Replacing a snowflake clown - good idea?

Peekay

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Originally, I had a pair of snowflake clownfish in my 100g mixed reef and all seemed good. After several months one of them went missing (not sure if it died naturally or was murdered by another fish)..it's been several months and I'm thinking about adding another clownfish, here are my questions/concerns:

1. Do I necessarily have to get another Snowflake Clown? or can I get away with adding a 'normal' clown fish?
2. The remaining clown has become aggressive (s)he nips at my hand any time I get near it, will adding a clown exacerbate this behavior or will it calm it down?
3. My other tank inhabitants are as follows: pair of banggai cardinals, yellow watchman goby, mandarin goby, a piston shrimp that lives under a rock and I can only really see his claws at feeding time, 5 peppermint shrimp that I rarely see (I only ever have seen 2 at one time at feeding time) - got these to help with my aptasia problem, but hasn't really helped yet (it's been about a month), various hermits and snails
4. It might be useful to note that I did have a firefish which mysteriously went missing, a tail spotted blenny which mysteriously went missing, and a flame hawkfish that I found dead on the aquarium bottom one day - all of these disappearances and deaths happened after the original clown fish disappeared.
5. I've never really noticed the current Snowflake Clown being particularly aggressive to any of its tankmates.

Any thoughts/advice would be appreciated.

Thanks!
 

Mike N

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No you don't need to get a snowflake. Any ocellaris will do.
To minimize the possiblity of aggression against the new fish, make sure it is significantly smaller than your resident clown.
I can't speak to whether the female will calm down after you add a mate. Worth a shot though.
 

DivingTheWorld

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No you don't need to get a snowflake. Any ocellaris will do.
To minimize the possiblity of aggression against the new fish, make sure it is significantly smaller than your resident clown.
I can't speak to whether the female will calm down after you add a mate. Worth a shot though.

Good advice here. I replaced my male Picasso when my original male jumped out. I guess he had enough of her? Anyways, I put in a new (much smaller than female) clown and they paired up. Now they lay eggs every month or two.
 
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Peekay

Peekay

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My suspicions are on the Pistol Shrimp. What species do you have?

When I purchased it from Live Aquaria back in January 2019 it was listed as "Snapping Shrimp, Red Banded" He's not very big at all, but who knows.
 

LesPoissons

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You can get any oc clown, I have 2 skunks, an oc picasso, a black and white, and a frostbite. Everyone gets along swimmingly (ha) but make sure the new one is significantly smaller, whatever you chose. However- if you have lost 4 fish recently I would consider finding the cause before you add another. If its not the shrimp, test the water, examine fish for ich/parasites etc or consider an icp test.
 
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Peekay

Peekay

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I have a lot of bristle worms, some of them pretty large, can they kill fish? I did move a really big hermit crab down to the refugium, as I thought he might have been the culprit as well.
 

DeniseAndy

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Did you qt all the fish? I doubt it was the shrimp unless they were trying to share his burrow. Mine did kill a couple gobies I tried pairing it with. Eventually found one he liked.
Make sure there is no disease that could be killing the fish before adding another.
When you do add one, make sure to get the same species (ocellaris) and a very small one. This will help the current one bond and not feel the need to be overly aggressive.
By the way, it will not settle her down one bit. In fact, she could get worse once paired and laying eggs. JFYI
 

fishguy242

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qt and use an acclimation box when intro new smaller clown
 

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