maroon clownfish trouble

s.petrone

Reefing newb
hi, im having a bit of clownfish trouble. i recenlty purchased 2 maroon clownfish. both of which seemed to look the best out of multiple stores i have went to. i added them to my 30 gallon tank. right off the bat they started fighting, which i though could have been normal for the female to chase the male. although we arent sure if they both are female or if one is a male and the other is a female. the problem is it has been about 5 days now and the one clown hides under the live rock. he has barley any fins left on him, they are all bitten up. he will not eat because he is too scared to come out of the hole he is hiding in. i was considering moving him into my 10 gallon tank (which has a pair of ocellaris clownfish in it) until he seems to be getting better. does anyone have any advice on what to do or how to help heal him?
 
Moving him to the other tank wont do him any better. They will kill him surely. This could be the dominance establishment if they are both young they are most likely male. If not, the sex will change when one does establish dominance. Maroon clowns are very violent and often will fight. If you lose him, try and get a small fish that is young in order to allow dominance to establish more surely. You will have to wait, he will be safer where he is in comparison with the other tank.
 
Were both clowns the same size as each other? If so, that was probably the problem. When you put them in your tank, their new home, they immediately started fighting for dominance. If you put the maroon in the tank with your other clowns, they will also probably fight. Different species of clowns will usually fight to the death, and maroons are especially aggressive. Your best bet is to take one of them back to the store. Even if they were different sizes, because of their aggression, maroons often do better kept alone. They are one of the few clowns that are healthier when kept solitary.
 
Maroon clowns do not pair up easily even if one is larger then the other.One or both needs to be returned or the weaker one will perish.You will need to buy them as mated pairs or live with just one.

On a side note,gold/yellow stripe maroons are a little less aggressive.IMO and experience,alot less aggressive then the white stripe.
 
Sounds like good info above. Alot of times LFS will just put two clowns together and say they are a mated pair when they are not. Maybe you can return one.
 
+1 everyone...maroons are of the genus Premnas, whereas all other clowns are of the genus Amphiprion.Premnas clowns don't usually pair up after their first mate, and that is if they do pair up at all...most likely they are not a pair, and they will fight to the death if you don't take one back to the LFS, and I would recommend taking the one that's getting beat up, if you can. Pretty much the only other thing you could do without getting a whole new tank is you could try a mesh divider, so they are seperated, although this most likely wouldn't look very good...Also, oftentimes the white striped ones will become yellow stripe...both of my pair did.
 
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