarcophyton sp. and larger Ricordia sp. If no corals are provided they will happily live among the rocks. There is no need to keep an anemone with ANY clownfish.



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