Pairing Up A LATZ and A PLATINUM

[Eastamherstbias]

I have acquired a baby platinum which is 2 weeks old and once it is old enough to be released, I will pair it up with baby latz.

Is there any way to get them to play nice with each other and ease the transition to being buddies? I am planning to put them in a small cube with a RBTA.

[phender]

The best way to get them to accept each other is to release them into their permanent home at the same time. An even better way is to put them in a bare 10 gal together for a couple days. With nothing for cover they will have to rely on each other for cover.

Be forewarned, percs and latz are from completely different clown complexes. It is not unusual for them to get along OK while they are juveniles and then as they start to mature one will beat the stuffing out of the other one. I am not sure I would take that chance with two rare/expensive clowns.

One hypothesis as to why this happens in because the different clown complexes have slightly different dominance/submission behaviors that are not always recognized by the other complexes. So the larger fish charges the smaller one, the smaller on give a percula submission shimmy, but the latz doesn't recognize the shimmy as submission and continues the attack until the perc is driven away or is killed. Since the perc can't get far enough away in a small cube, the result is usually not good.

I have tried to duplicate the theorized chysopterus x sandacinos to make luecokranos a couple time (as have several others). The results have not been good.

[Eastamherstbias]

Thanks for the help, I will give it a try with the Latz/Platinum. The plan is to move them to a small cube with a RBTA for a week before they go into the 120g. I am not trying to make a hybrid, I just want them to play nice.