Do clowns make good 1st fish?

[Shnolby]

I finally got my Fiji Cube sump in the mail after waiting on a 2 month back order. Looks to be great quality, just slapped it together. I’m starting with dry rock, but once the tank is cycled and ready for fish, are clown fish a good start? I won’t have any anemones to start, but will once the tank is ready for them. Planning on putting both lps and sps in there too.... eventually. Also how many should I get, I know they can be territorial. The tank is a 150 tall so if a bigger school would work, that’s okay with me

 

[Brandon Smith]

If you want to have more then two clownfish, then you should look into contacting a breeder and getting them all from the same clutch. That will help make sure they get along together overall.

 

[Payne Train]

Clowns are a Very hardy, very awesome fish. You can start with one or two. I would start with one and add the second a week later.

you will want to wait serval months for your tank to mature before you get an anemone . They take stable peramiters

 

[ReeferWarrant]

Depends on your end goal with fish. Clowns are an easy first fish for sure, they like to be in groups and the dominate one becomes a female. They are territorial and like to protect their area. I currently have 2, I went into the hobby not liking them and I have changed my mind they are pretty interesting. I'd say do your research on not only what you want in the end for fish but also compatability and growth with corals and anemones.

 

[Zionas]

Mmmm A number of people have kept more than a pair of Clowns or more than 2 Clownfish in a tank, but it’s a risky prospect that requires lots of planning and this was with Ocellaris Clowns or Percula Clowns, perhaps among the most peaceful ones. I’d suggest only sticking to a pair of Clowns in most cases unless you’re an experienced reefer and only buy captive bred specimens regardless of species.

As for whether they make a good first fish, what other stocking plans do you have in mind? What will your other fish be?

Clowns are a beautiful fish though, all of them. I’ve never been a fan of the “designer” varieties and never will be, I much prefer the original colors.

 

[fcmatt]

Frankly unless you like anemones I would not make a clown fish my first fish. Kinda boring unless larger really.

This is coming from a person who likes anemones and my only fish are clowns.

A small puffer for example blows them away personality wise as an example.

A clutch of clowns.. over time.. will become 2. Almost guaranteed to happen. It may take 2 years to whittle themselves down to 2 to 4 but it happens with regularity.

Think hard before doing it.

You would prob be better off trying to have 2 pairs of clowns that are different. That way the pairs pick diff sides of the tank with their anemones

 

[fishguy242]

hi yes that would work,pair,or harem start w 7,no nems for about 10 more months,
welcome to the reef.. mix em up,no tomato's,maroons,get nasty,sebee's ok

 

[DSEKULA]

Clowns can be a fun addition. They were some of my first ever saltwater fish but being a good first addition will depend on your end stock goals. If your not sure and want to add them first I'd get very small ones as they generally won't get too territorial untill their a bit larger. Two is a pretty safe bet, more can be added if you can get fish from the same clutch as another wrote, there is still a chance you'll end with two if the female turns super aggressive but there are many people (not me never tried) with successful harem tanks. If this is what you want please look into the specifics. It's not generally recommended but I do have two species of clowns in my 155 dt. Occys and clarkies, I built my tank in an L shape and established a pair with it's nem host in each leg of the L so they can't even see each other, so this is possible with very careful planning but again generally not recommended. Here's a pic the occys have a bubble tip in the top of that arch, it extends to the back of the tank of course . And the clarkies have a carpet in that cove area occasionally they meet in the middle part for feeding etc and the offending clown is chased out of the others territory.

 

[Fishbird]

That is an overview of a clown harem tank that was successful (the clowns weren't killing each other off) for 4.5 years.

As was mentioned above, you'll be ok for a year or two maybe if you have more than two clowns and don't follow any special plan but as they mature they will start to kill each other off.

Highlights from the video: a relatively large minimum tank size (90 gallons I think is what they recommend for very specific reasons)

Lots of clowns added at once from the same clutch (I think they said 30? Either way, going with 7 is unlikely to be good long term. To easy for aggression to be targeted towards one individual in such a small group once the dominant clowns start spawning.

Lots and lots of anemones

No other fish besides the clowns.

They do talk about how one of the clowns had more orange on its face and it was picked on so much by the others that they had to remove it for its own safety.

If you want to put more than 2 clowns in I would watch this video and all the ones leading up to it.

I'd also post in the clownfish and anemone forum and ask for advice from people who have had the same fish in the same tank for 3 or more years. This time requirement is critical. You need to hear from people who have mature clowns. Juveniles behave differently. If a tank has been running for 10 months or a year or 18 months there is really know way to know yet if it will work out long term.

 

[Fishbird]

Whoops, forgot to directly answer your subject line question.

Many people find clowns are a good first fish, if you have one or two. It gets much more complicated if you decide to go the harem route.

 

[fishguy242]

@Shnolby ,going to bed ,will reply tomorrow ,30 yrs exp,10 years with designers,oldest pair reg o's 18 yrs,rip,designers,10yrs still going,1200.00 pair w 9 other mixed adult in 240 sps dom ..no nems
pic is if look close ,mama looking straight at ya upper left at approx 4 1/2"ultra a and b grade blackhawk picasso at about 9yrs old,male approx 3 1/2"center pic,wanna talk clownslove too

 

[Fishbird]

@fishguy242

That’s really cool if you’ve managed to make a harem tank work with smaller numbers/different morphs of ocellaris all together.

I can’t really tell from your post how big your tank is and how many ocellaris you have in it and how long you’ve had that current group/number of ocellaris in the tank? Do you mean that you have 1,200 pairs of ocellaris in your 240 and they’ve all been in there together for 10 years? Sorry! I’m sure that’s not what you meant (1,200 pairs is a LOT of fish) haha.

 

[Bossman]

I think he forgot to add the $ before the 1200.00.

 

[Fishbird]

I think he forgot to add the $ before the 1200.00.

Ah that makes more sense!

@fishguy242 so am I reading it correctly that you've had the one pair and 9 other clowns in the 240 gallon tank all together for 10 years?

Did you add them all together? Is your dominant pair spawning? It would be really cool to see detailed notes for when you added each fish/how you aquascaped etc., to add to the protocol developed by BRS.

 

[Shnolby]

As for whether they make a good first fish, what other stocking plans do you have in mind? What will your other fish be?

Clowns are a beautiful fish though, all of them. I’ve never been a fan of the “designer” varieties and never will be, I much prefer the original colors.

I don’t have a solid stocking list yet, but I plan to use typical reef safe fish. Most likely some wrasses, gobies, tangs, maybe a mandarin if I can establish a food source for them. I was thinking about a reef safe trigger for a centerpiece, but I don’t have a larger tank as it grows so we’ll see.

I’ve seen some tanks which try to go with a group of 12 clowns but someone eventually becomes a bully. It also took a lot of territory which I won’t have at the start. I’m starting to think a pair is the safest, best bet

 

[Shnolby]

Wow such a cool tank! I’m sure that took a lot of planning, looks great! Thanks for all of the info

 

[Shnolby]

Whoops, forgot to directly answer your subject line question.

Many people find clowns are a good first fish, if you have one or two. It gets much more complicated if you decide to go the harem route.

Fantastic! Thanks for the advice, very thorough

 

[fishguy242]

Ah that makes more sense!

@fishguy242 so am I reading it correctly that you've had the one pair and 9 other clowns in the 240 gallon tank all together for 10 years?

Did you add them all together? Is your dominant pair spawning? It would be really cool to see detailed notes for when you added each fish/how you aquascaped etc., to add to the protocol developed by BRS.

hi sps full blown 240 ,all sold now starting over check my build specific..approx in years added but close and added at time,2 blackhawk picasso 9yrs spawning,3 black and white snows/ice7 yrs ,2 frostbite,4 years,4 wyoming white/flurrys 4years,all coexisted with own spots sure a little chasing,no deaths,only spawning was blackhawks and banded pipes in that tank,very few pics,got out after 28 ,yrs sold most everything...LOL. ya right "i'm baaack"i'll post a few pics that were stored in computer..happy reefingb/w in qt dated 2012,last is "new baby"600 gal peninsula

 

[ReefKeeper666]

The answer like many things in life, it depends. If your going to keep only clowns then yes of course. If you are planning on having any other variety of fish the clowns are better off going in last do to their aggressiveness. I made the mistake of just listening to someone in a local fish store who said “yeah you can add them first, I have a nice pair of tomato clowns right here”. Me an idiot and a n00b at the time didn’t realize just how much of a jerk tomato clowns can be to their fish. Any other fist I added was immediately chased/nipped etc. eventully my fish all came down with velvet. the tomatoes being such bullies stressed all my other fish and made them more susceptible to the disease. My tank went from 10 fish to 2 in about a week. I’m now almost done quarantining the 2 survivors.