Male of clownfish pair has died, reintroduce a new male or start over?

[mrmrsmarine]

We are in the process of moving and last night was the night to move the tank over to the new house (29G Biocube). We had a beautiful pair of black ocellaris clownfish which we were hoping would start spawning soon.

The move went perfectly, in fact too well. Once all the fish were placed back in the tank we noticed the little male clownfish wasn't in his usual spot with his other half. Everything else was fine.

We searched and searched and finally saw his back end sticking out of a hole in the live rock. It somehow managed to squeeze himself into a tiny hole it could not get out of. Despite our best efforts we could not manage him out either. We left him overnight, hoping we would relax and somehow wedge himself out. However I awoke this morning to find only half his body sitting in the hole.

Sidenote: When moving our live rock last night, we noticed a few bristleworms underneath one piece. At the moment they are not posing a threat and they are good for eating leftovers so for now we will leave them be. We also have a wrasse who will take care of the smaller ones.

Anyway, pretty sure the clown died and the worms or the crabs went to town on him. Completely devastated, we love the clowns and have had the pair for over a year.

So getting to my question, do we go and find a suitable male for our female who is now left alone in the tank? Or should we get a little group of them. Our female is quite large and we are worried about introducing anything too small as we know they will try to establish dominance for a while and we wouldn't want the female to beat anything up too much.

Or, should we just start over with an entirely new pair and keep our female alone. How do the clownfish do if their partner dies?

Thanks for your answers!

[Myka]

Darwins are usually easy to re-pair. Just get a small one so it can be assured it has not switched sex to a female yet.

[The Guy]

I just lost my female Oscellaris about a month back and was advised to wait about one week then introduce a new smaller partner. I did this and it was totally successful.
Good luck.

[Myka]

The only reason to wait any time is if there is concern of disease, in which case a week isn't a long enough wait. In m experience, if there is no concern of disease, the quicker you add the new fish the better (a week is pretty quick).

[mrmrsmarine]

Thanks Myka and The Guy, appreciate your responses!

Originally Posted by The Guy

I just lost my female Oscellaris about a month back and was advised to wait about one week then introduce a new smaller partner. I did this and it was totally successful.
Good luck.

What happened to your female?

After reading your replies, I've called Pisces here in Calgary and they may be able to order us in a larger guy for our female. Everything currently for sale right now are all juvies and quite small throughout the city.

[mrmrsmarine]

No concern for disease really, so we should be ok to introduce right away

[tidal_waters]

Originally Posted by mrmrsmarine

Thanks Myka and The Guy, appreciate your responses!



What happened to your female?

After reading your replies, I've called Pisces here in Calgary and they may be able to order us in a larger guy for our female. Everything currently for sale right now are all juvies and quite small throughout the city.

I think you should be getting a smaller clown than your female to replace the smaller lost clown. Buying an already larger clown than your existing female will just cause battles.

[mrmrsmarine]

May have come out wrong there... meant to say a larger clown than the juvies that are currently for sale. Will keep whatever new clown we get smaller than the female we still have.

[Myka]

I would suggest you get a juvenile, not a bigger special order one. You don't know the history of a bigger one. It could certainly have already paired with an even smaller one, and could certainly already be female. Buying a juvenile guarantees it is not female, and juveniles are more submissive which makes pairing easier. If you want to risk it with the bigger one, go ahead, but do realize that it may not work, and you might have to find a new home for the new fish.

[The Guy]

Originally Posted by mrmrsmarine

Thanks Myka and The Guy, appreciate your responses!



What happened to your female?

After reading your replies, I've called Pisces here in Calgary and they may be able to order us in a larger guy for our female. Everything currently for sale right now are all juvies and quite small throughout the city.

The female was egg bound, found her on the bottom dead with her middrift wide open.