Clownfish Circus (harem) Club!

kinetic · Sep 5, 2018

Alexx17 said:
I have 2 about the same size and one a little smaller. The forth one was the smallest my favorite. So I was told I could another small one in again or a bigger one. I decided to go bigger, with a frostbite clown.

Who told you? Not trying to say you or the person is wrong, but the beauty of forums and communities like this is so that you can get all the information from multiple credible sources to make your own final decision. There are a lot of exceptions, and no two fish are the same. There's the more sure ways, and then there's the higher risk. I think you can do whatever you want, but just be good to the animals.

Alexx17 · Sep 5, 2018

kinetic said:
Who told you? Not trying to say you or the person is wrong, but the beauty of forums and communities like this is so that you can get all the information from multiple credible sources to make your own final decision. There are a lot of exceptions, and no two fish are the same. There's the more sure ways, and then there's the higher risk. I think you can do whatever you want, but just be good to the animals.

Thank you. I was by 3 different people. Two from one lfs and one from another, the one has degrees in marine bology and chem.

kinetic · Sep 7, 2018

Update from BRS on their harem tank:

Looks like they're breaking it down. They moved most of the fish to other tanks. They have a temporary harem in there right now from Chad Vossen.

truetricia · Sep 14, 2018

I'm interested in doing a clown harem/nem tank in my bedroom. I love the very zen look of the whole thing. I currently don't have anything set up (deployment), but have a 46g bowfront I used to have in there. My plan when I come back is to drill the tank with a ghost overflow to a sump with a good quiet skimmer.

I'd love to have some nice black and white clowns (particular type not important right now) and some RBTAs, really mimicking that BRS tank's look. I'm thinking only 4 or 6 in that particular sized set-up, with more RBTAs than clowns.

I'm thinking of setting up the tank, letting it cycle for a month or so, then adding the clowns. All from the same clutch and as small as possible. Once the tank has stablized, I'll add the nems, again with the goal being at least one more nem than clowns. So 4 clowns = 5 RBTAs and so on in an effort to reduce competition and aggression.

kinetic · Sep 14, 2018

truetricia said:
I'm interested in doing a clown harem/nem tank in my bedroom. I love the very zen look of the whole thing. I currently don't have anything set up (deployment), but have a 46g bowfront I used to have in there. My plan when I come back is to drill the tank with a ghost overflow to a sump with a good quiet skimmer.

I'd love to have some nice black and white clowns (particular type not important right now) and some RBTAs, really mimicking that BRS tank's look. I'm thinking only 4 or 6 in that particular sized set-up, with more RBTAs than clowns.

I'm thinking of setting up the tank, letting it cycle for a month or so, then adding the clowns. All from the same clutch and as small as possible. Once the tank has stablized, I'll add the nems, again with the goal being at least one more nem than clowns. So 4 clowns = 5 RBTAs and so on in an effort to reduce competition and aggression.

Ideally you would establish the anemones well ahead of time. One anemone does not equal one territory. Five anemones in the same place can be dominated by one clown. Especially in a 45g. Fill the whole thing up with anemones first. 4 clowns won’t be a harem, they will probably pair and the other two will fight until one becomes dominant or kills the other.

truetricia · Sep 17, 2018

kinetic said:
Ideally you would establish the anemones well ahead of time. One anemone does not equal one territory. Five anemones in the same place can be dominated by one clown. Especially in a 45g. Fill the whole thing up with anemones first. 4 clowns won’t be a harem, they will probably pair and the other two will fight until one becomes dominant or kills the other.

So assuming there are a ton of RBTAs, what is a good number of clowns for a 46g tank? Just two, three, or some other number.

kinetic · Sep 17, 2018

truetricia said:
So assuming there are a ton of RBTAs, what is a good number of clowns for a 46g tank? Just two, three, or some other number.

Best case: just two, one much smaller (at least .5" to be safe) than the other.

If you want to risk it, try 10 - 15. Your system's ability to maintain that bioload is priority, then you have to see if they will survive in such a small tank (meaning they won't kill each other). I have yet to see a harem of less than 10 actually succeed. I tried 5, it didn't work.

Clayton Jessup · Sep 29, 2018

I would love to create a Clown Harem tank out of my Innovative Marine 30L EXT , but I am just worried I would not be able to do more then 6 fish if I am lucky !! What do you all think should I try to create a Clown Harem dream build out of my IM 30L EXT ?

kinetic · Sep 30, 2018

Clayton Jessup said:
I would love to create a Clown Harem tank out of my Innovative Marine 30L EXT , but I am just worried I would not be able to do more then 6 fish if I am lucky !! What do you all think should I try to create a Clown Harem dream build out of my IM 30L EXT ?

I've been looking it up Clayton, nobody who has less than 10 - 15 fish in their tanks have had long-term success. If your tank is big enough, six could be OK, but they may just find their own territories.

I had up to 7 at one point, but it didn't work out.

Clayton Jessup · Oct 1, 2018

kinetic said:
I've been looking it up Clayton, nobody who has less than 10 - 15 fish in their tanks have had long-term success. If your tank is big enough, six could be OK, but they may just find their own territories.

I had up to 7 at one point, but it didn't work out.

My tank measures 35.5in x 15in x 13in tall , it’s only 30 gallons , so it may not be big enough ..

truetricia · Oct 1, 2018

Clayton Jessup said:
My tank measures 35.5in x 15in x 13in tall , it’s only 30 gallons , so it may not be big enough ..

I'm in the same boat. 40g tank so probably going to go with a clown pair, several RBTAs, and a few other small fish.

Terry DeMott · Oct 1, 2018

Ok I have a 180 gal tank I am using a roller mat and skimmer plus Santa Monica Filtration RAIN2 Algae scrubber . My pho is at 2.50 can't get it to lower
Any ideas ? thx.

Wuzzo · Oct 1, 2018

This is a nice thread. I don't plan on getting a clown harem tank anytime soon. But they are fascinating.

kinetic · Oct 2, 2018

Clayton Jessup said:
My tank measures 35.5in x 15in x 13in tall , it’s only 30 gallons , so it may not be big enough ..

It probably won't work Clayton unless you can cram 15 in there without any water quality issues, and even then, there's not much space for the clowns to escape being bullied.

truetricia said:
I'm in the same boat. 40g tank so probably going to go with a clown pair, several RBTAs, and a few other small fish.

Same tricia, you could try it, but still nothing good comes of something less than 15. The stress just isn't worth it for me. Go with a beautiful pair, maybe even a magnifica in a 40g

Terry DeMott said:
Ok I have a 180 gal tank I am using a roller mat and skimmer plus Santa Monica Filtration RAIN2 Algae scrubber . My pho is at 2.50 can't get it to lower
Any ideas ? thx.

Something is creating a lot of phosphate. How new/old are your rocks? I know sometimes live rock or even dead rock will leach tons of phosphate. Strange that even using an algae scrubber your phosphates are still high. Either way, if it's not causing any algae issues you should be fine.

Wuzzo · Oct 2, 2018

Could I put a Clown Harem in my 12 gallon tank? Na, I'm just kidding. I would never do that.

DeniseAndy · Oct 8, 2018

I have not tried a harem of the same clutch, but I have tried different species. I had a pair of ocel( Mocha and snowflake) and a pair of blackfoots. They were quite happy for over 2 years until one day the blackfoot female killed the mocha (female). I was out of town, but the babysitter was able to get the male out in time. He now is in a 20g and just met a new little guy. Hoping they pair up. He has been on his own for over a year. (so, probably a girl now).

I also tried adding clarkiis with the blackfoot to horrible fail. Got clarkiis out fast. I run a 7' 210g tank. Lots of nems and room. No go.

Now that I am back up and running (new tank). I am going to try possibly an onyx pair I have or maybe the snowflake and daVinchi pair I have together all at once. See how that goes. I will have over 5 bta and one carpet anemone. I have nets just in case.

This will be after my fallow period. I really an not seeing long term success with multiple pairs or different species. I do not consider 2yrs long term. I expect life of fish to be long term.

ReefTeacher · Oct 20, 2018

I have a 180 with a fair number of wrasses, corals, and a very large Mag. I have had a pair of regular ocellaris that are still quite small, maybe 1.25 inches. I am intrigued by a harem as everyone who sees the tank loves the clowns. What do people think the chances are if I could find 10-12 very small (say under an inch) clowns. The anemone is very big and growing so I would hope that number would fit in the Mag with only diffuse aggression. Thoughts?

DeniseAndy · Oct 21, 2018

I would go with pink skunks or saddleback clowns. From my reading, this is the two that do best together as groups. I will be trying these with my carpet possibly. Have not decided completely.

MarinaP · Oct 21, 2018

Saddlebacks are nasty. They dive into anemone’s mouth, they are aggressive to the point that my male killed the female. And they were together for a long time. They have huge teeth. My least fav species. Allardi is nice. They are beautiful and less temperamental.