Clown school

digital-audiophile · #1 07-22-2007, 10:47 PM

I have like the tank at Fuji Yama (Great Japanese restraunt donwtown) and they have a couple little shoals of Clowns in their tank - its huge like 280ish Gallons - and the clowns look pretty cool in their little pods.

I'm just not sure how well long term clown families work?

adidas · #2 07-22-2007, 10:52 PM

i've never done it, but i would think the best way would be to introduce them all to the tank at the same time? wonder if that matters

fishoholic · #3 07-23-2007, 12:08 AM

I would think they would need to be introduced at the same or very close to the same time for them to all get along. I don't known about clowns but it's that way for my tangs.

michika · #4 07-23-2007, 01:42 AM

I looked into this when I set up my 230g a couple of years ago. From all my research (80% textbooks, 20% internet [Canreef, ReefCentral, etc.] I figured that they all need to be added at or around the same time, and need to be in groups of more then 7-10 (depends on the source). There seemed to be a general concensus that adding 3 will trigger the death of one clown, as one of the three will differentiate into a female and choose one male as a mate. The female would then kill the non-mated male. Granted this was just stuff I've read, and I never did try it out.

However, I have kept 3 separate types of clown pairs in one tank, tomato, ocellaris, and panda. It was just a matter of introducting them at the same time, or rearranging the rockwork/environment upon introduction of a new pair.

digital-audiophile · #5 07-23-2007, 07:15 PM

So I ended up getting two more to make a little family of four. They are all tiny sized and seem to be swiming together. We will see as they grow what happens. If things get too aggresive I can more one or more into my sump.

surgeonfish · #6 07-23-2007, 10:29 PM

Keep us updated. I agree with Catherine, add them all around the same time. I tried a school of tank raised ocellaris clowns. However, I already had a pair of ocellaris clowns and breeding Tomoto clowns that did not like any additional clowns.

Quagmire · #7 07-24-2007, 12:17 AM

Don't forget clowns are damsels.Not speaking from experience,but I would think that after they paired off,you would get a lot of fighting.Eventually ending up with only the dominant pair surviving.Or maybe a couple pairs.Maybe some of the experienced clown owners will chime in,but in the mean time,go nuts with google,there should be lots of info on compatibility.