Why are clownfish so popular?

[Katrina71]

They are so popular because...look how cute they are!

 

[Ardeus]

Personality is amazing for sure, like some here have said they're like dogs they come up when you get home etc. pretty neat fish. I love clowns, can't wait to get a pair of mocha gladiators once my tank is set up.

I filmed a family of shelldwellers in Lake Tanganyika for a few hundred hours (I uploaded almost 500 hours to youtube!) and I wish I could the same one day with a family of clowns. Their stories in the wild are still untold.

 

[Gareth elliott]

Personality, few of the fish we keep have the idiosyncrasies of an anemone fish. Those that do are either large or have abysmal survival rates to the beginner hobbyist.
Clowns and angels interact with the viewer. Tangs and wrasses are gorgeous, but dont have that same level of personification.

^100% opinion [emoji23]

 

[Musovski]

NEEEEEMMMMOOOOOOO

 

[andrewkw]

They're iconic. Everyone knows what a clownfish is regardless of if you are a reefer, a newbie or someone who has no intention of ever keeping fish. They are easy to take care of. Suitable for big tanks, small tanks and are usually very long lived. The unique relationship they have with a host makes them a more interesting choice when you only have room for a couple of fish. They come in all different price ranges so they fit into pretty much everyone's budget. There are also so many different types that at least one is going to appeal to most fish keepers.

 

[davocean]

Clowns were my first fish back in 85, a bit before nemo, but agree it certainly exploded popularity after nemo, which is funny to me because while I loved the movie, it seemed more anti aquarium to me!

The symbiotic relationship between clowns and anemone's has just always fascinated me, and always will, I'll always have a pair of clowns in any tank I have.
They really are one of the perfect small space reef fish due to their "nesting" type behavior and not needing much space.

 

[NY_Caveman]

A beautiful Mandarin got me into this hobby in the 90s, but I still owned a Clownfish first. What’s not to like?

@davocean i agree Nemo was definitely antiaquarium.

 

[Katrina71]

+1 anti aquarium

 

[SashimiTurtle]

Clownfish popularity predates Finding Nemo by decades, although the movie certainly helped (or didn't, looked at another way)...

For me as a kid, inhaling Jacques Cousteau reruns and any books on the marine environment I could find, it was the colors, the symbiotic relationship with anemones, and the fact that they were available for less than two years worth of allowance back then lol

This, I remember as a middle school kid in the 90s my science teacher had a salt water tank in her room. I have no idea what kind of equipment she had or anything else about it other than she had clownfish and a few anemones. There wasn't much of anything else in the tank, but watching those clownfish swim in the anemones was mesmerizing.

Finding Nemo made everyone's kid want to put "Nemo" and "Dory" in a two gallon jar like a betta. Love hate relationship with that movie. It's a fun movie, but has killed so many fish.

 

[Hemmdog]

I have a clown, he’s cool. I find more personification out of my tangs and trigger to be honest. They always come up to me and hangout while I’m messing with something.

Is it just me - - when you overhear people in the LFS refer to fish as Nemo’s and dory’s I find it so incredibly off putting I usually just end up leaving in frustration, why is it so difficult to at least call it a clownfish or blue hippo tang, I’d be fine with that. I’m not asking for scientific names here. I just feel that PARENTS/people need to educate themselves/their kids about the difference between a character in a movie and a species of animal in front of their eyes. It’s beyond frustrating. Was it the same back in the day with Lassie? Did all kids call collies Lassies????

 

[Gareth elliott]

I have a clown, he’s cool. I find more personification out of my tangs and trigger to be honest. They always come up to me and hangout while I’m messing with something.

Is it just me - - when you overhear people in the LFS refer to fish as Nemo’s and dory’s I find it so incredibly off putting I usually just end up leaving in frustration, why is it so difficult to at least call it a clownfish or blue hippo tang, I’d be fine with that. I’m not asking for scientific names here. I just feel that PARENTS/people need to educate themselves/their kids about the difference between a character in a movie and a species of animal in front of their eyes. It’s beyond frustrating. Was it the same back in the day with Lassie? Did all kids call collies Lassies????

I might get some specifics wrong with dates below so no one quote me.

At one time lassie was the longest running tv show something like 26 seasons. And the had been over a dozen dogs that had played lassie over its span. About 3/4 of the dogs were males, whom the trainers had named laddie in real life.

 

[Hemmdog]

That’s crazy lol

I might get some specifics wrong with dates below so no one quote me.

At one time lassie was the longest running tv show something like 26 seasons. And the had been over a dozen dogs that had played lassie over its span. About 3/4 of the dogs were males, whom the trainers had named laddie in real life.

 

[Reef-Tank]

Clownfish always fun to watch.

 

[kichimark]

If you walk into any LFS they will have clownfish. Their colors, swimming behavior and their relationship with anemones are catchy. Couple this with the fairly reasonable prices you can see why they are very popular. They are truly the fish that represents saltwater for many people when it comes to aquaria.


It is true they were popular before Finding Nemo and it is honestly a cute movie. I don't let people get to me if they call them nemo or dory since many tend to be just kids OR come from people who don't care OR do not spend the time to research to know and talking to people like that to ONLY correct them on the name seems weird. We are actually guilty of the same thing....look at the names given to corals. Hell, I bet if someone were to talk about their Walt Disney the average person would think of the park or something. If you mention Pink Lemonade they might tell you they had pink lemonade before they went on a ride at disney. To us...they are all acros.

To me, I would rather talk about the clowns behaviors and what makes them unique then go into the common names. Before I started teaching I interned at the Aquarium of The Pacific and although I worked in the Northern Pacific Gallery I would hear every day where are the nemos. Now that I recall, my biggest gripe was when people would tap on the aquariums. I actually heard the taps a few times when I was close to the viewing panels.

 

[Hemmdog]

If you walk into any LFS they will have clownfish. Their colors, swimming behavior and their relationship with anemones are catchy. Couple this with the fairly reasonable prices you can see why they are very popular. They are truly the fish that represents saltwater for many people when it comes to aquaria.


It is true they were popular before Finding Nemo and it is honestly a cute movie. I don't let people get to me if they call them nemo or dory since many tend to be just kids OR come from people who don't care OR do not spend the time to research to know and talking to people like that to ONLY correct them on the name seems weird. We are actually guilty of the same thing....look at the names given to corals. Hell, I bet if someone were to talk about their Walt Disney the average person would think of the park or something. If you mention Pink Lemonade they might tell you they had pink lemonade before they went on a ride at disney. To us...they are all acros.

To me, I would rather talk about the clowns behaviors and what makes them unique then go into the common names. Before I started teaching I interned at the Aquarium of The Pacific and although I worked in the Northern Pacific Gallery I would hear every day where are the nemos. Now that I recall, my biggest gripe was when people would tap on the aquariums. I actually heard the taps a few times when I was close to the viewing panels.

That’s a good annology. I hate tapping on aquariums to. Very annoying. I worked at a public aquarium after college, so many adults would even do that!!! I would be scuba diving in the tank with black tips and other moderately aggressive sharks, you can hear the tapping clear as day. The sharks were not a fan of it, their behavior changed immediately.

 

[kichimark]

That’s a good annology. I hate tapping on aquariums to. Very annoying. I worked at a public aquarium after college, so many adults would even do that!!! I would be scuba diving in the tank with black tips and other moderately aggressive sharks, you can hear the tapping clear as day. The sharks were not a fan of it, their behavior changed immediately.

I could hear them but they couldn't hear what I was saying to them haha.

 

[Jesterrace]

Personality, few of the fish we keep have the idiosyncrasies of an anemone fish. Those that do are either large or have abysmal survival rates to the beginner hobbyist.
Clowns and angels interact with the viewer. Tangs and wrasses are gorgeous, but dont have that same level of personification.

^100% opinion

I was going to agree with your opinion until you lumped wrasses in there. There is no comparing the personality of the snowflake occ I had with my Melanurus or Blue Star Leopard Wrasses. Not saying clownfish don't have interesting personalities, I just feel that most wrasses have more and are distinct individuals more so than clowns. My Clown never "Danced for it's Dinner" and never grabbed food and led the entire tank population on a chase in and around the tank or curiously checks on my hand while I clean the tank (usually the clown prefers to bite the hand).

Anyways as has been mentioned here is why clowns are so popular:

Brightly Colored
Highly Visible (mine never really slept and was almost always active)
One of the cheapest fish in the hobby (unless you go for a crazy designer one)
Hardy
Can go in a tank as small as 20-30 gallons for a single or pair of Ocellaris or Percula varieties
Movie Fame/Most recognized fish of the hobby out there

To me the biggest factor is the fact anyone with more than a Pico or the smallest nano tank can house one or two of them and since options are fairly limited in a tank of under 30 gallons it's hard to argue against clowns from a bang for buck perspective in a tank of that size.

 

[BestMomEver]

They’re hardy, funny, affordable (plain Jane ones anyway), and reef safe. What else could you ask for?

 

[BestMomEver]

Definitely agree with that. I had my designer clown phase but now I prefer the wild types. I have a pair of latezonatus and I’d take them over any designer.

Oh my! I’d love a pair of latez’s! Where did you get them?

 

[vetteguy53081]

They always were. Easy care and better choice than a damsel, then along came: