Multiple pairs of of different anemonefish species in one tank

[ThRoewer]

Because I was running out of tanks to put them in I decided to put 3 different pairs of 3 different species in one 40B tank.

Originally each pair had their own preferred anemone:
- The Philippine "ocellaris" (Amphiprion cf ocellaris) had a Heteractis magnifica
- The Goldbar Maroons (Amphiprion epigrammata) had several BTAs (Entacmaea quadricolor)
- And the Sea&Reef Darwin "ocellaris" (Amphiprion bicolor) had initially a Stichodactyla haddoni

All got along fairly well aside from a few little border conflicts.
By the time I took the first video, I had to take the haddoni out because I had added a pair of Assessor randalli to the tank and didn't want to take any risks. This left the Darwins "homeless".






At this point, I replaced the misbared Sea&Reef Darwin "female" with an equally sized wild-caught Darwin clown. However, that one didn't get along too well with the smaller Sea&Reef Darwin and so I decided to put them in one of my anemone QTs to be by themselves. (by now they get along - but that is a different story.)
I also replaced the smaller Philippine Maroon with a small Goldbar Maroon from Sumatra which also caused a bit of disruption: The established maroon didn't want anything to do with the newcomer and so that one rather took shelter in the corner behind the ocellaris who kind of shielded him.
Then all the anemones got sick and I had to pull them for treatment. Interestingly enough the dynamic didn't really change and the fish got along without fighting.
The magnifica and one of the BTAs ultimately made it. I returned the surviving BTA and gave the ocellaris a larger magnifica I had in a different tank before. (Their original magnifica went to one of my Solomon percula pairs.)
In order to get the maroons to pair up, I soon moved the BTA into the corner where the smaller maroon was hiding, right below the magnifica. This worked out and after a while, with the ocellaris looming above and preventing any funny business, the larger maroon would tolerate the smaller one. By now they are together in the BTA.
Interestingly enough all aggression between the larger maroon and the ocellaris has ceased as well despite them being so close to each other.

 

[OrionN]

Where did you get the wild caught Darwin clown? Did it cost you an arm or a leg? Maybe a finger?
Congrad

 

[ThRoewer]

Where did you get the wild caught Darwin clown? Did it cost you an arm or a leg? Maybe a finger?
Congrad

A newer local store here that directly imports from Australia, Maldives, Tonga, and other places. The only have wild fish in their store. The fish came from Australia but I don't know if it was truly wild-caught or if it was captive-bred in Australia. Given that it was rather large and that they had originally only 3 of them it's more likely wild. There were also a couple of Amphiprion milii and a good number of GBR percula with it in the tank.
It was $65.