Peaceful clownfish

dragon99 · Jun 6, 2017

Does such a fish exist? Or is it just wishful thinking?

I moved my clarkii clowns out of my main DT. Without them in the tank everyone else is much happier, but I feel like a clownfish is an essential member of a reef tank.

Is A. occellaris the best bet?
Are any of the designer varieties more relaxed?
Does keeping a single clown help at all?

rockhead51 · Jun 7, 2017

My occys are best buds and very cool to all my other fish. Occasionally the younger one might give a quick chase to my Yellow Watchman Goby when it is swimming around the tank. But nothing like my Cherub Angel does to my Orchid Dotyback (chases him into the rocks whenever).

SashimiTurtle · Jun 7, 2017

My Ocelaris are territorial. They are a full grown pair, the female is over 3" and the male is right at it. The male is very relaxed and carefree. The female is an absolute terror. She repeatedly tail slapped a dwarf moray when introduced, chased a six line until she figured it there was no way she could catch it, bit the tail off of a 1.5" coral beauty... Over 3/4 of it was gone, I was really worried that I was going to have a tailless Angelfish but it grew back. I had to buy a whole separate aquarium for the coral beauty because that was the second and worst attack. I don't there there is a "nice" clownfish. They are all jerks in my opinion. I'm seriously considering getting rid of my pair. As cool as clownfish are, I can't add new fish to my tank without them being a target for extreme aggression.

Black Ocelaris pair.

Coral beauty with tail damage.

Katrina71 · Jun 7, 2017

We were told oc clowns are the most peaceful. We have one in our tank. He sleeps with a Tailspot Blenny. Hope the behavior doesn't change. Now he eats out of my hand.

SashimiTurtle · Jun 7, 2017

Katrina71 said:
We were told oc clowns are the most peaceful. We have one in our tank. He sleeps with a Tailspot Blenny. Hope the behavior doesn't change. Now he eats out of my hand.

My female eats pellets out of my hand also. She doesn't mind me doing anything with the tank. Add a new fish and she goes into attack mode.

Katrina71 · Jun 7, 2017

Robin Haselden said:
My female eats pellets out of my hand also. She doesn't mind me doing anything with the tank. Add a new fish and she goes into attack mode.

Welcome to the neighborhood... let's establish who's in charge. I can relate.

Katrina71 · Jun 7, 2017

For the record. It only happened once. The radio hasn't been an issue since.

Best Fish-Jake · Jun 7, 2017

Generic occelaris (orange with white bands) tend to be the least aggressive. In general, the further away you go from this species, the more aggressive the clown will be. Some of the most aggressive ime include: Clarkii, Maroon, tomato/cinnamon, and Wyoming white.

I have a pair of Wyoming whites, and a pair of misbar black oc.... all 4 are huge jerks. The whites will harass any other fish that comes near their territory, and the black ocs. will nip fingers. (The pairs are in different tanks)

dragon99 · Jun 7, 2017

Thanks for the feedback!

Sounds like an occelaris might be in the future. It will probably be my last fish if I do decide to get one. As much as I love clowns, I'm enjoying watching the other fish without a jerk in the tank.

isoseismic · Jun 8, 2017

In my experience, the least aggressive clownfish by far are pink skunk or orange skunk. They can even be very timid.

Karie · Jun 8, 2017

I have had several clowns over the years and each had different personality. But the only time I have had clowns that were terrors was when I had a mated pair of Occellaris. The female was a black one and the male was a petite little orange one. They were hosting one of my trachyphyllia. If I dared to stick my hand in the water, the female would chase me, hit me with her tail, and finally bite at me until I got the hint. I hated that fish. I gave her to a friend and he said she continued to be a B-Witch. Now I have the same male all by himself and he's a sweetie. I also have a huge female maroon in another tank and she is a sweetie too. I know, hard to believe. She has only bumped me once in 3 years when I kept trying to clean her territory. She will move all the sand out of her territory each week after I clean the tank and occasionally bump a coral out of the way if she thinks it is too close but she eats out of my hand and is one of my favorite fish. I will not give her anything to host though and I will never have a mated pair again. Just my own rules based on my own experiences.

LbulletM · Jun 8, 2017

The one thing you do have going for you is that with the clown being the last addition, all of the other fish will have already staked their claims. Will reduce aggression a good bit.

dragon99 · Jun 8, 2017

LbulletM said:
The one thing you do have going for you is that with the clown being the last addition, all of the other fish will have already staked their claims. Will reduce aggression a good bit.

That's the hope. I'll see how it goes. I've got a couple wrasses in QT now (rhomboid and pintail) and I'd like to get a bristletooth tang. After that I'll see if I still need a clownfish.

And to be fair to the Clarikii's, they weren't crazy mean. Just the occasional chase down the tank. It was my yellow wrasse that they chased usually and considering he could swim circles around them (literally) it wasn't a cause for concern. But even the cleaner shrimp is out more now that they have left.