Clownfish question

[hotelbravo]

Before we get into my question let me paint the picture.
I have a 30 gallon saltwater tank that has been established for roughly 10 months now. i have had my Ocellaris since the first month and he has been the best, although he does not touch my RBTA. I have had many trial and error fish through this process but the Ocellaris has survived it all. About a month ago i bought a Maroon clown, ignoring the warnings my local fish store gave me about mixing the two species i put them together. Right from the beginning they have been best of friends not once have i seen them fight or even nip at each other. The maroon loves my RBTA and has brought my Ocellaris closer and closer to the anemone (he still wont go in the anemone).
My main question is how likely is it they these two will mate and become a breeding pair. If so how long should i expect this process to take.
The current tank mates consists of just a Mandarin Dragonet, i tried adding a Watchman a week ago and my Ocellaris killed him as soon as he went near the Maroon. (The Ocellaris has never before been aggressive towards anything). There is also one scarlet skunk shrimp and a few small hermit crabs.
Any thoughts or input would be much appreciated

[A sea K]

My guess, when the Maroon gets older you can say goodbye to you're Ocellaris. This is one case of a LFS giving proper advice.
To add, a 30 gal is really too small for a grown maroon, he likely won't be very kind to anyone else either.

[rlm2005]

The LFS was correct. It's hard enough to pair up two Maroons, the female is brutal. The little occelaris doesn't stand a chance especially in a 30 gallon tank.

[gone fishin]

I also suspect at some point you will be down one occelaris as well as the mandarin.

[hotelbravo]

I am planning on upgrading to a 75 gallon in april so i hope this will change some of your minds cause right now im starting to feel my stomach tighten from the thought of the maroon killing my Ocellaris. I am in no way shape or form an expert as this is my first saltwater aquarium. i just do not understand. it doesnt make sense that the Maroon would just decide one day it doesnt like the Ocellaris anymore and kill it.

[jrp1588]

Originally Posted by hotelbravo

I am planning on upgrading to a 75 gallon in april so i hope this will change some of your minds cause right now im starting to feel my stomach tighten from the thought of the maroon killing my Ocellaris. I am in no way shape or form an expert as this is my first saltwater aquarium. i just do not understand. it doesnt make sense that the Maroon would just decide one day it doesnt like the Ocellaris anymore and kill it.

They are juvenile fish. Animals change as they grow. I didn't like girls when I was a little boy, but now that I'm in my twenties, I spend way more time a resources chasing them around than I care to mention. haha

[gone fishin]

In general clowns tend to go about their business until puberty hits. Then their can be only one dominant female and a male mate. All clowns are not the same, maroons are about the most aggressive.

[cangrejo]

your ocellaris it's probably tank bred and chances are it won't go in the anemone

[julie180]

All good advise. It would be advisable to chose one and return the other to the LFS.
Also, in the future, don't buy fish for your planned tank. Life happens way to often and plans change.

[pyithar]

Originally Posted by jrp1588

They are juvenile fish. Animals change as they grow. I didn't like girls when I was a little boy, but now that I'm in my twenties, I spend way more time a resources chasing them around than I care to mention. haha

nice analogy!

[snorvich]

Originally Posted by julie180

All good advise. It would be advisable to chose one and return the other to the LFS.
Also, in the future, don't buy fish for your planned tank. Life happens way to often and plans change.

Exactly. The maroon clownfish will kill the ocellaris in the current tank or in an upgraded 75 gallon tank. The question is not "if" but "when". After it kills the ocellaris, your maroon clownfish will want to control fifty gallons of tank space and pretty much will go after any other fish in that space.

[Masoch]

10 or 11 years ago, a local fish breeder had a mated ocellaris / maroon pair. I lost the male during a contractor-related air conditioning outage and the female last year during Toronto's ice storm.

Here's an old pic of them. It's hard to tell from the picture, but the female was almost twice the size of the male, and she also had just 1 cheek spine. Weird fish.

It's possible to get them to pair up, but I believe the breeder 1.) got lucky and 2.) worked very hard to introduce them slowly.

[Stevenliu9]

Agree with everyone. The maroon will murder the ocellaris one day when it grows up. Right now they are school kids playing nice, once they hit adolescent the knifes will come out.