Clown question

J Rog · Apr 26, 2012

Hi everyone,

So I have 2 tanks.. I have a 120 gallon and a 29 gallon biocube in my room. I have been thinking i might want to get rid of the biocube in my room and move all the corals and fish I have in the small tank to the bigger one.. My issue is I have a pair of clowns in both tanks. I don't want to get ride of any of them.. I was in WWC today and in one of there display tanks they have like 6-8 or so clown fish. I asked one of the guys there if he has issues with keeping that many clowns in one tank. He said no and as long as I introduce my clowns in my small tank to the big tank properly I should be fine.. What does everyone think about this? Do you think I would have an issue? They are all high end (expensive) clowns and would hate to loose any of them.. Let me know your thoughts. thanks!

KLR · Apr 26, 2012

This has been done by other hobbyist before, so I am sure you could follow their steps and accomplish it. But it can not be stressed enough how important acclimation/introduction will be when putting multiple clownfish pairs in one tank. I know that if you do not carry it out properly, more than likely there will be a war between all of them. This is based off of reading other similar events though.

Perhaps if a clownfish breeder chimes in they can tell you more on the subject. You may want to pm AlphaCorals as he knows quite a bit about the fish.

Goodluck!

KLR · Apr 26, 2012

This tank is 210 gallons and has 27 clownfish in it, so I think if you read up on the steps you could keep 4 in a 120 gallon tank happy.

[video=youtube;OukzEoeGqJU]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OukzEoeGqJU[/video]

J Rog · Apr 26, 2012

Thanks everyone! I actually got my pair in the big tank from Alpha corals. I will send him an e-mail and ask. Thanks!

Trex · Apr 27, 2012

I would strong suggest against doing this. A spawning pair will, in time, form -- they will not take too kindly to the other pair being in the tank, and will kill off the other two. Been keeping clowns for about 20 years now, and I have tried having more than one pair a couple of times. Unfortunately, the outcome was always the same -- once I was able to intervene in time, the other I wasn't; it is shocking how fast things can go South.

gar732 · Apr 27, 2012

The tanks with multiple clowns that I've seen have all been introduced at the same time and come from the same clutch. You have an established pair in a tank that is theirs. I would guess that they will show aggression to the new pair. That being said all fish are different and you might be able to get away with it or they can turn on them later down the road. What ever you do be sure to have a contingency plan if it doesn't work out and be sure to keep on eye on them.