Percula Clowns question..

[ThatDarnDragon]

The petshop was nice to let me exchange my tomato clown for 2 percula clowns. (better for my tank anyway)

I made sure to get 2 clowns of the same size.

Now, how do I know which is a female and which is male? (or when would I know rather)

They got plenty of caves to sleep in. I made sure of that when I added new live rock.

Anything I should know about them that should not come as a surprise to me?

 

[Ed4567]

The female clown will become larger than the male. And I wouldnt be too hopeful about them going into your carefuly prepared caves, mine choose to host first a powerhead, then a barnacle shell, and now a finger coral and a bit of xenia .

 

[Ed4567]

O and dont be worried if you find one of the clowns doing a shimmering dance thing when it is close to the other one- it's just them bonding.

 

[ThatDarnDragon]

they havent been more than 2 inches apart, its almost like they're afraid to be apart.

When they 'bond', is there a slim chance they may breed or no? How rare is it to see them breed?

I hope they dont go near the filter/powerhead. when fish rest there, they make me nervous. (How can I not be, they look like they're dying!)

Do they sleep more at the surface or at the bottom of the tank?

 

[jflowers]

If they are both juvies and the same size, then its likely that niether is male or female yet. Once they start to grow, the dominent one will become the female and the other will become male, sort of hemaphrodites, but there is another word for it as they are not true hermaphrodites as the male can become female, but not vise versa. [EDIT: once this takes place the female will grow larger than the male, already, Krusty (the one on the right, in my avatar) is bigger than Bob (the one on the left), so Krusty may need renaming soon Krustilina?] [EDIT2: I have read that they are easy to breed, but never seen it myself. In the morning, both my clowns are 'laying' on the sand, once the light go on they are off for another days wandering]

Jon

 

[Ed4567]

The term is "protandrous hermaphrodites"

As far as I know they are fairly easy to get spawning once they are mature (you probably have juviniles) although rasing the resulting lavae is quite time consuming since you need to grow tiny foods for them to feed on and keep the food at a very high density.

 

[ThatDarnDragon]

its a new challenge I'll be glad to take on when/if that comes.

How do I know if they are 'juvies'? Just to be sure

 

[Ed4567]

Not sure if there is a definate way to know what sex they are apart obviously when they breed.

Here is a link to a very good article on breeding clownfish: http/reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=240158

(hope no one minds me linking to this site)

 

[jflowers]

The term is "protandrous hermaphrodites"

Knew it was somthing like that, did not want to get it wrong

Jon

 

[parker313]

Do they sleep more at the surface or at the bottom of the tank?

Mine slept horizontal, floating at the top of the water under the filter return. I thought for sure he was dead, but nope, just resting. Now, he spends most of his time "headstanding" in the top right corner. If he's not headstanding, he's almost always sideways. I bought him a toadstool leather mushroom coral in the hopes that he'd host it, but he's still pretty happy in his corner