tomato clownfish pair

[Andrew]

Right now I have a 36 gallon reef tank with a 1'' tomato clownfish I have had for around 1.5 years and 2- 1'' green chromis. I want to add anthor tomato clownfish. I need to know the following things:

- Is the clownfish I have now a female or male?
- How large of a tomato clownfish should I add?
- The clownfish I have now is really shy and has only been in the same tank with another clownfish about 7-8 months ago and that was only for around 3 days cause the ending up fighting and they about killed each other.

[dantodd]

Originally posted by Andrew
Right now I have a 36 gallon reef tank with a 1'' tomato clownfish I have had for around 1.5 years and 2- 1'' green chromis. I want to add anthor tomato clownfish. I need to know the following things:

- Is the clownfish I have now a female or male?
She is female

Originally posted by Andrew
- How large of a tomato clownfish should I add?


You should add as small a clownfish as possible that is living at the LFS with a large group of other tomato clowns.

Originally posted by Andrew
- The clownfish I have now is really shy and has only been in the same tank with another clownfish about 7-8 months ago and that was only for around 3 days cause the ending up fighting and they about killed each other.

You probably added too large a clownfish and they were both females.

PLEASE READ THE PAIRING FAQ! You can find it in the thread titled "Clownfish & Anemones FAQ" at the top of this forum.

[ctopal]

I had read that the larger ones were the females. I inherited a pair of tomatoes. Ones about an inch and the other is about 3 inches. So I would have thought your 1 inch was a male.

Did I get my facts mixed up?

[Andrew]

Originally posted by dantodd
She is female



You should add as small a clownfish as possible that is living at the LFS with a large group of other tomato clowns.



You probably added too large a clownfish and they were both females.

PLEASE READ THE PAIRING FAQ! You can find it in the thread titled "Clownfish & Anemones FAQ" at the top of this forum.

The lfs doesn't carry "large groups" of clownfish. They mainly only get in a few each week and they are kept in differen't tanks. Im getting the clown from a smaller lfs that has really good prices. I may have trouble finding one less then 1''.

[dantodd]

Well, the males are smaller than females. It is only because she has been in the tank for 1.5 years that you can be sure she is a she.

If you can't find an appropriately sized male/juvie for her then you need to let her grow up a bit. Feed her 2-3 times a day, try the sturation feeding method from the FAQ.

[Andrew]

I feed her 2 times a day now and she won't grow. Been the same size. Feed her sheet algea ( loves ) pellets, and flake foods.

[dantodd]

hmm... god luck trying to find a male small/young enough to mate with her, might be tough. I'd try feeding mysis and good quality frozen brine as a 3rd feeding, assuming your bio-filter can take it.

[Andrew]

Ill try some cocktail shrimp tonight. Ive got some brine shrimp in the frezer that Ive had for around 4 months. Would it still be good to feed?

[dantodd]

I would think it is still good.

[Andrew]

Ill have to try it. When ever I hold up the food she just waits for me to drop it in our stick my hand in to give it to her.

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b18/Evanish/20034_0101Image0004.jpg

[dantodd]

They sure do get us trained pretty well don't they?

[Andrew]

Yea. Needy things. When I clean the glass she will come up and start nipping my hands cause she thinks I have food in my hands cause I had fed her.