multiple clowns

[mainereefer]

ok my tank is a 180g, as of now I have a mated pair and a larger 3 clown (male) that they keep away from them.
I was thinking if I got rid of the 3rd clown it would be ok to add another clown pair?
or should I get rid of the mated male and let the pecking order start over. I am guessing that the oddball male will move up to mate with the large female and it will give the new clown pair a chance to settle in before they get harassed to much by the others.

kind of like rearranging the tank before adding new fish to keep aggression down

what would you do?

 

[chrispc66]

IMO it depends on the clown types, mixing types is not recommended, te dominant pair will likely kill the others, e.g: GSM killing Percs or similar.

It may be possible to add another smaller clown of the same species, and the four should pair off and co exist peacefully....no guarantees though.

 

[mainereefer]

I have 3 in the tank now, 2 perc and on occy. they all get along fine the black occy stays on one side and the pair of perc's stay in the nem on the other side

my thoughts are if I remove the male from the pair the male occy will move in and the new small pair will be left alone
im not gona breed the clowns (been there done that) so mixing kinds isnt an issue

 

[mainereefer]

anyone? adding fish tomorrow. I am 99% sure I will be seperating the pair in there now. anyone think this wont work to curb the agression?

 

[MarvinsReef]

anyone? adding fish tomorrow. I am 99% sure I will be seperating the pair in there now. anyone think this wont work to curb the agression?

it will be hit or miss. most will tell yah it won't work but we all know that some have tried this with success. it really depends on the time period you call success though. I think your plan of action will work but you never know. as long as you're prepared to deal with the consequences, I think you'll be alright. good luck.

 

[kmaintl]

In my main display tank, I have 4x Black Ice and 4x SnowOnyx. I tried to add 4x Blacker ice about 2 weeks after the 8x clowns have already established themselves in my 175g FLOWR display tank. The most calm and quiet SnowOnyx that never does anything, shot across the tank and try to take the tail off the 4x Blacker Ice... he just hunted them down. I'm not even going to try with my nice pair of Phantoms. LoL I'm going to try and put the Phantoms with my 18-20 perculas that will be going into my clownfish tank instead.

Good thing is your pair is percs and not snowflake occys. But still taking a change when clownfishes are established already. I found that percs aren't as aggressive, so it could work. But like Marvin said, have a backup plan on what to do with the clownfishes if they don't get along.

 

[mainereefer]

I think everything will be fine I dont have any pairs in the tank anymore the male perc went to the lfs.
so now in the tank i have a female blizzard that hosts a rbta and a male darwin that hosts some palys on opposite sides of the tank. the male darwin is still nervous looking for the male perc that was in there (they didnt get allong very well)

I think it should be fine 1 female, 1 male and 2 juviniles in a 180g their should be plenty of room

 

[kmaintl]

yep, i think you are good to go too! good luck!

 

[kmaintl]

do you have a photo of your female blizzard?

 

[mainereefer]

this is the best up to date pic I have, you can see the blizzard and the regular perc in the top left and where the male darwin stays on the right

 

[3Twinklets]

Honestly if it were my tank, I would try putting some with their host on one end and the rest on the other end. If you have enough places for them to host or vice versa, it may work. I have way more than I should in my 165 and they lunge at each other once in awhile but nothing major. Having said that, my fish are very well fed and they have plenty of anemones to house them. Also my tank is very heavy with rock and corals so nobody is in each others line of sight. I even put my baby Platinums in there and they are doing fine. You also might consider moving that Frog spawn to the far right of the tank so your Darwin has more cover. Beautiful photo!

 

[kmaintl]

this is the best up to date pic I have, you can see the blizzard and the regular perc in the top left and where the male darwin stays on the right

very nice!

 

[mainereefer]

cant move the frogspawn there isnt enough room it is only half expanded in the pic 40+ heads on it
the darwin lives in the big mat (around 150 polyps) of lunar eclipse palys on the top right side of the tank

 

[Trex]

I personally wouldn't attempt it. Done it in the past, and it worked just fine for about a year. At that point a pair formed and reached sexual maturity, and all heck broke loose. Things when South before I could intervene and lost the smallest one.

Never underestimate just how aggressive a mated/spawning pair of clowns can become. I had a peaceful pair of pink skunks that turned into the most aggressive fish I have ever seen. Ended up losing an Golden dwarf angel to them. Heck, I added a 3rd dwarf angel to that tank (( 58 gallons )) and no issues with the existing angels, but clowns on the other hand... I ended up selling them to a local breeder, saw him at a show and he couldn't believe how mean they were.