Having clowns does not mean you have to rush and find a nem. They'll live in soft corals, snuggle up to temperature probes, etc.
Why not an anemone? Because most novices WILL make a mistake with water quality sooner or later. If you ARE a novice and can guarantee your tank never, ever budges from 1.025 salinity, never leaves 7.9 to 8.3 alkalinity, has no powerheads, has lighting adequate at least for soft corals, has regular 10% water changes, and has adequate circulation that never falters---if you also have gotten beyond the stage of intervening with hands in your tank for tiny adjustments...you MIGHT be ready for a nem, IF you have researched the species of nem your species of clown wants.
And THEN be willing to cope with mating clowns, who are not sweet: I worked with a piranha for years and never got bit. My mated clowns bit my arm bloody every time I did (for good reason) have to intervene in my tank.
Also check out the adult size of your nem species: some top two feet.
What can go wrong if a nem goes wrong? First it can move about---some puff up and sail with the speed of the current---stinging other specimens. Some (magnificas) eat other fish. Some just grow huge. Some get sick and die. Or get injured when a novice owner thinks he can move them from where they've decided to be. Second, when a nem dies, it is hard to describe the smell that pervades your tank, clings to your hands, and so afflicts your nose that you will smell it even when you leave the premises, and imagine you smell it for days. It also turns to jelly, strings out all over, and spreads its still-active nematocysts (stinging cells) far and wide through your tank. [Carbon, successive 1 micron filter socks, and water changes, massive water changes, if this happens to you.]
I know they're beautiful, and the clownfish/nem relationship is fascinating and probably one of the images that got you into the hobby, but just consider where you are in the hobby at the moment, whether you EVER make the kind of mistake that can send a nem downhill, whether your system is ready, and whether you are ready.
They're a wonderful critter, but do your tank preparation and do your research---and practice, practice, practice testing and tank-keeping until you're sure you're ready to take on a flighty, sting-prone, self-willed critter that will not go where you plan and that will suicide into powerheads that your tank needs for circulation. They are NOT a cinch to deal with, and will not oblige your notion of where they should be.
Accepting all that, and being ready, [there is no magical number of months of tank age---it's far more the experience/skill/patience of the hobbyist] go, enjoy, and may it live long and prosper. But be ready!
Why not an anemone? Because most novices WILL make a mistake with water quality sooner or later. If you ARE a novice and can guarantee your tank never, ever budges from 1.025 salinity, never leaves 7.9 to 8.3 alkalinity, has no powerheads, has lighting adequate at least for soft corals, has regular 10% water changes, and has adequate circulation that never falters---if you also have gotten beyond the stage of intervening with hands in your tank for tiny adjustments...you MIGHT be ready for a nem, IF you have researched the species of nem your species of clown wants.
And THEN be willing to cope with mating clowns, who are not sweet: I worked with a piranha for years and never got bit. My mated clowns bit my arm bloody every time I did (for good reason) have to intervene in my tank.
Also check out the adult size of your nem species: some top two feet.
What can go wrong if a nem goes wrong? First it can move about---some puff up and sail with the speed of the current---stinging other specimens. Some (magnificas) eat other fish. Some just grow huge. Some get sick and die. Or get injured when a novice owner thinks he can move them from where they've decided to be. Second, when a nem dies, it is hard to describe the smell that pervades your tank, clings to your hands, and so afflicts your nose that you will smell it even when you leave the premises, and imagine you smell it for days. It also turns to jelly, strings out all over, and spreads its still-active nematocysts (stinging cells) far and wide through your tank. [Carbon, successive 1 micron filter socks, and water changes, massive water changes, if this happens to you.]
I know they're beautiful, and the clownfish/nem relationship is fascinating and probably one of the images that got you into the hobby, but just consider where you are in the hobby at the moment, whether you EVER make the kind of mistake that can send a nem downhill, whether your system is ready, and whether you are ready.
They're a wonderful critter, but do your tank preparation and do your research---and practice, practice, practice testing and tank-keeping until you're sure you're ready to take on a flighty, sting-prone, self-willed critter that will not go where you plan and that will suicide into powerheads that your tank needs for circulation. They are NOT a cinch to deal with, and will not oblige your notion of where they should be.
Accepting all that, and being ready, [there is no magical number of months of tank age---it's far more the experience/skill/patience of the hobbyist] go, enjoy, and may it live long and prosper. But be ready!
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