Adding/mixing clowns?

[jgvergo]

I have an 85g DT. I have two Ocellaris Clownfish. They are about a year old. A friend has one Oscellaris and one Picaso he is looking to give me. Should I be worried about aggression?

 

[Reef Ryder]

Hey! Like people, fish have their personalities, sonto say yes or no for sure, no one knows. If it were me (keep in mind I have some anemone that don't host my clown), I would say if the new addition of clowns are bigger, then the existing ones, you should be okay. If the new ones are smaller, the pre existing ones may bully them because some clowns can be territorial, the good thing is, you have a decent size tank. Ocellaris clowns are usually peaceful but like I said, they carry their own personality.
I hope this helped but here's a trick indo that works... when adding new fish I donut with the lights off and I put a mirror in against the tank, when the fish wake up they think they are in a new place and don't bother much with the new fish... a few days later remove the mirror..works every time LOL good luck

 

[wkscott]

Yes, you should be worried about aggression. The largest clown will end up boss of the four. She will pick one of the others as her partner and the two of them may very well constantly bully the other two. This isn't written in stone but it is how it normally turns out. The smallest fish will probably take the biggest hit of the aggression.

 

[Reef Ryder]

+1 with the smallest taking the aggression but I think it's less possible if the smaller one is the existing one, definitely keep them well fed. Some people actually move their rock work around for confusion which makes the fish not care as much about the new fish, that is why I do the mirror trick.

 

[wkscott]

We need to look outside of the box here. We don't know the exact ages or maturities of these fish. If one of the existing fish is a female already, and one of the new ones is also a female, then all hell will break loose. No amount of rock rearranging or smoke and mirrors will help in this situation. One female will die and the other one could be severely injured. Just a matter of time before the surviving pair pick off the fourth one.

 

[jgvergo]

Well, I'm not going to risk it. Thanks for the input!

 

[Reef Ryder]

We need to look outside of the box here. We don't know the exact ages or maturities of these fish. If one of the existing fish is a female already, and one of the new ones is also a female, then all hell will break loose. No amount of rock rearranging or smoke and mirrors will help in this situation. One female will die and the other one could be severely injured. Just a matter of time before the surviving pair pick off the fourth one.

Not sure I agree 100% but definitely made a good point about gender. They can change gender but only once. I agree, best not to take a chance if you don't feel comfortable with it.

 

[Rjramos]

If you really wanna see what happens without setting them free in your tank put them in a vessel like the one pictured above and leave them there and feed them there for a week. This will give you the answer.