Hi Rob,
Congrats on going over 100 podcasts. I just discovered them a few weeks ago and have already listened to about 25 (in the car, in my office, cleaning my tank, etc.). It has made such a huge difference to me, finding this community. Thanks for that!
I have two follow-up questions on clownfish. First, I know that you can only put one species of clownfish into the aquarium unless the aquarium is "really big". How big is "really big"? I used to have two tanks, one with a pair of perculas that I was hoping to breed (but having listened to the show I know now the conditions weren't right), and a tomato clown paired with an anemone in another tank. I've combined the two tanks into a 500 gallon one; I've put the percula in (yes, it's now singular, see my second question), but I'm waiting on the tomato-and-anemone combination until I figure out whether it's big enough. I figured at least if I put the smaller, younger fish in first it would have a chance when I put the larger one in.
What do you think?
Second question is about getting another percula. When we bought the pair, they were extreme juveniles - so small we had to shred food for them. As they grew, one became larger and dominant so we figured that became the female. The larger (female?) one died during the tank-moving-adventure
So here's our question - does the male now become female because there's no female? What should we look for in buying another one? My daughter is really interested in this one too, she'd love to have a mated pair (although if we want to breed them, we know we'll have to move them back to another aquarium).
Thanks again for the show,
Martha
P.S. I'm glad you mentioned the prices of clowns. That's the first aquarium-related item I've heard of that's actually cheaper here than in North America. My clowns were my cheapest fish other than damsels, and I think I paid the equivalent of US $ 20 for each. I feel much better now!
