*gulp* taking on a project. can i get some opinions on juvi's, mating, and qt?

[TOURKID]

Hi all! Well I went to the fishstore with intention. Then walked down the wrong isle and spotted over 20 different maroons :eek:

They had 6 to 8 full sized adults (4 inches or bigger)
and LOTZ of juvi's! all the juvi's are inseparate tanks. and each one had a lil somthing, swiming to fast, fins cut up, misbars, breathing heavy... then I spotted THE one. perfect in every way!seriously a beauty, very small. less than an inch

I started asking questions. They are wild caught, all came in at once. None had any visual signs of any sickness (VERY strange for this store whitch is plagued by sick fish) besides the fast swimming

At home in my tank I have 1 VERY VERY evil girl maroon, Im not sure of her size because my bowfront seems to enlarge her but Im guessing about two inches a lil more if anything. her stripes are all gold and shes starting to get darker

Also have in tank.. 1 bta, blood shrimp and 2 peppermints, various snails n hermits

questions...

1. I have this fish on hold. and I want to get my qt set up tonight to pick up the fish tomorrow. How long can I qt it without taking any chances on it turning female?

I def. want to qt it since its wild caught... and I already learned the hard way about not qt'ing

2. Already knowing that my maroon is completely evil... Is this a smart move? Ive been wanting to pair her since i got her.. I bought two maroons to start with, but the smaller one was getting so beat up, I got freaked out and returned it. (probley would have had a chance had I done more research.. but i dident have reef central back then)

3. Think 2 inches to 2 1/2 inches is ok? or should I let her get bigger and just trust that I will see so many juvi gsm's at once later?

thanks for reading this, I fell in love with that lil fish, but I dont want to hurt it by sacraficeing it to my evil girl.. and dont want to spend 6 weeks falling for this fish during qt process and then not be able to get em paired up sucesfully

[fishtank88]

well your maroon might attack the clown but you can probably try it out since it is another clown.
But just keep an eye on them and if anything goes wrong you can also return.
cant you?

[TOURKID]

ya i could return it. but i need to qt it before i can even introduce them.

How long can i qt with a garentee that it wont turn into a she?

[r00onmac]

i cant speak for maroons.. but if its as small as you say i think you would be safe for at least 2 months... i know that occ and perc dont reach sexual maturity for 1 year after birth, which means you can keep them alone for anywhere from 6-8 months if you get them young and still have them be sexless...

[TOURKID]

ya? this is def. a young fish. the only other clowns ive seen so small are percs and ocellerus

ok. well. Ill need at least 6 weeks. Im expecting some internal parasites, but hope i can get away with that being the biggest problem. I just gotta get it away from the lfs before it does get somthing.

[dantodd]

According to some of the literature that I've been shown, though I don't have the citation, suggests that it takes 5+ months for a juvenile to turn into a male. The transition from male to female can probably take place much faster.

I don't QT long enough. I figure if nothing shows up in 4 weeks it isn't likely to get sick. If it does show signs of anything then treat as normal for hte disease and then 4 weeks to ensure nothing else pops up.

[TOURKID]

from what ive been reading in the stickys, all wild caught fish have internal parasites. Ill find out quickly enough after he poops. he/it was trying to eat everything that floated by at the lfs. i know they got them in thursday. and i was happy to see they were in the 'safe' section... seems the left side of the store is plaugued by disease.. no matter how many times ive gone there theres ick, bacterial, fin rot, califlouer etc.. the other side, on a diff system is where all the coral is. they put my fish in the coral side. all by itself.

Ive never seen so many maroons. makes me kinda sad to know all these fish were a happy family weeks ago.. they took em all adults and children. weird for me to see that.

OH. I also read that in premas(gsm) that the female should be by herself at least a year and that she should be at least 3 inches. The more I look at adults the more i think im not waiting long enough. my fish is only 2 inches.. and shes not all buff and dark. Ill take my opertunity, but if theres no sucess (and i will try hard, but wont risk lives) Im going to wait another 6 to 8 months

I bought this shower holder at target today. its about 8 inches deep and clear with 2 large suction cups in back and a bunch of clear holes in front (large enough to fit thru for baby i think)

After QT (yes i agree if no aparent signs after two weeks, ill try my luck, but still counting on parasites) Im going to put that plastic needlepoint stuff over the holes and just keep him in there and see what feebee does. after ahwhile, ill remove the needlepoint plastic and see if i can get baby to make it a safe haven if chased to much.

[dantodd]

You can also try a floating specimen container or even a breeding container. I introduced my newest clarkii to a VERY aggressive female by letting him float in a LFS bag for an hour or so. He was acting submissive before he even got out of the bag.

I know that it is difficult to get maroons to show submission but the greater the size difference the better your chances are. Also, be sure to let him get pretty beaten up before you pull him. It's a waste to not wait long enough. He can take quite a beating before any kind of permanent damage is done.

I like the idea of the shower container just make sure that she can't get in, if they are both in there it might be hard for him to find his way out if the container is clear. That would mean he would be less likely to be able to get away from her. Put the container in his QT tank so that he can get used to it and learn the holes first. Then when you put him in install the container and release him inside the container so that he can choose when to go out.

[TOURKID]

uhh oh. u dident qt at all ;) I bought this fish i have with another maroon.. she beat it up alot.. he was doing the dance.. put i think i pulled to early...

I wonder how a juvi can know to be submissive and instinctivly know the dance n such before its even sexed. I feel like a mad scientist sometimes

I love the idea of putting it in qt first (the shower thing) ecellent idea. I know my bigger fish couldent fit thru the holes.. i suppose i could put the mesh on top of the container and secure with ziip ties. might need to dremel the holes a bit if he grows much in qt...

oh i wrote a post a few days ago about feebee.. how shes been throwing rovks and frags n stuff... !! well, shes gone completely nutus! the bta is on the front side of my rockwork, and when she fully extends, her tenicles graze the substrate. well for 5 days now, feebee has been moving gravel/sand with her mouth from where the tenicles touch. she has moved so much theres a 2 inch indentation! II caught her today learning to do the tail wag thing where all the sand flys around. what agirl. soon she'll be touching glass bottom!!

[stykthyn]

IMHO your female is still kind of small. I could be wrong, but my experiences have shown me that 3.5-4" is the best pairing size for females with the male being around 1-1.5". From what I have seen females under 3" are aggressive as hell until they feel they are large enough to completely manipulate any male or juvenile they may encounter. Go ahead and QT the fish and try to introduce in a feeder basket. Leave him in the basket for a couple days and then release him. Hopefully they will get along. I love maroons I think they are perhaps the most gorgeous clownfish available, too bad they are also the most ungrateful.

[TOURKID]

thanks for your advice and opinions. ill be pivking him up today around ten am.. Ill keep updates flowing, and prob have more questions :D

[TOURKID]

Just wanted to share some pictures. lil guy looks so dang healthy. My fav. girl at the fish store said she hadent seen any stringy poo and they are eating frozen food. I just released him a lil while ago in the qt, gonna try to feed in a bit :)

new addition to the family
http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h159/TOURKID/DSCF1039.jpg

http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h159/TOURKID/DSCF1040.jpg

my evil girl feebee, and look at that bta today!! I did a water change yesterday as normal, but had to do a slightly bigger one for the qt.. its looked like a giant heart all day!!

http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h159/TOURKID/DSCF1038.jpg

[dantodd]

He's beautiful. Interesting middle bar, looks more like A. o. or A. p. barring. You said he was WC right?

[TOURKID]

dan.. yeah, wild caught, they took the parents the babys and even the anemone...

the bar.... they had another 10 or so babys, and each one was different.. the parents bars dident connect at all, and one only had lil side burns for the stripe by the head... oddly enough the larger maroon that I already have has the same exact middle bar... she is claimed to be tank bred though... *digging, i may have a side view of feebee*
yeah.
http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h159/TOURKID/DSCF0967.jpg

havent studied spisies to much, what is a.o. or a.p?

[TOURKID]

oh.. another oddity that Im thinking comes with age. but right now only the stripe by his head is yellow.. pale pale yellow. other two stripes are still white :)

[dantodd]

I think I've heard that they do get more golden with age. I've never kept maroons so I guess maybe the middle bar shape isn't unusual.

[TOURKID]

i donno most if not all pics i see look like this guy

http://www.whozoo.org/fish/teleosts/Labroids/MaroonClown123101_304.jpg

[stykthyn]

the yellow comes with age, it is common for the middle stripe to be incomplete