Fish of the Week: Premnas biaculeatus

[Anonymous]

Welcome All Reefs.Org Members!

This is a new weekly, or thereabouts, feature, called 'Fish of the Week' !

Each week, i'm going to select a particular fish, and we would like you all to post any pics, experiences, photo's, etc. about that particular species, in this 'mini-forum' :wink:

good experiences, and bad ones, too-are equally welcome! (but i'd prefer to see constructive answers/solutions/innovations to problems encountered, rather than 'i just returned the bugger to the lfs' :wink: )

any tips, or special advice, on how you dealt with any special issues that species involves, would also be most appreciated, as would photos,too!

if there's a particular fish you wish to see featured/discussed, either pm me, or send me an email to [email protected] , and i'll do my best to slip it in..

the idea is to help your fellow hobbyist via your experience, and knowledge, in the captive husbandry of fish you keep, because they turn you on, and hopefully, this wil help other hobbyist's life be made easier, as well as the fishes, too :wink:

the first fish i would like to feature is the ubiquitous:

Maroon Clownfish, Premnas biaculeatus- commonly known as the 'spine cheeked anemonefish'

any photo's you'ld like to share, anecdotes, husbandry tips, breeding experiences, compatability issues,etc. will be welcome!

Have Fun, and respect each others opinions/experiences, is all i ask :wink:



AND:

an added fyi-

as these threads are pulled down each week to make room for the next weeks species, they will get archived, so that they won't get 'buried' in the main forum pages, enabling anyone to keep posting to that species' thread, even after the 'feature' time-and also to ease in accessing other reader's info/experience

as soon as the exact format/title of the archive is decided, i'll update the thread here :wink:

thanx, mods/admins

 

[EmilyB]

Awesome timing... 8O

My maroon clown pair just laid eggs recently for the first time.

They were very comfortable to breed in a 120g with three resident BTA's and........two resident triggers. :roll:

Gives some insite into those red devils..... :lol:

I'm watching the eggs every nite when the anemones retract.

 

[JeremyR]

We've had our large maroon "Chloe" for 5 years now. Even tho she lives in a 350 gallon tank, you sitll have to be careful when you go in there, she is always more than willing to bite, and fully capable of drawing blood.

 

[EmilyB]

I wear my big orange glove around her........ :lol:

Got a pic of the eggs.....I don't know exactly when they were laid...but they are not orange? :?

 

[Anonymous]

congrats, Em! 8)


anyone have pics of maroons in their tanks, as well?

 

[Anonymous]

Here's a picture of 'Superclown'. I've had her for about 3 years or so now, and last year paired her with 'Little Bastard', who had resided in my wife's 29 until a nasty damsel gouged his eye out. They're both happy and healthy now in my 75 with their host Stichodactyla Gigantea anemone. Though they haven't spawned in a few months, they are starting to act in a family way again and I expect to see another clutch of eggs before too long.

This photo was the photo of the month for Advanced Aquarist in January 2003 and is one of the possibilities for the 2003 IMAC program cover.

 

[Anonymous]

I wear my big orange glove around her........ :lol:

Got a pic of the eggs.....I don't know exactly when they were laid...but they are not orange? :?

The first couple times my clowns spawned the eggs weren't orange either, em. It seems like the first clutch or two are almost deformed or defective, like they're still getting the hang of it or something.

In other words, don't get your hopes up for this clutch doing much, but if your clowns are like mine, they'll lay more within a couple weeks. Mine were like clockwork, laying a new clutch every 10 days for about 3 or 4 months.

-John

 

[Len]

A random pic of a maroon I took at my LFS a few years ago. I just remembered I had it lying around on my hard drive

 

[wombat1]

I have some not so good pics in my sig... My female has only bitten me twice, and that's when I was disturbing her territory. She does do some damage to my rose BTAs by biting off tentacles now and then. I'd suggest to anyone who plans on getting a BTA with a maroon that the BTA is at least twice the size of the clown, otherwise she will smother it.

Great idea Vitz.

 

[Anonymous]

here's my pic of mr. T (hubby named him)

which reminds me, how can you tell the difference between male and female? is it as easy as judging by features or from behavior?

 

[Anonymous]

Good pic, Coral!

In my experience, there are some physical differences between males and females, but that could just be because the female is much larger. My female looks much thicker through the ventral area just behind the gills (or she could just have a pot belly).

Remember clowns are sexually dimorphic, so odds are a small clown is probably a male (or a 'neither'), and will only become sexually active when in the presence of a female. When no female is present, the largest male will often grow even larger and transform into a female.

At least that's my understanding of it...I might be wrong.

 

[Anonymous]

in addition to the large size difference between the male and female, most of the pairs i've noticed have the male being far more red than the female, which usually gets the maroon color of the moniker

with the mated pair i had, the male appeared to stop growing at the size he was when he and his mate pair bonded, - just under 2"-while the female was close to 5" when i had to give the pair away to a friend, due to moving

one of the things i'd really look forward to hearing about is how folks got their maroons to pair bond (if they're keeping a pair), and if not, how the maroons as a 'single' fish interact with other fish in their tanks

Emily,

if you're maroon's eggs hatch succesfully, pics would be much appreciated

i'd also like to hear about which anemone species people have their maroons hosting in, if any, or if other :wink:

 

[EmilyB]

Actually, looking at the pic in Wilkersons book of ripening eggs, they look green too..... As I say, I don't know when these were laid. So Day 3 means day 3 after discovery...

This pic taken tonite is large, so I will just post the link. Make sure you click to resize and view it at highest resolution.

I thought it was somewhat cool.....I guess I could take the rock out...I'm thinking it looks like a hatch soon ? I'll see what I can dig up here....

http://www.members.shaw.ca/bhadford1/Day3.JPG

 

[Leopardshark]

I had a terrible experience with my gold banded clown, he was at first a nice citizen, but started developing a strange personality after some time, he got very aggressive, and start digging huge holes with his tail in my DSB, I really don´t know why he did that, but he also knocked my corals down.
So when I could took him out, gone to the LFS.
Very nice looking fish, but too destructive IMO
Marco

 

[Anonymous]

I had a terrible experience with my gold banded clown, he was at first a nice citizen, but started developing a strange personality after some time, he got very aggressive, and start digging huge holes with his tail in my DSB, I really don´t know why he did that, but he also knocked my corals down.
So when I could took him out, gone to the LFS.
Very nice looking fish, but too destructive IMO
Marco

Yup, that's a maroon, alright! He was basically just settling into the tank. The fanning is a territorial/nestbuilding/homebuilding sort of thing. They're not happy unless the tank is the way they want it. I used to have a small colony of yellow button polyps on a flat piece of rock. 'Superclown' hated that thing no matter where it was in the tank and was determined to put that rock where she wanted it. I wedged it under 5lb pieces of live rock and she'd still pull it out, flip it over, and drive it into the sandbed. Just one of the many 'intriguing' personality traits of the maroon clown. :wink: