maroon pairing Q

[saltymichigan82]

Hey everyone
Im in the process of trying to pair 2 juvenile gold dot maroons. 1 is larger and more dominant than the other (by a cm or so)
I have the lesser one in a breeding box in the tank

just curious to what successes have been with long vs short duration of letting them out together. I go about 30-45 min before putting him back in his box? maybe every other day to help recover.

I was going to continue this for atleast a few weeks before giving up

thanks for the input!

[dmsprague]

My first attempt with maroon was 2 gold stripe. I had a female that was in the tank for over 2 years. I bought the smallest one I could find and placed it in a breeder box on the end of the tank the female inhabited. She totally ignore him so I dumped him in. She hit him once and he did his submissive wiggle dance and they have been together ever since probably a year or so. My second attempt was with two lightning maroons not so different is size. It did not go well.

[saltymichigan82]

Thanks for the comment.
For the failed pairing.. how often did you let them out together? I've been doing about 30 to 45 m every other day. They both go at it pretty hard during that time.

[LargeAngels]

The smaller the size difference the more difficult (IME). I would let the smallest establish and then using an acclimation put in the larger.

[TriggersAmuck]

Originally Posted by saltymichigan82

Thanks for the comment.
For the failed pairing.. how often did you let them out together? I've been doing about 30 to 45 m every other day. They both go at it pretty hard during that time.

How large a tank are we talking about? Is the smaller one retreating, and does he have sufficient room to retreat?

In my instance there was a significant size difference and the smaller clearly retreated to the upper corners of the tank. Slowly it worked its way (over days) to the center and eventually the larger made its peace (after which they laid bi-weekly clutches of eggs for over ten years).

[TriggersAmuck]

I'll add that the larger was a gold stripe and the smaller was a standard white stripe, all in a 40 gallon tank initially. They migrated to a 125 gallon eventually, and after the larger female passed I introduced a smaller (male) which then paired up with the other larger male, sort of. I never saw these two lay eggs, but they always "hanged" in the same location just as if they were mated.

[saltymichigan82]

I have a 60 gallon tall. Its them and 3 small chronos. They are small about 1.5 inches the smaller of the two by small degree but visibly smaller.. they both just have tenacity and both do not back down. They only take breathers in between fights. I separate them and give them 2 to 3 days of rest. I'm starting to feed the larger of the 2 to become more dominant. Hopefully they both aren't females.

Originally Posted by TriggersAmuck

How large a tank are we talking about? Is the smaller one retreating, and does he have sufficient room to retreat?

In my instance there was a significant size difference and the smaller clearly retreated to the upper corners of the tank. Slowly it worked its way (over days) to the center and eventually the larger made its peace (after which they laid bi-weekly clutches of eggs for over ten years).

[TriggersAmuck]

Originally Posted by saltymichigan82

Hopefully they both aren't females.

You would hope at that size that they hadn't both switched teams, but if they don't establish a pecking order you may have to assume that is the case.