Blue Stripe Clowns (Chrysopterus)

[WaffleWalffle22]

I saw a video of them an absolutely love them! The only tank I have available is my BioCube 29 HQI. How big will these clowns get and could I keep a pair, by themselves, in a tank that small? I'm thinking the size of the tank will keep them from growing too huge too fast. Will it work out or should I just go with picassos?

 

[WaffleWalffle22]

Also I'm looking to keep the pair longterm.

 

[Angel*Fish]

IF the size of the tank stunted their growth, there would have to be a reason that is unhealthy to your fish for that to happen. I don't know anything about tank size for those particular fish, but for a 30 cube, I'd choose the smallest, most docile clowns (ocellaris or perculas), which actually become rather large fish in terms of girth and length.

 

[Angel*Fish]

A quick search revealed that they can reach 5-7 inches?! If that's correct, the tank is too small and a pair of these fish would probably control a territory of 30 g (or more) in a much larger tank.

 

[WaffleWalffle22]

If that's the case, then I probably won't get them. Thanks anyways!

 

[Angel*Fish]

The smaller ones will look so much nicer in that size tank. And they might allow you to have some corals or other fish which would be a huge problem with very larger clowns.

 

[SDguy]

Large clowns from the "clarkii complex" . Generally aggressive. These in particular have pretty bad track records with respect to surviving capture/shipping. And AFAIK, there are no captive bred specimens (someone correct me if I'm wrong ). Furthermore, many become dull colored after a while in captivity if they actually do survive.

I too love the look of these clowns. I've found certain clarkii's from various locations can look similar, as well as allardi. Maybe look into those.

 

[clowns101]

Chrysopterus clownfish are not currently captivly raised.

In a 30 cube I would personally try it if they were the only fish and had their own anemone.

But-Due to the fact,these fish get pretty big,pretty fast,and dont keep the pretty color unless kept in expert condtions,I would not try it,they will honeslty end up looking like Clarkii's in short period of time if you can keep them alive.

Good luck...

 

[WaffleWalffle22]

I'm kinda thinking of going with Snowcassos from Doni's Reef when she updates her website. I don't want to risk my money on a clown that might die or lose it's pretty colors, so I'll pay $300 extra for Snowcassos.

 

[Winwood]

I currently have a trio of these clowns and they are my favorite species. They are terrible shippers, and usually don't last more than a week after you recieve them. I have shipped in numerous fish and have kept 1 pair over a year and my trio has been with me about 3 months. If I wasn't so enamored with these fish I would have given up a long time ago on them. That being said, once established they are relatively hardy.

As far as color loss goes there tends to be 2 commonly seen variants, yellow tailed ones and white tailed ones. The white tailed varieties are the ones that usually suffer the color loss. However the yellow tailed ones usually do not. My current trio is all yellow tailed and they have maintained their vibrant coloration.

I don't know the exact dimensions on your cube but a friend of mine actually kept a spawning pair in a 45 cube (24" x 24") and that seemed to be a great sized tank for them. Hope this helps.

 

[WaffleWalffle22]

I'll keep them in mind, but I don't want to take a chance that the tank will be too small for them and they will be unhappy.

 

[Winwood]

I would think a tank with a footprint the size I described above would be a minimum for them. They are one of if not the biggest clown species out there.

 

[houser]

I read your other post on BAR and it seems you quickly ruled them out. File them away in your memory bank and give em a shot down the road. Videos don't do them justice one look in the late 80's was all it took to hook me for life. Back then I was a young buck like yourself

 

[ocellaris123]

I once had a nice pair hosting in a fairly large haddoni anemone back when I had my 55 gallon setup. Imo you can house a pair in the 29. The standard 29 gallon aquariums would work out well, not sure what dimensions the cube is. If you decide to go with them I would quarantine them as they are prone to brook.

 

[velvetelvis]

For what it's worth, there's a LFS about an hour away from me that has a pair of chrysopterus. From what I've seen of those two, a 30 wouldn't be enough space. These are very big, deep-bodied, robust fish that are also quite active. The female is almost as long as my hand (and I'm almost 5'9"). Scott Michael also says (and I can confirm this from the pair of Clark's that I kept) that clowns in the clarkii complex tend to roam away from their hosts a lot more often and a lot farther than other clownfish species--probably because they're better swimmers. The male of this particular pair of chrysopterus tends to stay near their end of the tank and their anemone, but the female roams all over (and terrorizes!) the entire 700G tank.

 

[Angel*Fish]

For what it's worth, there's a LFS about an hour away from me that has a pair of chrysopterus. From what I've seen of those two, a 30 wouldn't be enough space. These are very big, deep-bodied, robust fish that are also quite active. The female is almost as long as my hand (and I'm almost 5'9"). Scott Michael also says (and I can confirm this from the pair of Clark's that I kept) that clowns in the clarkii complex tend to roam away from their hosts a lot more often and a lot farther than other clownfish species--probably because they're better swimmers. The male of this particular pair of chrysopterus tends to stay near their end of the tank and their anemone, but the female roams all over (and terrorizes!) the entire 700G tank.

Ok, so I was too conservative about her taking a 30g territory :lol:

 

[WaffleWalffle22]

I think I might go with a smaller species of clownfish, probably a Picasso or Snowcasso perc. Maybe I could bribe my mom into letting me set up a giant tank in my sister's closet when she goes off to college.

 

[elegance coral]

For what it's worth, there's a LFS about an hour away from me that has a pair of chrysopterus. From what I've seen of those two, a 30 wouldn't be enough space. These are very big, deep-bodied, robust fish that are also quite active. The female is almost as long as my hand (and I'm almost 5'9"). Scott Michael also says (and I can confirm this from the pair of Clark's that I kept) that clowns in the clarkii complex tend to roam away from their hosts a lot more often and a lot farther than other clownfish species--probably because they're better swimmers. The male of this particular pair of chrysopterus tends to stay near their end of the tank and their anemone, but the female roams all over (and terrorizes!) the entire 700G tank.

This has been my experience as well. Even in the wild, members of the clarkii complex will swim six to eight feet, or more, away from their host to attack a diver. You don't see percula doing this.

 

[ocellaris123]

My experience differed. The pair I owned seemed skittish and barley ventured far from their carpet anemone.