Adding more clownfish with one already established?

[bulldogniner]

Hey,

I've had a single black and white ocellaris clown for about 2 years. Could I add another clownfish without too much fuss? Anyone done that before with success? Would I need to get the same kind for the best success?

I have a 210 gallon tank with a niger trigger, kole tang and eilbi angel.

 

[Ron Reefman]

As far as the compatibility of the clownfish goes, IMHO, any of the Ocellaris clowns should be OK. I had a pair of Wyoming Whites that were young. One died and I replaced it with an ordinary Ocellaris clown and they are getting along fine at 2 months in a 90g tank.

 

[bulldogniner]

Thanks, yeah, I figure I have enough space for them to get to know each other to hopefully make introduction easier.

I would imagine adding an ordinary ocellaris would be easiest, but any luck adding different species of clownfish being that I have a larger tank?

 

[weamdog]

I've successfully added same species (ocellaris) but since a single will change to female over time you want to try for a male or juvenile. I'm 0 for 2 on getting them paired though possibly indicating that i ended up with 2 females (both ended up same size). Last time there was aggression for several days, even my yellow clown goby was getting aggressive (albeit 28g nano). Eventually things settle down.

 

[KrisReef]

Yes, get the same kind, and get one much smaller with hopes that it is immature. That will allow your single fish the opportunity to decide if it likes the new one. There is likely to be some territorial dispute at the beginning of this relationship and having a young addition will tilt the interaction towards a survivable future for both, imo.

GL

 

[bulldogniner]

Gotcha, makes sense.

Another thought is that I could remove the existing black ocellaris and get 2 new clowns. I would love to get different clowns that do a better job hosting an anemone. I have never had good luck with ocellaris hosting.

There are others I see but have never had like Clarkii or tomato or skunk clownfish. Anyone had luck with these and/or are they better hosting options? I've had maroon but they got pretty big and aggressive at times.

 

[weamdog]

My experience with ocellaris is they can take time with nems (had one that took about a year). A clown that jumps right in runs the risk of loving your nem to death. Nems need time to grow to withstand the abuse and should be a couple times larger than tour clown. Also consider how a nem will affect the pairs relationship. I have a pair of maroons that were laying eggs, put in a couple btas and now they don't act as a pair. The make lives in the nems and female is usually a good 12" away. More or less a home wrecker in my case. Maroons get bigger and need a bigger or multiple nems. Of course this is just my experience, yours and others may vary just as much as fish personalities do.