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View Full Version : Percula/ocellaris pairing help


Reef_Chief
02/14/2017, 02:18 PM
So my lovely unknowing wife surprised me with a percula clownfish (picasso) to pair with my already established ocellaris (black snowflake). :debi:

Now, i absolutely love the little guys but im still new to the marine hobby and i would like some opinions and advice on pairing, especially as they are different species and both around the same size of 1.5 inches.

I will explain what i have observed in the first day to begin.

For the first 4 hours the percula was pressing itself flat inbetween the powerhead and glass and only tried to approach the ocellaris once but was sharply chased off.

After this initial period of being cornered and hiding from the ocellaris i dropped a few pellets in for them both and the percula succeeded in grabbing a few away from the ocellaris. Ever since this the percula has steadily become more bold, trying all day to approach the obviously dominant ocellaris and when it has been attacked the percula has submitted by twitching which stops the attack just in time.

The attacks have gradually lessened over the course of the day but it is very obvious the percula wants to be around or at least let it be known it will submit to the ocellaris and the ocellaris has calmed down very slightly with the aggression.

Now, my questions are...

Is any of this good, bad, normal or otherwise?
Is there anything i should keep an eye out for or is there anything i can do to help ease this process of acceptance?

And seperately, at what point do they cease being juvinile, is this based on ages or would it go on size, or is this a nul question for whatever reason?

I have done alot of reading on this during the day but i feel i havent seen all of the same curcumstances mentioned in any one post or article ive read match mine.

I have a basic idea of whats going on (from what ive read) but would still like this explained to me just incase i have misunderstood.

Any advice or experience is greatly appreciated :)

Fragman4
02/16/2017, 01:46 PM
Usually mixing Ocellaris and perc's is a no no. The two different species don't usually like to co exist. Obviously some breeders and hobbyists have had luck but it is just that, luck.

The twitching is normal. It shows submission. Keep an eye on fin tears, hiding, and heavy breathing. All of those signs are of over aggression by the Occy.

As far as the juvi stage is concerned, one will get bigger then the other. The bigger one will be the female and smaller male. There is no real timetable as to when that will occur.

Reef_Chief
02/16/2017, 02:05 PM
Usually mixing Ocellaris and perc's is a no no. The two different species don't usually like to co exist. Obviously some breeders and hobbyists have had luck but it is just that, luck.

The twitching is normal. It shows submission. Keep an eye on fin tears, hiding, and heavy breathing. All of those signs are of over aggression by the Occy.

As far as the juvi stage is concerned, one will get bigger then the other. The bigger one will be the female and smaller male. There is no real timetable as to when that will occur.
Thanks for your response, im aware it isnt advised and i wouldnt of gone for this choice myself but i will give it a try.

Anyway update,
The ocellaris had started getting abit too relentless with the chasing and the perc was hiding at the top right corner.
So ive bought an isolation net for intank to cool the ocellaris off for now. Hopefully this will give the ocellaris time to get used to the perc and the perc time to explore the tank and get used to its new surroundings without being harrassed.

I will do this for a week and rearrange the tank when its time to mix them again.

Hopefully this will work. If not i will just take the percula back and try a snowflake (which is what i would of chosen myself). I dont want the poor little guy to get hurt so thats the plan anyway



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Fragman4
02/16/2017, 02:34 PM
Good luck, I hope it works! My wife would of done the same thing. They just see a clownfish and don't realize they are different species.