Clowns in a nano cube? - Can i house a mated pair

K

kindaobsessed

[Since this is my first Saltwater rodeo, I'm asking lots of questions and hopefully elimating the stupid mistakes. Can I house a mated pair of clowns..and maybe a peppermint shrimp? Doubt if I'll go reef in the beginning so FOWLR. If so, what are the best (meaning they don't get too big). I'm absorbing all the great advice here and will be setting up the DX this weekend.

Much thanks]
 
[What size tank are you using? Did you research clown fish to see what the recommended tank size is? Usually takes a while to cycle a tank and nano tanks are hard to keep imo since mistakes happen faster then the larger tanks. What type of lighting comes with the tank?]



Edited By Eric on 1104254076
 
[Hi Eric,

Its a Nano Cube DX 12 gallon 48w of light....I've read that some hobbiests have kept mated clowns in them as a FOWLR. From my freshwater experiences, I've gone against the grain to house fish that work very well (within reason of course). I plan to start sloooooowly, by curing the rock, testing water etc....]
 
[Personally I think Nano should be left to the experienced hobbiest... but, most any clown should fit, how comfortable is a differnt story. I would suggest staying away from Maroons Clownfish though as they can be bigger and more aggressive. Personally I like the false perc (ocellaris) because in wild they bond with anemones where as true percs do not (in the wild). Most all other are about the same size?]
 
[I had a 10 gallon tank before I upgraded to a 90 and I had no problems with it. I only had 1 clown in it, but you could do two without a problem as long as they were small. You probably wouldn't be able to have any other fish but them though.

As long as you keep up with the tank and take care of it, I never felt that a small tank was harder than a large one to handle.]
 
[Im gonna offer some advice for you if you do choose to do a reef.
Unless you test for it, dont add it (calc, iodine, magnesium, etc etc.) I started off with a small tank, and the guy at the LFS recomended a whole crap load of stuff to add to my tank. The directions on the bottles will tell you how much to add everyday, every other day, or once a week, but unless you test for it, you really dont know how much you are dumping in and it could be bad.
With a tank that small, I would definately recomend getting the best test kits. Salifert is expensive, but I used the cheap ones at first and wish i had never bought them.]
 
[Hi Rick!

Here's a link to the pics of our Nano DX 12 gl at the office.

http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph...._photos

We've had it up for 4-5 weeks and it is doing great. It uses 2x pc bulbs 50/50. I don't remember what wattage. We used all tank water from the main tank at home as well as all LR, corals but used new sand-Carib-Sea. We added some of the stuff from the lfs called???bio spere or something like that . It adds live bacteria to the tank so you don't have to worry about the cycling. We have a false clown (I was told that two would probably fight), royal gramma, and a yellow clown goby. An anemone IMO would be out of the question at least with my set up because the tank would become all anemone. You may buy them small but they definately don't stay small.

Corals: Hammer, torch, mushroom with purple spots, brown button polyps, a ton of frogspawn that has gone crazy growing in there, candy cane , green ricordia and a sps that i got at the frag swap. Bristle brush?? Everything is doing great, I already need to start thinning it out.

Directions say to do maintenance monthly but I do wc weekly and top off every 1-2 days with ro/di.

I think it looks great and our patients love it! Everyone always comes in saying "Oh Look!, there's Nemo!" He's the hit of the office.

Cindy]



Edited By Cindy on 1104263703
 
[IMO A single small clown fish would work, I agree with sticking to the more friendly false percs. I had a 30 gallon tank i started with and discovered to my horror how easy it was to make mistakes quickly. If i had the chance to do it over again i would have not bought any fish until i greater grasp of the chemistry of saltwater.
A good test kit is a must, and whatever the back of the bottles says test first, trust me. Nothing good happens fast in a saltwater tank.]
 
[Cindy,

That tank is what I am invisioning. Its beautiful. How much live rock do have? I like the false percs as well and would buy them small/mated. They are quite lively and never boring.

As stated earlier, I will take my time. I already have a big freshwater cichlid tank to keep my impatience at bay in the meantime.

I certainly appreciate all the friendly posts.]



Edited By kindaobsessed on 1104266093
 
kindaobsessed wrote:


[To tell you the truth I'm not sure how much LR is in there. My husband just started sticking his hand in my tank and started pulling stuff out. I had to slap his hands a few times saying "No , that's mine!" :taz: :D . I probably put in close to 2 inches of sand and he probably put in a bit much as far as the corals are concerned. But they all did so well in there that they now need to be weeded out a bit. I was hopping that the clown would host in the frogspawn but he doesn't have anything to do with it or anything else for that matter. He is a little pig though. As soon as I lift the lid up to feed them he's already at the top with his nose sticking up out of the water. He's pretty cute! I understand that with some of the clowns being farm raised that they don't take up to anemones like the ones in the wild do. Like I said before the anemone will take over a big portion of your tank and if you are wanting coral it will sting everything in its path.

Good luck with yours and share pics with us as you start to set it up.

Cindy]
 
[you don't need to buy the clowns mated they are unsexed at birth and do not sex till after they've mated.]
 
[With the mated pair thing. I am really getting a vibe that you hope to have some sucess with breeding clownfish???

I ask because it would be a really hard to do on a first time. Most of us get hit by the bug and upgrade to a larger tank. If you want to try you hand at breeding them I would suggest holding off till after the bug strikes again.

If it's just to have two in the same tank go for it.

to quote Wilkerson from "Clownfishes"<u> "Nature allows clownfishes to select their gender. within a social setting, the most dominant clownfish will become female (too paraphrase)the next male all other juvenile"

That statement isn't quite true. Because if you get 4 clownfish 2 are likely to become females and 2 become male. 2 females of the same species will not cohabitate well in a fixed environment.]</u>
 
BrianC wrote:


[I would think though if at the store you saw two that stayed constantly together and if you bought those two, they would be more likely to get along together than if you just picked out 2 randomly. I don't know if it would work out that way.That's just my thoughts.

Cindy]
 
[Any 2 juv. clowns should form into a pair over time. One will become larger and turn female as they age.

That is probably to small of a tank, a full grown female perc is about 3" or so I think. If they breed, you also need a tank for the fry, and to grow them out to a sellable size. It helps if you culture live, protien rich foods.]
 
[Agree with Marc. Maroons are the only clowns that have any real sexing issues. Buy 2 small ones and your good!

False or true percs would be a great choice. Very docile and entertaining and stay small.

Clarkii's and Maroons would get to big as the females can easily be over 4 inches!]
 
[Cindy, your nano looks excellent. Nice job to you and your hubby!]
 
[Yes, I will buy two small true or false percs...not looking to breed, just to watch two cool fish interract....stupid question here...how much do the 5gallon water jugs run?]
 
[~$5 to $7 a jug, depending on where you find them.]
 
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