Clarkii clowns

[Deep Reef]

I was thinking of getting a pair of clarkii clowns for my 120 dt. I was wondering since they are listed as semi-agressive would they be a problem with adding other fish later?

 

[ThRoewer]

Depends on the fish you plan to add, how big the clarkii are and if they have an anemone.
I never had much problems with clarkii, even had some baby percula with them. But there was no anemone in the tank at that time, so nothing for clowns to fight over.

All clowns will chase away fish that like to pick on anemones - that's kind of a self defense reflex to them.
Usually they ignore all other fish as long as they don't crowd them.

Fish small enough to fit into their mouth may be taken as food, especially if added later.

I had a full grown pair with a juvenile in a green BTA together with 3 Calloplesiops altivelis (Marine Betta), a pair of Chelmon rostratus (Copper Band Buttefly) and a pair of Pseudochellinus hexataenia (Sixline Wrasse) and only the Chelmon and the hexatenia got chased away when the came to close to the anemone and the clarkii's nest. But if they stayed away they were ignored.

 

[davocean]

Last pair of clarki's I had became so aggressive when they matured they had to go, too much aggression to keep other fish w/ that particular pair.

 

[hobbzz]

More often than not they are on the pretty aggressive side of the clownfish spectrum.

 

[CoralsAddiction]

Clarkii are great clowns and one of the easier ones to breed. if you have a semi-aggressive fish like a tang, angel, hawkish and dottybacks everyone should be fine. I've always felt that Clarkii aggressiveness is somewhat overblown due to many hobbyists either not having experience with them or trying to keep them in nano tanks. I find maroon clowns to be far more aggressive than Clarkiis. in a 120 a pair of Clarkii should be ok. I had a frostbite (Ocellaris) clownfish that used to bite my hand. LOL.

 

[ThRoewer]

Last pair of clarki's I had became so aggressive when they matured they had to go, too much aggression to keep other fish w/ that particular pair.

How big was your tank and did they have an anemone?
Clarkii require larger tanks. I had my pairs in 500 and 600 liter tanks that were 60 to 80 cm deep.
However, the pair I had in the BTA hardly ever left it.

 

[Deep Reef]

Thanks for the help. it is not an aggressive tank so I don't want to start by creating an issue.

 

[ThRoewer]

I never found them to be more aggressive than other clowns.
If I had a tank big enough for them I would get a pair and had no hesitation to put firefish and other sensitive species with them.
Just had access to some very nice Solomon clarkii and was really tempted...

A. polymnus and sebae can be way more aggressive than clarkii. I even had percula lashing out more than some of my clarkii.
If you give them a nice big BTA they will stay in it and mind their own business.

 

[Deep Reef]

thanks

 

[davocean]

How big was your tank and did they have an anemone?
Clarkii require larger tanks. I had my pairs in 500 and 600 liter tanks that were 60 to 80 cm deep.
However, the pair I had in the BTA hardly ever left it.

My tank was a 180g
6' long
I had a 2' diameter crispa on one end and an 18" LTA on the other.
Over the years I've had a number of clarkis and maroons, my exp is while the maroons are just mean to what comes near, including me, the clarkis seem to be mean to all fish in tank, but not to me.
I dealt w/ bites to myself a lot longer than I dealt w/ bites to my fish.
All clowns do have potential to be aggressive, but these two top my list, and I've seen many others have similar exp.

 

[davocean]

I should add though that the clarkis were among my best nem care takers, often feeding the nems before eating for themselves.
I actually credit one pair for my long term success years ago before I really knew how to care for nems properly