Is it okay to mix pairs?

[Lakeside518]

I currently have a pair of snowflake ocellaris clowns and am interested in adding a pair of semi picasso percula clownfish or true percula clownfish in a 65 gal tank. A LFS employee advised not to, saying they would be aggressive towards one another. I have seen 65-90 gal reef setups with small schools of clownfish with no issues.

What is recommended?

 

[ocellaris123]

Take the LFS employee's advise.

 

[scottwhitson]

I tried to have 2 pairs in a 600 gallon tank and it didn't work. This tank is 8' long by 4' wide and the one pair would travel the whole length of the tank and viciously attack the other clowns they ended up killing one clown and the other one hides all the time now. They were also introduced at the same time. I would not recommend trying it in your situation.

 

[geckoejon]

I have seen 65-90 gal reef setups with small schools of clownfish with no issues.

What is recommended?

there is a big difference between adding more clowns to an established pair of clowns, and having a clown harem. i have seen it work, but very rarely. my buddy eric has a xl pair of clarkii and 3 ocellaris in a 135g. they get along alright, but that is the very rare exception, ime. i tried several times in different tanks to have a couple pair, and it always failed.

ime, the safest way to have a decent chance of going with more 2 clowns in a tank is to try a harem. go with at least a dozen very small 1" clowns from the same clutch, have lots of cover, and feed heavy.