Help pairing clownfish

KameronManning · Apr 25, 2020

Hey guys I have 1 juvenile orange storm in my tank ( 1 inch ) and I’m waiting for my Lfs to get in a black storm. With my current orange storm being so small should I grab a bigger or smaller black storm. The orange storm is so young and small that I feel I wouldn’t be able to find anything smaller. Let me know how I should go about this. Cheers.

Doctorgori · Apr 25, 2020

IME the new fish should be bigger....Usually being the disclaimer ..also “usually” re-arranging the tank a lil seems to help keep the squabbling to a minimum

Alarmguy66 · Apr 25, 2020

Not JUST larger, but OBVIOUSLY larger, to the fish.

My understanding is that all clownfish are born male. If you get a much larger, thus older fish, it will either BE female (if its been around a smaller male) or TURN female (if it is large enough to be obviously the dominant fish). If the size difference is not enough you have a crapshoot on whether they just fight it out to be dominant or pair up. Especially if they are introduced separately.

Changing the arrangement of the tank will cut down on territoriality of the present fish, but what you also need to do is make sure the two are compatible, or can become compatible. Thats the size difference. With your current one being SO small, I would think that just a 1/2 difference in the new one would be enough to make the difference and minimize the risk of the dominance fight.