New to the hobby, Clownfish question

[Tom800]

I have a 180 gallon reef tank. I recently had 2 Percula clowns, 3 oculus clowns, and 2 orange skunks. My fish tank was managed by someone else for a while, but we have parted ways and now I’m in charge of adding Fish. I have a 29 gallon quarantine tank which the fish will go in first.

My question is this – I’ve lost all those clowns except for 1 skunk due to ich and I would like to add more clowns to replace the ones I lost. I see on the forums you many to them as pairs, should I only be putting in two of each type of clown? Is there a limit how many clowns I can put in? Thanks.

 

[Troylee]

Typically you want a pair at the most! Clowns are very territorial especially once they start laying eggs.. I broke the rules with 2 pairs but I have a 300 gallon tank. Right now I have 2 pairs and they bicker but it’s just who’s in charge thing there’s no fin damage or anything.. in a perfect world they would host on opposite ends of the tank but they don’t! They each claimed a spot about a foot away from each other haha!

 

[Tom800]

Typically you want a pair at the most! Clowns are very territorial especially once they start laying eggs.. I broke the rules with 2 pairs but I have a 300 gallon tank. Right now I have 2 pairs and they bicker but it’s just who’s in charge thing there’s no fin damage or anything.. in a perfect world they would host on opposite ends of the tank but they don’t! They each claimed a spot about a foot away from each other haha!

When you say just a pair, do you mean a pair of the same type of clown Fish or just a pair of clowns, period. I had both oculus, percula, skunks with no issues, although the skunks took over all the aneommies.

 

[Troylee]

A pair as in male and female of the same species. If you have a dedicated tank with tons of nems you can do a harem if they come from the same clutch. That’s the only time I’ve seen multiple clowns in a tank long term.