Number of clownfish in a tank

[tniaison]

Hi, I recently got into the hobby with a modest 33g reef tank. Everything has been running smoothly for the past few weeks, and every tank inhabitant seems to be doing well. In my tank dwell 2 clownfish (a Black ice and a Darwin) as well as the good old cleaner shrimp and a few other cleaning inverts. At my last trip to my LFS I came across the orange storm variant of the oscellaris and it was love at first sight. Here comes my question: since my 2 clownfish seem to get along great, could i consider trying to add one of those beauties to the mix, or would that be dangerous to him and/or his cousins? Any advice would really be appreciated as I am sort of a novice!

I joined images of my set up if that could help in any way. Although please bear in mind that the scape photo was taken at the beginning, but the set up remains the same!

 

[SeaJay]

I’m curious about this too. I imagine if you have two females in that small tank one would be killed by the other. They don’t seem to have any problems keeping tons of them together in a small tank at the fish stores though.

 

[James M]

your maxed out on clownfish. If you add another one the pair will just kill the new one.

 

[tniaison]

your maxed out on clownfish. If you add another one the pair will just kill the new one.

That's what I thought, guess I had to ask the pros to make peace with it..

 

[tniaison]

I’m curious about this too. I imagine if you have two females in that small tank one would be killed by the other. They don’t seem to have any problems keeping tons of them together in a small tank at the fish stores though.

That is indeed an interesting question... maybe while they are still juvenile they will not display too much aggression? That is my humble guess as a biologist!

 

[sprungson]

Google clown harem tank. Your tank is on the small side on tank size of what people have success in. I have 15 clowns in a 65G tank, but I also have 20 anemones. So theres an anemone for every clown.

 

[harrylikesfish]

Do just a pair. Clownfish harems need bigger tanks with multiple anenomes.

 

[Crabby48]

Like mentioned bigger tank and harems. Clowns from the same batch and no mixing type of clowns seem to be the best.

Enjoy you have a pair. Many are not so lucky and end up with two separate clowns

 

[Preyou]

I have a threesome, but that was pure luck and the threesome ran a fourth out of the display. I had seven anemones at the time. I currently have none. Typically though, two would be the limit as they are sexually dimorphic and two males will eventually lead to a male/female as the pecking order is established.