Any fish orange skunk clowns will ignore?

[rishma]

I have an established pair of orange skunk clowns in my 25 gallon peninsula. They killed a couple pajama cardinals last year they were established in the tank first. The only other fish is a royal gramma. They chase the gramma, but he has a good territory with lots of hiding spots so no harm. It’s been the same for a couple of years.

I wanted to add an out her fish, but knew the clowns would be aggressive. I purchased a large azure damsel, knowing they would not like it, but figuring he was tough enough to carve out a space for himself. Well, that was dumb. I did all the tricks, damsel in acclimation box, then clowns in acclimation box. When finally all together in the tank, they harassed the damsel to the point I had to remove him.

I realize my error in adding another damsel. I am wondering if there are other fish the clowns might not see as a threat/competition.

Any ideas given the tank size? Clown gobies? Or do I just need to re-home the clowns if I want other fish?

Thanks in advance.

 

[PharmrJohn]

A Piranha.

 

[PharmrJohn]

Sorry. Just thought of my Dad's Piranha back in the day! Those poor feeder fish......Those clowns own the tank now. IMO anyway.

 

[GoReefin]

Use some egg crate to establish a safe area for new fish for a week and see if they can behave after the crate is removed

 

[exnisstech]

I would think about getting used to having just the pair of clowns in a tank that size.

 

[rishma]

I would think about getting used to having just the pair of clowns in a tank that size.

Thanks. I’ve decided as much. I think I will try to find them and their anemone a new home. They are great fish and fun to watch, but not great tank mates in a box this small. They seem super content with a corner of it provided nobody invades any of the other corners.

 

[rishma]

Use some egg crate to establish a safe area for new fish for a week and see if they can behave after the crate is removed

I considered it, but I tried a good sized acclimation box for 8 days, and they really seemed to ignore the newcomer…until there was no acrylic barrier between them.