Adding a second clownfish

[Pennywise the Clown]

15 months ago I added my first fish to my Reefer 250, a pair of Ocellaris clowns. They never paired up, stayed the same size as each other and lived about 12" apart in my display. There was never any aggression between them.
Unfortunately I lost one of them a month or so ago to a bacterial infrction.
My LFS has a single Ocellaris which looks to be the same size as my remaining clownfish. I'm not sure that my fish has changed into a female. It is still a lot smaller than the female of other Ocellaris pairs I have seen.
What do you think the chances are of adding this new clown successfully?

 

[Old Fritz]

It's been fairly iffy for me. Sometimes at my store we would sell one clown of a pair and to save space I would move a clown that was also alone into the tank. You will see fighting, keep an eye on it, make sure it doesn't get too bad and watch for bacterial infections. It's been about 75/25 success with me and adding a new clown to a tank with a larger clown, but also consider the clowns are never full grown when I do this. My boss has a female clown that will kill anything that even comes into the tank.

 

[Peace River]

Based on the information provided I wouldn't take the risk. Instead if you want to add a potential mate then I would add a smaller fish that is clearly a juvenile. Good luck!

 

[Pennywise the Clown]

Based on the information provided I wouldn't take the risk. Instead if you want to add a potential mate then I would add a smaller fish that is clearly a juvenile. Good luck!

I tried that a month ago with a very small juvenile and my clown attacked it so badly, along with my algae blenny, that I removed it after 10 minutes and took it back to the LFS. It wouldn't have survived much longer.
That's why I thought a clownfish of similar size might be better.

 

[Peace River]

I tried that a month ago with a very small juvenile and my clown attacked it so badly, along with my algae blenny, that I removed it after 10 minutes and took it back to the LFS. It wouldn't have survived much longer.
That's why I thought a clownfish of similar size might be better.

I'm sorry to hear about the little one. You can try the one from the fish store but you run the risk of having two females. If you do decide to add another juvenile (especially knowing how it went last time), you may want to put the new fish in a net breeder box within the tank and then watch for aggression from the current fish. If the aggressive behavior stops then you can put them together. Good luck with whatever you decide!

 

[SDK]

A $10 acclimation box is almost essential equipment for clown introductions. It will get you beyond the initial attack phase, and after a few days you will (hopefully) start to see bonding behavior.

In the old days it was common to use strawberry baskets with holes big enough for just the small one to pass through (thanks/credit to Joyce Wilkerson for that idea). I had a big Maroon female that picked up a basket with a male inside and carried the whole contraption over to her corner. Love at first sight lol...

Amazon is your friend here. If you don't like this one, there are a few dozen options at every price point...

 

[Pennywise the Clown]

A $10 acclimation box is almost essential equipment for clown introductions. It will get you beyond the initial attack phase, and after a few days you will (hopefully) start to see bonding behavior.

In the old days it was common to use strawberry baskets with holes big enough for just the small one to pass through (thanks/credit to Joyce Wilkerson for that idea). I had a big Maroon female that picked up a basket with a male inside and carried the whole contraption over to her corner. Love at first sight lol...

Amazon is your friend here. If you don't like this one, there are a few dozen options at every price point...

Thanks.
I have just ordered from Amazon.

 

[SDK]

You're welcome. Please keep us posted on how things go!

 

[Pennywise the Clown]

Well that will teach me for not reading the description properly. I ended up with an external box.
How easy will it be to drill holes in without cracking?

 

[Pennywise the Clown]

The acclamation box seems to have worked. The new addiction (the lighter colored clown) is now following my original fish around and there has been no aggression apart from some fin waving.
The new fish is quite a bit smaller but the photo doesn't show that.
Thanks for the great advice.

 

[Peace River]

The acclamation box seems to have worked. The new addiction (the lighter colored clown) is now following my original fish around and there has been no aggression apart from some fin waving.
The new fish is quite a bit smaller but the photo doesn't show that.
Thanks for the great advice.

Great news! Thanks for the update!

 

[SDK]

Gore welcome and great to see it went so well!