Beginner's questions about clownfish!

sarah15 · Mar 30, 2011

I've had a ten gallon saltwater tank for about a month now. It has some coral, live rock, hermit crabs and snail, and a canary blenny. I would really like to add in a pair of ocellaris clownfish and from my research it seems like they would do ok but I thought I'd get your opinions. Any thoughts on how successful this would be?

skinz78 · Mar 30, 2011

I would think you should be fine adding a pair of them. I wouldn't recommend adding much more along the lines of fish though.

subielover · Mar 30, 2011

I would give it some more time, let the tank mature and gain some stability. Adding two small clowns doesn't seem like much but 3 decent sized fish in a 10 gallon is a pretty high bioload, IMO. How about 1 clown and a smaller goby, an example would be the ORA sharknose goby. Good luck with your new tank.

Tabasco1 · Mar 30, 2011

I think it would work if you are on top of maintenance as that would be a good bit of bioload. +1 for a little more time on the tank. I believe that at maturity the male would be about 3" and the female about 5".

drainbamage · Mar 30, 2011

10 gallon tank...I would pull the blenny out if you want the clownfish- just not a lot of space in there.

That said- wait a month or two before adding anything more! your tank is young AND small, that's a good combination for having problems, so wait till you get rid of the young thing and then make moves from there.

Oh- and I'm not picking on you for the small tank, i rock tiny tanks too- but I know they're small and deal with them accordingly :bigsmile: