Does size matter?

[Philipgonzales3]

The age old question?

Of the fish of course. While my tank is cycling I am trying to decide where to source my fish.
I want two clownfish to start with. I want a Davinci/Gladiator clownfish or maybe a Picasso but leaning towards the first one. I like the ones that look a little different than regular clownfish but not too "busy" or crazy looking.

I see some online vendors sell them as small as .5" from what I've seen so far. My thinking is that I want to get it as small as possible and see it grow. Would a fish around .5" be much more susceptible to dying in transport, as I don't want to be responsible for killing a fish, even indirectly. I know many sites offer a 14 day guarantee but still.

Would it be better to go with something at least 1"?

I'm thinking of going with https://www.coralreeftn.com/shop.php

Something like

Amphiprion ocellarisSA Fancy White - Semi SMALL - Sale Price!

 

[Old Fritz]

in my experience bigger fish are much hardier. However keeping smaller fish and watching them grow is much more satisfying to me. The big killer i've seen for smaller clowns is transport but that's mostly regular ocellaris because they get shipped in a bag with about 8 other clowns. the fancier clowns only get shipped in pairs of two. That being said they i've never had a clown arrive dead on arrival and most of the time if they die its about 24-48 hours after shipping, typically due to things like ammonia burns being too bad to recover from. Just be sure to treat the clowns immediately for velvet and ich with copper, i've noticed that the fancier clowns are more prone to it, and then after about 3 weeks of copper I would do a round of prazi or general cure.

 

[SPR1968]

I personally prefer to buy all of my fish as juveniles were ever possible as I like to watch them grow and mature in my system from very young

With older fish you also may not have their complete history as well.

Just my preference anyway

 

[mta_morrow]

I buy all my fish as small as possible. I too like to watch them grow.

One thing to watch out for buying ANY livestock this time of the year including corals and inverts is the weather and the delays due to holiday shipping.

The delays due to the holiday spike are a big killer this time of the year.

I personally don’t have any livestock shipped from mid November thru February/March.

 

[Sailingeric]

Is there a fish store near by? Or in a reasonable driving distance? Riding in your car for a couple hours is still better than shipping. Plus you can see the fish in person before picking one out.

 

[Philipgonzales3]

Is there a fish store near by? Or in a reasonable driving distance? Riding in your car for a couple hours is still better than shipping. Plus you can see the fish in person before picking one out.

I live in San Antonio. I visited two local places and they only had regular clownfish. I asked about special ordering and they both said they do not do that or it would have to be in bulk. Meaning a whole box of clownfish however much came in the shipment. I called a place today that said they are a "full" service store. That they can special order any fish for me. At this point I think ordering online is going to be my best bet.

 

[PatW]

I do not get really small fish say less than 1" very often.

But I prefer getting, smaller fish if possible. I like getting immature fish and have them grow into the tank. I believe that smaller fish adjust better to a captive environment. Also, getting immature fish means that I am getting a young fish so it has its full lifespan ahead of it.