The "what fish should I add" thread...

[Norman's_Tank]

Hey all,

I currently have an established biocube 32 with a perc. clown and a sixline wrasse. The Sixline is the only fish that has been able to stand up to the abuse of the clown, and I can see by the sixline's tailfin that the antagonizing is a regular thing.

I want to add another fish but not sure what the best bet will be. Part of my wants to add a Flame Hawkfish because I know it can "hang", but I also don't want to create a UFC octagon situation as the 32 seems kind of tight for the hawkfish as is. I'm just not sure what direction to go, but I would like to add another fish to round out the tank.

Any thoughts?

 

[Flowering Reef LLC]

I would recommend adding fish that don't occupy the same space as the clownfish for example most gobies will hangout towards the bottoms of the tank and hide in the rocks or in little sand caves, those could be your best bet...

 

[Jesterrace]

Honestly both the Percula and 6 line need to go if you want to add more fish. The 6 line has been conditioned to aggression by the clownfish and doesn't need any help in the aggression department. A 32 cube also doesn't leave much place for fish to go to get away from aggressive fish. I wouldn't stick a flame hawk in there. Yes, it can fight back but as mentioned you will be looking at a UFC situation.

 

[Norman's_Tank]

Part of me thought about adding another clown or even like a watchman goby. I love the TSB, but I feel like one would potentially get bullied pretty badly in there. Neither of these fish mess with the peppermint shrimp I recently added, which is weird. It's also strange that oftentimes the sixline and the clown are always together. I didn't think anything of it until I started noticing little bits of the sixline's tailfin looking jacked-up. I watched for a two month span and it would grow back then happen again so at that point I figured it was the clown.

 

[Norman's_Tank]

Okay, I guess I do need help with figuring out what to do with my clown, that I have renamed to Ted Bundy. Looks like the sixline fell victim to his constant harassing and it looks like I will need to re-home the clown or just have a one-fish tank (not exactly what i'm hoping to do).

Again, I inherited this clown and it was the only fish in the tank when I inherited it and i'm not sure what to do about the aggression at this point. I'm also not sure what the "best" way to re-home such a fish would be. I don't necessarily think bringing it to the LFS would help as one of my LFS is like a fish death-trap and I would hate to do that, so i'm not entirely sure on how to do this in a responsible way. What do you guys think?

 

[Jesterrace]

Fish Trap is the best way by far. You can either do a homemade one from a water bottle (simply cut off the top and fold the top in to make a funnel so to speak) and then weigh it down with rocks and put it's favorite food pellets on the bottom and don't feed. I find it easier to place the trap with the open end facing up as that forces the fish to swim down to get at the food. and it's much harder for it to turn around and swim out. Caught an aggressive Flame Angel and Red Head Salon Fairy Wrasse using this method. If all else fails you can go with a manufactured fish trap. I used this to catch an aggressive Yellow Tang and a Snowflake Occ Clownfish:

 

[Jesterrace]

As for the fish rehoming. You can check and see if there is a local facebook BST (Buy, Sell, Trade) for aquarium owners group and offer it up on there or possibly a craigslist ad if you don't feel comfortable taking it to your LFS. Unfortunately what you have seen first hand is what happens when a clownfish establishes itself in a tank and then attempt to add new fish. All clownfish are pretty territorial once established (even the supposedly peaceful ocellaris). The good news is that the clownfish should be okay once it is moved to a totally new environment.

 

[Norman's_Tank]

I bought the tank used and about 4 months after I owned it, it broke and everything was in buckets and Rubbermaid’s for a couple days. I figured that break would shake up the territorial nature in the fish but nothing really changed. I’ve had clowns before as only inhabitants and have added others with little to no issues so not sure if this is just a extremely grouchy clown. Either way, I’ll try to give him away locally to someone with a tank. Thanks