Confused about clownfish

[TGIF]

Hi, my tank is currently empty. I had a marine velvet outbreak. I was told I have to keep it empty for 4 months. My poor clarkiis died. :-(

So I am doing a bit more research while I wait for my tank to be ready for fish.

I am getting conflicting information on how many clownfish I can keep in one tank. Some sites say it's ok to keep the more peaceful clowns in groups. Others say 1 to 2 max.

I have a 55 gallon tank, 4 feet long. 45-55 pounds of LR. Some crabs, snails and shrimp.

Is it possible to keep 4 clownfish in this tank? I would love to have a pair of orange and white and a pair black and white percs or false percs.

My plan would be to keep only the clown fish in the tank, maybe an orchid dottyback to keep the bristle worms at bay.

Would this be a recipe for disaster?

thanks

 

[LTCrunch]

I wouldnt mix different types of clownfish in a tank that size. If the tank was a good bit larger, then it would be ok.

 

[Arati]

The short answer is no. in a 55 gallon tank 1 pair of clownfish is max. (unless you get lucky im sure someone will post they did/ do it but its def. not the norm)

The long answer is not in the way you think. in soem species it is possible to keep a dominant female and a male and also have a group of sub adults clownfish who will remain as sub adults until the male or female die. I wouldn't advise anyone but an expert to try this. there are just to many variables and to many dead fish at stake. I also dont think a 55 would be big enough.

I would love to have more then 2 clowns in my reef too.

 

[michellejy]

As everyone above said, I definitely wouldn't recommend it, but there is no reason that you can't mix the two types of ocellaris as a single pair (one black and white and one orange and white).

 

[Toddrtrex]

While there are a few exceptions, I would only keep one pair in an average sized tank (( which includes yours )). Having more then a pair might work short term, but the odds are good that once one pair starts to spawn (( or sooner )) that they will go after the other clowns in the tank. Even docile clowns become more aggressive when they start spawning.