Adding new inhabitants to tank with established pair of clowns

[harcocjh]

For about a year now my pair of clowns have had a 20g tank to themselves (tank established about 3 1/2 years ago) after my six line suddenly went missing. I recently upgraded to a 36g and I was hoping to add one or two new inhabitants. Was thinking about maybe a pistol shrimp goby pair.

My female clown is pretty aggressive though and I worry she might attack anything new I put in the tank. She goes after my hand most of the time when I put it in the tank! The clowns are about 3 or 4 years old.

I'm rather fond of them so I dont really wanna get rid of them but I do want to add some new inhabitants. What do you guys think? Would you risk it or just leave it alone?

 

[125mph]

Depend.. if it's a maroon or another


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[ginpang]

The only way I would try is once your new is ready to get out of QT ....I would transfer the clownfish in a different tank , while your new fish gets comfy in the DT ... then after a few days or weeks bring them back with completely different rock work ( therefore different territories) , Inside the DT.

Otherwise maybe I'd leave it alone and add inverts.


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[harcocjh]

Thanks for the replies guys. I may just play it safe for now and let things be. Was planning to add more rock later so could remove the clowns, add the new rock (rescape), introduce new fish and then wait a re-add the clown but that sounds like a lot of work at the moment, haha.

Do you think they would be aggressive to inverts too like a cleaner shrimp? Was thinking about maybe just adding a shrimp for now.

 

[traveller7]

Always a good plan to share the species of clowns you are asking about, as there is quite a range in general size, personality and tolerance of other inhabitants.

From your prior posts, it looks like you have ocellaris and or percula clowns in the tank. Unless they are actively breeding, you should be able to introduce a small non-clownlike specimen into a new tank environment.

Personally, I would quarantine any new arrival for at least a month before introducing it to my long term pair. If I had the luxury of a tank "upgrade/move" I would also introduce the new specimen at least 24 hours before adding the clowns to the new tank.

My perc's and ocellaris would keep cleaner shrimp and just about anything else away from their breeding sites, but generally ignore anything else that did not look and act like another clownfish.

 

[harcocjh]

Always a good plan to share the species of clowns you are asking about, as there is quite a range in general size, personality and tolerance of other inhabitants.

From your prior posts, it looks like you have ocellaris and or percula clowns in the tank. Unless they are actively breeding, you should be able to introduce a small non-clownlike specimen into a new tank environment.

Personally, I would quarantine any new arrival for at least a month before introducing it to my long term pair. If I had the luxury of a tank "upgrade/move" I would also introduce the new specimen at least 24 hours before adding the clowns to the new tank.

My perc's and ocellaris would keep cleaner shrimp and just about anything else away from their breeding sites, but generally ignore anything else that did not look and act like another clownfish.

Yes sorry! That's what I have. Thank you for the advice!