Need opinions on adding a 3rd clown

bec1750 · Jun 14, 2021

Hi everyone! We have a 130 gallon. We currently have a pair of clowns and they have been together for about a year now maybe a little bit more. They don’t breed or anything like that. They are not territorial at all! I won a clown fish last night. It’s small, smaller than our current female and the same breed of our current ones which is ocellaris. I was wondering what everyone’s thoughts are in adding this 3rd one to our tank? Looking for advice and your experience with adding a 3rd. Thanks!!

Got2bSkUnKeD · Jun 14, 2021

bec1750 said:
Hi everyone! We have a 130 gallon. We currently have a pair of clowns and they have been together for about a year now maybe a little bit more. They don’t breed or anything like that. They are not territorial at all! I won a clown fish last night. It’s small, smaller than our current female and the same breed of our current ones which is ocellaris. I was wondering what everyone’s thoughts are in adding this 3rd one to our tank? Looking for advice and your experience with adding a 3rd. Thanks!!

Everyone tells me, “no”. In the wild a pair (mostly the female) can have up to a 10 sqft territory. I’m also told that if the area is split up by up to 10 clowns, the aggression may be equally spread so that a single adolescent male may not be killed like in a threesome.
I have three in a 29gal, was a 60 til it cracked. I bought them all from the same tank at the LFS, because I didn’t want to leave the little one alone. There have been fits of aggression, but they seem pretty cordial right now.
All fish are different, and some people get lucky. Like I said, though, everyone tells me that the two will eventually kill the third.

Cell · Jun 14, 2021

Rarely works.

landlubber · Jun 14, 2021

i'm leery based on the things i've seen that lead to success. Harem systems where there are multiple fish to dissipate the aggression is the road to success. Adding a single fish is dicey!
at the very least i would get that fish into an acclimation box for at least a few days before i let it loose.

brandon429 · Jun 14, 2021

I always think disease loss I forget behavioral issues until Cell mentioned

kindafun · Jun 14, 2021

I bought a pair starting out last fall, they were both very young. One of them died within 2 weeks. I then purchased another, about 6 months later, but was sent 2 that are both younger than my remaining clownfish. I had to put the older one in an acclimation container, but the next morning I let it out and the 3 have been great companions for the last 2 months. I've read that things may change if 2 of them become a pair, but I'll deal with that if it happens. It's been fun to watch the 3 together.