Should clowns be bought in pairs?

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Starting a nano tank (been some time since had a reef tank). Should clowns of the same type be purchased in pairs or okay to separate variations? Things have changed since a few years ago. Thanks much for your advice.
 
Starting a nano tank (been some time since had a reef tank). Should clowns of the same type be purchased in pairs or okay to separate variations? Things have changed since a few years ago. Thanks much for your advice.
Pairs work best as they have already sorted out who is dominant so less aggression. It's a smaller tank so you'll have plenty if you buy separately. If you don't buy a pair just get one significantly smaller than the other. They should work out their differences. Mine killed 2 males this far and she has been deemed the widow maker.
 
My lady called Tigress has also made two gents in the row to jump out of the tank. Better buy a pair at the very beginning, it's less risky.
 
i have two snowflake clowns in my 240 & recently bought two mocha storm clowns for my 180 both bought as a pair. zero issues in either tank. if you know you want a pair it's best to buy them as a pair. i see a lot of mixed results adding them separately.
 
I put a pair of clowns in my tank and the bigger one went carpet surfing in the middle of the night. The little guy still in the tank just hid in a corner by himself. I put another clown in and the little guy immediately shot all the way across the tank to join the new one. They've been joined at the fin ever since. It was kind of cute.

Make sure you pair them with unequal size fish and you should be fine.
 
If you want to mix species, be sure to study up on what part of the clownfish family tree the specimens you would like are from. The ones who are more similar are more likely to get along, while those that swim with up/down movement tend to reject those who swim with side to side movement (and tomatoes tend to be too territorial to have patience enough to pair up successfully in smaller tanks). Be mindful of adequate escape routes for the weaker/smaller fish and introduce it to the part of the aquarium with most escape routes in it. Personally I keep a 60L nano with two polymnus and a macrodactyla. I introduced the youngest fish into the part of the tank that is heavy with escape routes and for a long time it preferred keeping its distance to the "big dangerous" older fish during the day time (they always slept in the anemone together). The older fish got annoyed over it but could never catch the smaller fish with all the escape routes. The dominant fish eventually stopped chasing and started developing a "lure" tactic instead. It took about a year before they fully paired up because the smaller fish would sometimes go and hang out in the part of the territory that it was first introduced in and the big fish spend a long time learning different lure tactics. Today they are dancing and playing around in their dedicated tank all day, everyday and it was wonderful seeing the social development of the bigger fish once it realised that chasing would not help it achieve what it wanted.
 

IF YOU HAD TO TAKE A REEFING EXAM, WOULD YOU PASS?

  • Yes!

    Votes: 32 45.7%
  • Not yet, but I have one that I want to buy in mind!

    Votes: 9 12.9%
  • No.

    Votes: 26 37.1%
  • Other (please explain).

    Votes: 3 4.3%

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