1 False Perc in tank - Can I add any other clowns?

pezcubano

New member
I have 1 false perc in my tank and its currently my only fish. He's doing fine, but I was considering getting a pair of true percs or Onyx. Any opinions as to what the dynamics would be like between the 3 clowns? Most posts I've read speak negatively of having more than 2 clowns of the same type in a tank. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

The rest of my fish list is (to be stocked in the coming weeks):
1 Royal Gramma
1 6-line Wrasse
1 Sunset Anthia
1 Midas Blenny
1 Blue Hippo Tang (1-2 inches)

Thanks...
 
it can be done but if you're gonna add a pair of perculas, you have to be sure that your ocellaris has not turned into female yet... ideally, you should have gotten the percula pair first, let them settle, and then get an ocellaris smaller than the male percula...
 
Flipteg- My Ocellaris is juvenile (1 - 1.5 inches) and hasn't turned female. If I add a pair of true percs now what will happen to the Ocellaris I have in there? Will it become female?
I have a feeling I should get the Ocellaris out of the tank and just start with a fresh new pair of clowns (onyx percs) and not worry about the dynamics of having 3 in the same tank.
 
if the ocellaris is the smallest of all the clowns, in the presence of a mature pair, the ocellaris should remain sexually immature... when you buy the perculas, make sure that they are already a bonded pair and not just a "pair" according to the seller... if the perculas are not bonded, you run the risk of one of the perculas bonding with the ocellaris instead...

so in all, make sure your ocellaris is still a juvenille and that the percula pair that you are getting is pair bonded... other than that, i don't really see any problems...
 
Simple fact...i've seen it for myself, you get more than 2 in there and the pair will start nipping the other to death...I was going to give mine away to do what you did and they ended up killing it by stress before I could, so your best bet would be to give it away to a good aquarium (another member on a forum or something) in the area and start with 2 fresh ones
 
Jokers - Thanks for the advice and the anecdote. I think the situation you are describing happens more often than not and I'm not in this to watch fish suffer.
What Flipteg is saying makes sense, but a bonded pair may look to protect its territory and the juvi false perc suffer the consequences of it.
 
Yeah...no need to put the clownfish through any suffering, just give him a good home ;) and I was just at the pet store the other day and the guy had to divide his clownfish up into groups of 4 to keep them from being too ferocious, but I watched as a pair in one tank would go back and forth between the two other clowns bullying them
 
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