Clownfish Circus (harem) Club!

[Cast]

My wife desperately wants a Harem of clowns. I really don’t care to much but I’d like to make her happy and maybe show so more Love to the tank

We have a 300g tank 6’ long with no Anems. Won’t be planning to add any.

We have only a few fish at the moment ZERO CLOWNS but I’m looking at getting other fish as well. Is this worth doing? I’m looking at between 15-20 True Percs all from the same clutch all very young.

Should I? I don’t want to have them pick each other off. I also want to be able to add other fish later.

Any tips would be great.

 

[secret_reefer337]

Random shot after feeding time with pumps off. 21 Clowns and a few other tankmates.

Are those nems the puplish with green tips?

 

[D-Nak]

My wife desperately wants a Harem of clowns. I really don’t care to much but I’d like to make her happy and maybe show so more Love to the tank

We have a 300g tank 6’ long with no Anems. Won’t be planning to add any.

We have only a few fish at the moment ZERO CLOWNS but I’m looking at getting other fish as well. Is this worth doing? I’m looking at between 15-20 True Percs all from the same clutch all very young.

Should I? I don’t want to have them pick each other off. I also want to be able to add other fish later.

Any tips would be great.

Typically a harem of clownfish and anemones go hand-in-hand. Why are there no plans to add anemones? Personally I think it would be a bit odd to have a bunch of clowns wandering aimlessly around the tank, or using something odd as a host, such as a torch coral (if you have one) or other LPS that resembles an anemone. Your tank is big enough to house a large hosting anemone such as Kinetic's magnifica.

 

[SupraSaltyReefer]

Are those nems the puplish with green tips?

Yes they are

 

[2Sunny]

Restarting an old thread. First day so way too early to say how it will end, but so far so good. I tried a slight variation on previous recommendations. Bought 6 baby clowns from the same clutch plus one larger clown but still a juvenile and put them in the tank the day before I got the anemone. When I added the anemone the clowns went in within 2 minutes. There was a bubble tip in there as well that the clowns had zero interest in. Anyways,I'll keep my fingers crossed this experiment works

 

[2Sunny]

2 days of constant squabbling seems to be settling down. So now the question is: will the truce hold!?

 

[Ardeus]

They are unpredictable, but 6 is not a good number.

I have a trio in a magnifica but once or twice per year the smaller one gets kicked out for a day or 2.

If there's many with similar size, with such a small number, there's little chance that it works.

 

[OrionN]

They bicker some as young fish but when they mature that is when they except their dominant. They have to if they want to be the breeding pair. If they don’t other fish will develope and kick them out.
When I tried to keep a harem umteen years ago, the pair kick all the Juveniles out of the anemones unless there is a danger in the tank, meaning I had my hands in the tank for some reason, and at night. The younger fish had torn fins and missing scales more often than not at any one time.
The juveniles have an abused and miserable life, but they live as a harem. I have never intentional try to create clown fish harem after that time.

 

[Ardeus]

I tried a group of 13, but the large majority of the group was taken by brooklynella a few days after arriving, it was horrible.

The 3 survivors had a good relationship at first.

It got really bad after I gave them a magnifica, the male kicked the female out and was trying to bond with the younger one. It took a great deal of family therapy to get the 3 of them back together.

Having their natural host makes a huge difference. My magnifica is big enough for them and for a banggai or 2. I notice that when she balls up, things get a bit more tricky. But the smaller clown has a good life, no one's picking on him except for a day or 2 per year.

 

[2Sunny]

I have worked to create a natural environment and gotten schooling behavior before. Not saying you guys might not be right in the end, but I think I'll stick with it for a while and see. Here's my tank from 2011:

 

[Ardeus]

That tank is the most beautiful I have ever seen and I remember it very well.

 

[2Sunny]

So just about 2 weeks now. Some interesting observations. First, it appears the dominant pair are accepting a "nurse". If that's what I end up with I'll be more than satisfied. The second observation is that at night the game changes and all the clowns stay buried in the 'nem with no bickering until shortly after the lights come back on then everyone returns to their assigned stations. 3 little guys hang under the 'nem and aren't bothered. 1 tough guy spends his day trying to hide in various creases of the anemone and mostly remains undetected, and the nurse spends his day vibrating his submissiveness to the dominant pair.

On a totally separate note, the anemone had tried to move the first couple of days then I read on RC from another reefer who has had many, many anemones that he believed Ritteri/H. Mags preferred laminar flow. So I changed the flow in my tank to create an area with mostly laminar flow and turned the anemone in that direction and voila it stopped moving. Made a believer out of me

Anyways, thats the update for now.

 

[AJ192]

I’ll see if I can start this thread again, I’m building a 150gal with plenty of filtration and I was wondering if 20-25 cinnamon clowns would work? The second question is should I add btas before or after and why? cause I’ve read conflicting responses

 

[kinetic]

I would absolutely add them before, if you can. I don't know much about how the cinnamon are in harems in captivity, but I've mostly seen people with ocellaris or percula have success.

 

[2Sunny]

There is no scientific basis for one way or another. I think the best you can do is try to mimic someone else's success. In your case it sounds like you are going to end up with something similar to what Bulk Reef Supply has and they followed the success of another reefer on RC who did the same. In both cases they added the clowns first and later the anemones. I did a hybrid adding clowns in a tank that had a bubble tip already but then later adding a second anemone, an H. Mag. but I only used 6 clowns. 4 are living peacefully with 2 in the H. Mag and the other 2 in the Bubble tip. The 2 that were getting beat up are now living in a 22 gallon nano in my kitchen.

Anyways here's the BRS initial setup episode:

and here's Mona's thread on RC:

My new tank/cabinet from Mermaid Aquarium - Page 10 - Reef Central Online Community

Page 10- My new tank/cabinet from Mermaid Aquarium Greater San Francisco Bay Area Reef Forum

reefcentral.com

 

[AJ192]

Anyone now anyone who has had success with cinnamons, or think cinnamons would work in a harem? I was planning either 24 cinnamons or 32 occelaris for the 150 harem I’m building. I also worry about adding btas before the clowns cause this is my first tank and I worry that adding the clowns will cause a nutrient spike harming the btas. I’m also a little too impatient to wait for a few months to add fish unless it will really help cause I’ve been planning this tank for years.

 

[2Sunny]

Anyone now anyone who has had success with cinnamons, or think cinnamons would work in a harem? I was planning either 24 cinnamons or 32 occelaris for the 150 harem I’m building. I also worry about adding btas before the clowns cause this is my first tank and I worry that adding the clowns will cause a nutrient spike harming the btas. I’m also a little too impatient to wait for a few months to add fish unless it will really help cause I’ve been planning this tank for years.

You are ignoring my comment why? Did you watch the video or read any of the thread. You have 2 successful large harems where the clowns were added first which is a direct answer to the second half of your question.b As to whether or not Cinnamons would be different you can make an inference based on the fact that Cinnamons in general tend to be more aggressive so I would guess harder to use to build a harem.

 

[AJ192]

You are ignoring my comment why? Did you watch the video or read any of the thread. You have 2 successful large harems where the clowns were added first which is a direct answer to the second half of your question.b As to whether or not Cinnamons would be different you can make an inference based on the fact that Cinnamons in general tend to be more aggressive so I would guess harder to use to build a harem.

Im sorry i didnt mean to ignore your help, i was replying to kinetic who posted something before you. he/she recommended adding before but i worded it wrong i meant to ask why he/she believes you should add them first. I have watched the video and read the thread in the past. Im just trying to get the logic behind each opinion so i can make an educated decision.

 

[chizerbunoi]

Anyone now anyone who has had success with cinnamons, or think cinnamons would work in a harem?

When you see the tomato complex species in the wild they are frequently as pairs and alone without others close by. Even with anemones near by, they keep their territory. I have seen the female swim far distances to protect her Territory.

So once they reach sexual maturity in a year, you will have to separate them out. I suggest that you connect with some tomato clown breeders in that forum and ask how long they can keep them together before they have to separate and sell off the batch.

This doesn’t mean it’s not possible though. Do lots of research and search old posts. Especially breeder ones.

 

[AJ192]

When you see the tomato complex species in the wild they are frequently as pairs and alone without others close by. Even with anemones near by, they keep their territory. I have seen the female swim far distances to protect her Territory.

So once they reach sexual maturity in a year, you will have to separate them out. I suggest that you connect with some tomato clown breeders in that forum and ask how long they can keep them together before they have to separate and sell off the batch.

This doesn’t mean it’s not possible though. Do lots of research and search old posts. Especially breeder ones.

Thank you for this it’s actually really helpful, I wonder how they will react since they are captive bread and have been together there entire lives. I might have to separate them in the future buts it’s possible they might be fine together since I have a lot of counter aggression measures. I have to do more research before I decide though, do you think adding nems beforehand would help decrease beginning aggression and aggression when they reach sexual maturity if I did cinnamons.