Silly (clown) question for a non-newbie

jessezm · Jan 2, 2020

So I've been keeping corals and fish for a long time with plenty of success, but my focus is largely on stony corals, so when it comes to certain basic stuff, sometimes I just have to ask... So here's my question: In my 50g cube (which is plumbed into my larger system), the only fish I have is a clownfish that someone in the neighborhood had to give away. I have 5 BTAs in this tank and the clown never hosted, but this week, out of nowhere, it started to. Now that things are getting a bit more interesting I was thinking of introducing a partner to the tank, and I have a couple questions...
1) does sex mater when introducing a second clown?
2) presumably species matters - I think it's a true perc but I really am not positive... is there an easy way to tell?
3) in selecting a "mate," should I purchase one already hosting in it's current home? (like observably hosting at an LFS or local aquarist's tank?)
4) how should the introduction be made?
5) should the new fish be bigger or smaller than the current one?
6) is there any reason to add more than one?

Any advice happily received, thanks! Attached are a couple pics of the little guy/gal

Tahoe61 · Jan 2, 2020

Get a noticeably smaller clown and an acclimation box.
A lone clown transitions to a female so your looking for younger clown that is not a dominate female already.

:-)

Peach02 · Jan 2, 2020

1) yes, you want a male to Introduce yours is likely female now
2) the closer the species the more likely to pair, but occelarus should pair with occelarus and so on, I can't remember how to tell if it's a perc though
3) it's rare to see a clown hosting in a LFS unless it's sold with the anemone in a pair
4) same as any other fish as far as I know
5) smaller so it's more likely male
6) unless you want a harem no