Adding a third clown fish

[Dan321]

My tank has been up and running now for 3years and my first 2 fish was clowns. A small one and a bit bigger one. After 3 years they have not paired up. My friend has a lager clown he is looking to move on and I was wondering if it’s a good idea to add this to my tank. Advice needed. Always wanted a paired clowns

 

[dwest]

My tank has been up and running now for 3years and my first 2 fish was clowns. A small one and a bit bigger one. After 3 years they have not paired up. My friend has a lager clown he is looking to move on and I was wondering if it’s a good idea to add this to my tank. Advice needed. Always wanted a paired clowns

A pair of clowns is cool. Are the 2 clowns now the same species? If so, I’m surprised they haven’t paired up. In general, adding a 3rd might be a bad idea.

 

[redfishbluefish]

I certainly wouldn't do it. That larger clown is most likely female and will most likely attack the other female. Are your two current clowns hanging out together? The fact that they are two different sizes tell me you have one female (larger one) and one male (smaller one). The females tend to be (always are) the more aggressive ones.

 

[ZoWhat]

How big is the tank?

My 180g 6ft tank has 5 clowns, all Perculas. If I added more they would (imo) need to be in the Percula-family. Outside that family would be a trainwreck

 

[ReefMang]

Definity a bad idea in my opinion because your two clowns are already established in your tank. How do toy know that they are not already an established pair. If there is a significant size difference then you already have a male and female.

 

[Tastee]

I agree, bad idea. I have a pair in each of my two tanks, both pairs get on well. Clowns are all born male, and form a matriarchy with one clown turning female and growing larger. My understanding is that you can only keep clowns long term in two format - a pair or a harem. I saw an earlier poster had 5, so that sounds like a small harem.

Three clowns is almost guaranteed to result in one turning female and the other two males fighting it out to the death.

 

[jmichaelh7]

I hear it’s a bad idea

 

[redeyejedi]

As soon as two pair they will chase and kill the 3rd.