Not my brightest idea... adding a maroon clown to a tank with ocellaris. Tell me there are success stories?

[LesPoissons]

Hey all,
So I haven’t finalized this possibly bad decision yet but let me lay it out and you all can share some wisdom.
I have a 220g display. I have a beautiful purple lta. My ocellaris clowns recently abandoned it for corals. Now left alone, it has piqued the destructive interest of my angel who I’ve had 4 years. (He leaves the other Un-hosted nems alone entirely.) I’ve tried waiting the clowns out, feeding by the nem, putting up pics of clowns in nems, removing the torch coral the clowns now call home (they just moved shop to the Duncan and then the other Duncan... instead of going back to the Lta or the 2 other BTAs. Figures.) I also have 2 pink skunks who show no interest in any nems.
In an effort to keep my angel and my lta nem, I moved the nem to the fuge temporarily and purchased a small maroon clown to try to pair with it to be its protector so I can hopefully move both back to the display. (I tried to find Clarkis but there’s non around here.)
The maroon I got is smaller than my smallest clown. Right now it’s in the fuge w the nem. Before I do make a bad decision (once the maroon is in the 220g I won’t be able to catch it for sure, it’s like an inch and a half)... how likely is it that the maroon will off my ocellaris if their torch territory is at the far end of the tank and they are bigger than the maroon?
Has anyone had success with ocellaris and a maroon in 1 tank?
I can’t keep the lta in the fuge indefinitely as there is very little sand bed and idk if the fuge light is enough, and obviously o would like to keep both the lta and the angel.
Thoughts?

 

[Jvalle]

HI I have them both in my 200 and haven't had any issues but its a hit or miss. They actually swim together and got along fine from the beginning. The maroon is 3 times bigger than the other clown. thx

 

[redstorm6]

Going to have to agree with Jvalle. I also think its very dependent on the fish's personality. I think things will probably be fine at first since the maroon clown is smaller but as it grows way bigger than the other clowns it's definitely something to watch.

One solid point you have going for you is your tank size though. I think this increases the chance of it not being as big of a deal.

 

[Hugh Mann]

I too have heard it's real hit or miss with clowns. I recently read a post on here about someone who had multiple species of clown in a single tank, but had just as many anenomes so each one hosted and kept their own territory.

Could always try an acclimation box or something like that to test for aggression. No expert on clowns, but I imagine the real difficulty would come when the Maroon matures, outgrows the other clown is where the real problems may occur.

 

[Rukk]

I have two Clarkii's and and an Occy, they get along fine. Display is 75g. But I have kept many incompatible fish together before with no significant issues. If new fish is introduced correctly in the existing system, then things will likely be ok.

However, this flies in the face of most husbandry practices so there's that and they could kill each other. Only speaking of my recent experience with the two different types of clowns so take it for whatever you figure it is worth.

 

[Aardvark1134]

Most likely outcome is as follows:
Things will be ok until the maroon is noticably bigger than the others...then it will turn female and most likely kill the existing female and maybe both of your current ones. Your tank size might allow you to have 2 pairs...but maroons can claim a whole lot of tank space, perhaps even your whole tank. Remember it can get this big...

 

[Hugh Mann]

Most likely outcome is as follows:
Things will be ok until the maroon is noticably bigger than the others...then it will turn female and most likely kill the existing female and maybe both of your current ones. Your tank size might allow you to have 2 pairs...but maroons can claim a whole lot of tank space, perhaps even your whole tank. Remember it can get this big...

Beauty of a maroon you have there. An absolute hulking beast of a clownfish. So looking forward to my tiny guy getting that size.

 

[Aardvark1134]

I don't own that clown but its a good example maroon. I do however know just how hard a maroon that big can bite which is why I dont have a clown that size any more lol I used to have a tomato that was about 5 inches.

 

[LesPoissons]

Wow thanks guys, this is great advice. I feel much better about at least trying it. If the maroon does start to loose it once it gets a few more inches, hopefully it will be easier to catch in the tank than the inch or so it is now. My black and white female is about 3 inches so hopefully I’ve bought enough time that the clowns will coexist until the angel learns to leave the nem in peace and then the nem May be big enough to dissuade it on its own if the maroon needs rehomed. Now I just need to get them to pair up

 

[Jvalle]

In my case my maroon is 3 times larger than my percula and they are fine in my 200 gallon. My percula was there first for about 1 year before adding larger maroon. See them both thx