How many clowns in a 190g anemone tank?

[museumguy]

I take care of fish tanks at a children's museum. We have a 190g tank that is currently housing our predator fish but we are likely going to be redoing the tank in the near future, and one option I'm kicking around is to do a crazy clownfish/anemone tank display.

The plan would be to have multiple types of anemones... LTA, BTA, flowers, carpets, sebae, etc even tube anemones. I know people are going to want there to be a bunch of fish in the tank though, and my question to anyone who has had experience, would be how many types of clowns do you think could live peacefully in a tank that size?

Thanks for any input you can give!

Cheers!:spin3:

 

[WDLV]

Most times having multiple anemones in a reef works out the same way as adding multiple clowns... badly. They tend to sting each other directly through touching or else they release nematocysts into the water column to attack their rival. If you have unparalleled circulation and filtration it may not be a problem but rather than taking the risk and disappointing the children, I would stick with one type of anemone. There are several different color variations of E. quadricolor. They're easiest to care for and can be propagated in captivity.

As for clowns, I would not suggest adding more than one pair unless you add all of them at once. Even then your long term success may be limited to a couple of years. They tend to be very jealous creatures that always want the biggest and best house (anemone) on the block for themselves.
If you still insist on having multiple clowns in the same system I would simply try to have pairs that are of different complexes so they see one another as less of a threat. I have kept multiple clowns in the same system with varying degrees of success but still feel the best practice is to limit it to one pair per display.

That's just one opinion. See what others have to say.

 

[Toddrtrex]

Most times having multiple anemones in a reef works out the same way as adding multiple clowns... badly. They tend to sting each other directly through touching or else they release nematocysts into the water column to attack their rival. If you have unparalleled circulation and filtration it may not be a problem but rather than taking the risk and disappointing the children, I would stick with one type of anemone. There are several different color variations of E. quadricolor. They're easiest to care for and can be propagated in captivity.

As for clowns, I would not suggest adding more than one pair unless you add all of them at once. Even then your long term success may be limited to a couple of years. They tend to be very jealous creatures that always want the biggest and best house (anemone) on the block for themselves.
If you still insist on having multiple clowns in the same system I would simply try to have pairs that are of different complexes so they see one another as less of a threat. I have kept multiple clowns in the same system with varying degrees of success but still feel the best practice is to limit it to one pair per display.

That's just one opinion. See what others have to say.

I have to agree.

And too add, if you are going to try having multiple species of anemones and clowns, have a plan for when/if it goes south.

 

[zooty]

My wife was able to keep a pair in a carpet with a pair of clarkiis in a nem and a third pair with no nem for about 2 years in a 6ft, 180 gallon. She eventually took the tank down when she moved so no idea if it would have been OK longer than the 2 years.

 

[nikon187]

95% of the time 1 pair and 1 species of anemone. They are not community animals.

 

[Ben_Im]

If you get them all from the same hatch, and were all raised together, I don't see why you shouldn't be able to add 20 or so clowns at once (assuming they are Oscellaris or Percula).

 

[tommyb]

I assume you took a look at the sticky on the top of this forum, if not here it is: http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1259398

I was looking to do the same thing with a 240 so I will be tagging along on this one.

 

[WaffleWalffle22]

I would use E. Quadricolor (BTA) because they are the easiest to keep and care for.

 

[zaraemna]

This is from the Long Beach Aquarium.

 

[AquaReeferMan]

I dont recommend doing this but if you need to the best species to mix with is Skunks. They seem to tolerate other species and other species seem to tolerate them.

 

[Gary Majchrzak]

This is from the Long Beach Aquarium.

looks like that aquarium is a heckuva lot bigger than a 190 and they clowns are all the same species. Are there anemones in there?

IME Stichodactyla and Entacmaea do not tolerate each other well long term.

Heteractis magnifica may actively seek out other anemone species to kill them.

 

[zaraemna]

I don't remember seeing any anemones in the tank. I took that pic in Sep 2008. I'm not sure if the display is still setup with all the blue tangs and clownfish any more. I just thought it was a cool tank and took and picture of it, and this thread reminded me of the tank. Personally, I've never had more than one clownfish pair in a tank.

 

[WDLV]

Also ocellaris are more tolerant of each other in groups than percula. Even when you raise them from the same batch the percs get to a point where they must be separated or else they start picking off the smallest members of the group one by one.
Add anemones to the mix and the aggression factor increases exponentially.

 

[ben&bobbi]

we just set up a 75g with 3 RBTA's and 2 purple LTA and about 25 tank raised clowns. All clowns from same batch from a home breeder. Only been a few months now, so we will see.

Even if you have to cycle the fish out every couple years, the next batch of kids will be through. You can sell them off as pairs to fund the next new batch.

 

[Gary Majchrzak]

I had a 75 gallon aquarium with hundreds of my baby clowns in it.

Baby clowns grow very fast

 

[davocean]

The nems listed all have different needs for light and flow.
Some mixes may be compatible/have same needs, but it's not the safest way to go IMO
A large number from same clutch may work out, but not alot have pulled this off.
IME clowns do seem more territorial after nem intro, wonder if that LB aquarium is nemless for that reason, but also agree that's a pretty big tank.
In my 180g, I never considered more than one pair of clowns.
There's lots of fish you could stock that w/ that would be much safer.

 

[tahoe61]

Clowns

Clowns

The public aquarium pic is irrelevent to this topic, beacause they have a HUGE filtration systems, they are able to replenish any fish that may die before the lights even go on. No one should consider this the ideal clownfish tank for the home enviornment. While it is a beautiful tank it is unrealistic to think that average hobbyist can accomplish this. If you add the same type of clownfish at a very young age to a large tank you can have multiple clownfish, but you may also run into problems.

 

[jmski333]

i saw a video on youtube or something where there was a tank full of just clowns and NME's. im trying to find it.

 

[davocean]

You could look up at Moberts tank sticky, it's amazing, but those are from same clutch.
She is one of the few.
Also some brazillian guy has I think saddlebacks, also same clutch.

 

[ocellaris123]

looks like that aquarium is a heckuva lot bigger than a 190 and they clowns are all the same species. Are there anemones in there?

IME Stichodactyla and Entacmaea do not tolerate each other well long term.

Heteractis magnifica may actively seek out other anemone species to kill them.

I work there. The current clownfish display is around 3000 gallons and houses numerous clownfish (orange occies, black occies, pink skunks, spawning pair of pink skunks, maroons, tomatoes, melanopus, and clarkiis) species hosting in ritteris and rose bubbles. I am not particularly fond of the display as it looks very unnatural and would never try to recreate something like that in my home aquarium. I would just stick with a pair in a 190 and fill the tank with other reef fish.