best chances for pairing clowns?

As I understand it, clowns are hermaphrodites. Once several are placed together, the largest becomes the female, and the rest become her harem of males. For your situation, I would try to find a mate that was smaller than your current clownfish, and see if they take to each other. Your existing clown will either pair off with the new fish, or harass it to death. Just my 2 cents.

Smaller, or much, much larger. I'd go with smaller. Clowns are all male to begin with, and differentiate as they age, with the larger fish turning female. Often, a single fish has already turned into a female, because any clown that comes in (usually juveniles in the wild) are male, so they can breed right away. So, yours is probably a female, or on the way to becoming one. Adding a large fish runs the risk of adding anohter female--bad idea.

Of course, adding another clown will always be risky. The existing fish has already claimed territory, and may not welcome the new fish. I would add the new fish, and be prepared to separate them. Maybe use one of those little critter keepers for a while--so they are introduced where the new fish is protected. I'm not sure about the benefits of adding a small pair--some live in harems with a dominant female and several males, but I don't know if maroons are in this group.

Pairing most clowns is a little tricky. Pairing maroons is very tricky. This thread is the clearest explanation of the process I have seen. The idea is that you will need to separate the new clown, but have it visible, or it will be killed by the resident.
Any clown that has been alone for a few months or more should be expected to be female, and treated as such. There is a small literature in obscure marine biology journals about the role of social stress (from the resident female) in maintaining juvenile or male development. Once the stress is gone, the fish starts on the road to girl-hood.
If anyone is interested, I could drag out and post the papers. It's kind of fun.

From "The role of iodine in the molting processes of crustacea" to the sexual development of the maroon clownfish. Perhaps we should publish a journal on marine biology.

Perhaps we should publish a journal on marine biology

Click to expand...

It might be too much like work. I always tend to poke around those types of journals when I'm supposed to be doing other work. Where would I escape if it was something I was supposed to do?

I wanted to pair a couple of clowns at one time when I only had the one but I was told by my LFS to bring in the one I already had and exchange it for 2. This way neither is territorial and they will break in together. Its really strange how the clown will change. 1 will grow much bigger than the other, that being the female.