Two sets of clown fish in 5 ft tank?? Advice requested

[dlemonz]

I am setting up a waterbox frag 155 and condensing my other two tanks down into it. I have a pair of long fin black clownfish, and a paired set of one normal clown and one flurry clown. All ocellaris, still juvenile size. Can I keep them all in the same tank without aggression, or do I need to banish my ugly pair to the sump?

 

[Uncle99]

More than one pair usually ends badly.

 

[dlemonz]

More than one pair usually ends badly.

That’s what I’ve been reading. What I don’t understand is how they clowns are okay with other fish but other clowns that look nothing like them - major beef

 

[landlubber]

Its because at the end of the day they're Damsels which are the most psychotic of the small fish haha.
The road to success is gained by having a clown harem. Multiple clowns in their infant state pulled from the same litter and introduced together.
4 clowns is the road to a battle royal until the weakest perish.

 

[officialreefbros]

Banish them! The two females will fight it out

 

[biecacka]

More than one pair usually ends badly.

This. I’ve had it happen a few times. Sometimes right away, other times it was not instant. But it never ended well.


Corey

 

[scooterh928]

I’ve had four in the same tank for a year and they all hang out and chill.

 

[officialreefbros]

I’ve had four in the same tank for a year and they all hang out and chill.

Were/are they all babies?

 

[landlubber]

I’ve had four in the same tank for a year and they all hang out and chill.

so the goal here is provide the best result based on what many other reefers have been through. its great that yours are chilling but that definitely isn't the usual result. Once the clowns hit sexual maturity the females get considerably larger than the males, their docile persona changes and things get ugly.
That exact circumstance could be a future problem if your clowns were added around your start date here.

 

[scooterh928]

Were/are they all babies?

Yeah they were all small and ones still a runt.

 

[scooterh928]

so the goal here is provide the best result based on what many other reefers have been through. its great that yours are chilling but that definitely isn't the usual result. Once the clowns hit sexual maturity the females get considerably larger than the males, their docile persona changes and things get ugly.
That exact circumstance could be a future problem if your clowns were added around your start date here.

Yeah I still keep eye on them. Suprisingly they don’t mess with the runt. But I do have another tank so if when anything happens

 

[KrisReef]

Yeah I still keep eye on them. Suprisingly they don’t mess with the runt. But I do have another tank so if when anything happens

The runt is the male who never gets to eat unless the others let him. Submission is the key to his survival.