Bonding ocellaris

tdyrkacz · Jan 14, 2016

about 4 months ago I bought a bonded pair of captive bred Mocha-Vinci ocellaris from Live Aquaria.
Really beautiful fish... sadly the male jumped out of the tank in the middle of the night. The tank had a cover, but it did not cover the entire tank. Hard lesson.

In a little while I would like to replace him another one. What are the dos and don't of introducing a new male... What species of clown can \ should I purchase? Any other things to consider besides species?

KorD · Jan 14, 2016

any oculars should be fine to add.
I would introduce when it is nigh time, and I would do so by adding a screen or breaderbox to the tank to they can see each other, but not fight each other.. by adding the box, it would be also easier to remove incase there is a major problem.
I would leave the box in the tank for two days for the get to know you, and then if all is good, add it to the tank.

cmcoker · Jan 14, 2016

I would make sure it is smaller than than the existing clown, as well. An acclimation box is never a bad idea

tdyrkacz · Jan 14, 2016

I usually use an acclimation box, but mine is self contained meaning the water from the tank does not flow through acclimation box and I usually only use it for a few hours. Do you guys think that with clown fish it is more important to have an extended acclimation period or is it the same for any fish you add?

cmcoker · Jan 14, 2016

tdyrkacz said:
I usually use an acclimation box, but mine is self contained meaning the water from the tank does not flow through acclimation box and I usually only use it for a few hours. Do you guys think that with clown fish it is more important to have an extended acclimation period or is it the same for any fish you add?

For me I would say the same as any other fish, a couple days. You can diy a acclimation box with a critter keeper to allow flow through. I have the one from synergy reef , it collapses so nice for storage http://synergyreef.com/product-category/acclimation-boxes/