Clownfish in a 12gallon

[spoiled739]

So I would like to put two clownfish into a 12 gallon nano cube and wanted some advice/thoughts. I would like to get a picasso and a fancy snowflake. My hope is that they will pair and eventually breed. There will NOT be a anemone in this tank. I was hoping to have xenia in the tank that they might host.

 

[Yankees2519]

Do it

 

[fpv930]

I agree. The 12g Nano should be fine. Unless the clowns are huge.

 

[bowlopho]

I agree. The 12g Nano should be fine. Unless the clowns are huge.

agreed. perfect size for 2 clowns (that aren't huge)

 

[clownfish68]

i've seen clowns in small tanks. what kinds were you thinking?

 

[correctamundo]

Clownfish in that tank would be just fine, at first.
They get fairly large (3.5"+) by the time they are able to breed, so you would probably need a larger tank when they decide to breed. If you buy them small it will take a few years usually for them to breed so I wouldn't worry about it now, you can always upgrade down the road.

Just fyi picasso is percula and fancy snow is ocellaris, so you would be making a hybrid lke a snow onyx.

 

[NirvanaFan]

The smaller clown species would be fine in a 12 gallon. I have a few pairs spawning in 10 gallon tanks in my breeding system. You'll have to be on top of water changes, skimming, and all other things though.

And the female may reach 3.5", but the males usually won't grow past 3 inches. They don't have to be that large to breed though. I've got a pair of percula that are probably 2.75" and 2.25" breeding.

On a personal note, I wouldn't mix ocellaris and percula, but that is just something I don't usually care for. Sometimes mixing species causes fighting. Other times, they are best friends and end up spawning.

 

[Reefing Newbie]

I personally wouldn't do it. IME it won't be big enough. I kept a pair of perculas a few months back in a 12 gallon for QT and they were fine for a month. The male(smaller one, these weren't really big enough for actual sex changes to occur) died 3-4 weeks. If you start small the smaller less dominant clown will not have the space to escape the more aggressive one trying to become female. This is my experience and I don't feel anything under a 20 long will be sufficient. I now have two small b&w ocellaris clowns(about 6 months old now) who have distinguished who will be what gender. They are in a 46 gallon QT tank and are able to get away from each other should things get nasty.

 

[OhioReefer88]

I have two picasso's in a 10 gal without a nem. They hosted my pulsating xenia

 

[spoiled739]

I have two picasso's in a 10 gal without a nem. They hosted my pulsating xenia

That is what I would love to happen. I still have not made a decision on the clownfish front. I have been super busy working on my Master's degree that I just havent really been able to spend much time at the moment on it. I do have the xenia and rics in there and a purple firefish. I would move the purple firefish though if I did get the clowns.

 

[Whip316]

12g is a good size for any clown pair really. i got many clowns in divided tanks and each pair gets like 10g or so. from occy, gsm to clarkii and tomato's.
give them xenia, or frogspawn like you want and they will be very happy. pllus perc's dont get as big as other clowns. they get smaller than occy. i seen some breeders keep clowns in 6g chambers or less and they lived and been breeding for years.

 

[Mabyboi]

12 gallons is more than enough. I'm putting 2 oscellaris clowns in one with a bubble tip. The breeder I go to even has some of the larger clowns like skunks and tomatoes in 12's

 

[mikelee35]

My breeding pair or false percs is in a 12G cube, until recently I also had a rose bubble in there until it outgrew the tank and got moved into the 55G