Clown Pairs

[Cherokee_Dude]

I have a 48x20x24 with a pair of ocellaris (Not mated) and RBTAx2.
Would it be a good idea to add 1 or 2 onyx clowns into the mix?

Would I have to remove 1 or both? Permanently or temporarily? to make this happen.

 

[JohnK]

More clowns equals more dead clowns as they mature IMO.

 

[afboundguy]

+1 I wouldn't try to add any more clowns. I tried once way back when before I was in BRS to add a black and white clown to my reg clowns... didn't work out too well

 

[Frag Freaks]

I actually have a question that might fall in this same category.

I have had one clown in my tank for a couple years now. It used to be paired up when I first had her but since then her mate died. Now my g/f has a small nano at her house and it is becoming to much for her to take care of. She has a clown in here tank. Both are the same species, would I be able to ad the other one to my tank without a problem or would mine kill hers since the one I have is 3 times larger.

 

[JayM]

I had a pair of Clarkii clowns and added a tomato clown after getting some bad advice from an LFS as a newbie. The Clarkiis beat the CRAP out of the tomato, and it needed a long recuperation in my refugium.

 

[JayM]

I actually have a question that might fall in this same category.

I have had one clown in my tank for a couple years now. It used to be paired up when I first had her but since then her mate died. Now my g/f has a small nano at her house and it is becoming to much for her to take care of. She has a clown in here tank. Both are the same species, would I be able to ad the other one to my tank without a problem or would mine kill hers since the one I have is 3 times larger.

if you remove the clown that is in your tank now, and then introduce them together, you have a good chance that they will pair up. The size disparity actually works in your favor here, as the smaller clown will end up being the male in the pair

 

[JohnK]

sorry for the quick reply before.

With clowns, though groups might do OK when they are quite small, as they start to mature they will need to work out dominance. The dominant clown will become the female and the less dominant one will be the male. If you have a bunch of clowns, you'll see all of them beating each other up until one is the clear winner. If you have more than two in the tank, you'll most likely see one pair emerge and 2 clowns get beat up and die.

It's extremely rare to hear of any success with more than one pair in a tank that size (I have heard of it once or twice, but it's not common at all). In these cases the mated pairs take up and defend seperate territories. In the case of 2 sets of non paired clowns, they won't have settled territory ar pairings so it will be a four way death match. Don't do it.

Give the ones you have time. IIRC ocellairs are pretty easy to pair so you've got deccent chances just letting them be.

 

[Cherokee_Dude]

OK, so my plan is to move 1 to my frag tank and try and introduce 1 onyx clown. As far as the best chance at acceptance into the display, should I keep the larger of the two in the display and get a smaller onyx?

I should add that my wife is starting to see the benefit of the $$$ spent, and thinks the onyx are (sooo cute!) so I probably need to make this happen.

 

[JohnK]

I actually have a question that might fall in this same category.

I have had one clown in my tank for a couple years now. It used to be paired up when I first had her but since then her mate died. Now my g/f has a small nano at her house and it is becoming to much for her to take care of. She has a clown in here tank. Both are the same species, would I be able to ad the other one to my tank without a problem or would mine kill hers since the one I have is 3 times larger.

A agree with what Jay said about this. I would add that if the clown coming from the nano is substantially smaller you could probably just add it and the pairing would be very easy. If they are similar sized, then it will be more difficlut and the removing and reintroducing together that Jay suggested would be a particularly good idea.

 

[JohnK]

OK, so my plan is to move 1 to my frag tank and try and introduce 1 onyx clown. As far as the best chance at acceptance into the display, should I keep the larger of the two in the display and get a smaller onyx?

I should add that my wife is starting to see the benefit of the $$$ spent, and thinks the onyx are (sooo cute!) so I probably need to make this happen.

I'm confused, are you trying to discourage the normal clowns from pairing? I don't understand what your goal is??

 

[Frag Freaks]

if you remove the clown that is in your tank now, and then introduce them together, you have a good chance that they will pair up. The size disparity actually works in your favor here, as the smaller clown will end up being the male in the pair

So if I don't removed my clown and reintroduce together then she will most likely beat on the smaller one and potentially kill it?

 

[JohnK]

If the smaller one is much smaller the big one will push it around a bit, but dominance will be established very quickly and little harm done.

If they are similar in size they will beat the heck out of each other attempting to establish dominance and one or both could end up dead.

IME I have paired true percs and maroons. In both cases I had a larger established clown and added another tiny one (less than half the size). Both times they were paired up by the next morning with no further aggression.

 

[MisFit]

if you remove the clown that is in your tank now, and then introduce them together, you have a good chance that they will pair up. The size disparity actually works in your favor here, as the smaller clown will end up being the male in the pair

Not so fast! Clowns kept alone for a while are likely to have become female so in this case you would be putting two females in the tank together which would lead to disaster for the little one. If you want to pair the one in your tank get an immature one from a tank that has many juvenile ones in it and make sure that you dont get the largest from that tank.

 

[JohnK]

Good point.

 

[Greg Hiller]

If you have a fairly large anemone that clowns are hosting in, I think there's a reasonable possibility that if you get several immature clowns (same species) and introduce them all at the same time that you will end up with one pair, and a few 'extras' that stay small (stay immature males) and still are allowed to live in/around the anemone.

 

[Frag Freaks]

If you have a fairly large anemone that clowns are hosting in, I think there's a reasonable possibility that if you get several immature clowns (same species) and introduce them all at the same time that you will end up with one pair, and a few 'extras' that stay small (stay immature males) and still are allowed to live in/around the anemone.

I do have a fairly good sized LTA that my female currently hosts in.

 

[jbishop]

I only have the 2 true percs but have seen quite a few tanks were there is a bunch of species of clowns.