Mixing pairs of different clowns species? old question all over again..:)

[Jadran]

OK, I know it is not recommended, there are many threads here on RC that oppose the idea but I'd still like opinion.. or some experiences.. This is what I had in mind:

I have 120g tank with healthy ritteri anemone (+ 2 years inside.. 2x tunze 6100 400w giesemann, nutrient poor blah, blah...) with breeding pair of false percs hosting inside.. For some time I've been preparing stage for adding another anemone, S. gigantea.. just waiting for my chance spot nice coloured healthy specimen.. I know clowns can help my new anemone to acclimatize and get over all traumas, shock etc. .. much better and surviving rate generally goes up for giganteas with damselfishes hosting inside..

My false percs are shy fishes that won't venture further than 10" away from its host.. so I figured if I would get some other docile clown species.. i might just get away with it..(I had pink skunks in mind..) Ritteri on the highest top of the rockscape giagantea at the bottom, far away from other anemone, ... not really foolproof but what do you guys think..?

thx for your time

kindly

 

[masterswimmer]

How do you intend to keep your anemone's where they are?

 

[Jadran]

Well, magnifica is on the isolated highest spot of the rockscape, surrounded with acropora branches... In the last 18 months didn't wander, so i'm quite sure it wont get away from its 400 watt.. Actually It doesn't have where to go.. Not really best shots but to get the picture

On the other hand I expect from gigantea to stick at the bottom...so in this respect I figured they'll stay far from each other.. OK, I know it is not really big aquarium for two large anemones but if all goes well I'll be moving to new house next year , meaning new tank too..

kindly

 

[Flighty]

I hope you can provide us with some more information about the magnifica- where it was obtained and how you made it over the first six months hurdle, has it ever spawned, what are you feeding and does it grow...

For what it's worth I think you'll likely be fine especially if you get juvi skunks and get them right into the anemone. I had a breeding pair of Ocilerous in a magnifica (also in a 120) and introduced a juvi skunk just to see what would happen. They all lived fine together in the same anemone. In the wild, aparently the number of clowns per anemone is related to the diameter of the anemone
http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/links/doi/10.1046/j.1461-0248.2003.00514.x/abs/

Here is a pic just for the record

 

[Jadran]

.. provide us with some more information about the magnifica..

Sure, I wasn't aiming for magnifica anemone, it is fair to say I was tricked in buying one.. At that time I wanted host anemone for my percs. and Entacmaea quadricolor seemed to be a good choice.. hardy, could exist in sps tank without wandering to much and causing to much trouble. Anemone was heavily bleached but I dealt with bleached anemones before and after examining its basal disc where weren't any visible injuries I decided to give it a try.. Alas, soon enough I realised what's going on.. Its tendency to look for highest spot on the rock structure with extreme exposure to light and water movement elements, wandering nature, foot completely exposed (BTA tend to hide it) were all signs of ritteri anemone.. But I felt sorry for poor thing (knowing all those poor survival rate issues and so) so I decided not to discard it but to try to take care for it.. With time I developed passion for these creatures (which is not so hard when you realise how Magnificent they are ) so I decided to tear down my sps tank and to rebuild aquarium to meet its demands.. Unfortunately there isn't much good literature on the subject.. If I should recommend some readings I'd mention
The Reef Aquarium vol. 2 (Sprung & Delbeek)
The Coral Reef Aquarium vol. 2 (Fossa & Nilsen)
and off course RC's related topics where I got most of the stuff I applied in my living room, thank you all for that..

As for first 4 months it was nothing but drama, stress and paranoia.. It burned lot of acroporas, wouldn't stay in one spot and of course big question: Would it end up in circ pump? It was deflating, turning mouths inside out and so.. but I noticed she was doing it less and less... I'd say first two months were crucial..
Before I finally got streamers and 400watter it was under 2x150 but didn't wander .. I guess trick is with aquascaping the cliff in the way that would discourage it to wander down to shadow
I'm really no expert, had simply lot of luck with this specimen, and luck and devotion payed off.. It survived two serious crashs (first one after rearranging tank, and other one recentley after stopping dosing the ZEOvit) That all made me thinking and I concluded that magnifica if healthy might tolerate bit higher nitrate and DOM levels if all other demands are met.. Might survive and do OK under weaker lighting (150w) but special cliff-scape (to prevent it wandering) and feedings are must.. Off coure these are only mine thoughts, not something what should be taken for solid facts... As I mentioned before, I got lucky, and wouldn't like with my success story to encourage people to do the same.. If one like to have one of those creatures for longer run obtaining a healthy specimen is absolute must! Best way to accomplish this is to buy already established aquarium specimen or choosing one out of whole bunch (wholesale or really good LFS) Ordering it via internet or LFS is just waste of money and animal life..
I don't feed much, twice per week.. I don't want it to grow cause its certain it would outgrow this aquarium.. Squid, shrimps, clam and mussel meat are all on the menu.. I never saw it spawning..

OK back to the topic, skunks and false percs. success stories?

Cindy, your perc looks like it is about to eat the poor thing..lol

 

[maww]

I would reccommend getting a second set of clowns that don't like H mag, but do like S gigantea. This will reduce the possibilty of competetion for the same anemone. Pink skunks prefer H mag in nature- not the best choice here.

I have had 3 pairs of clowns sharing a 65 gallon for the last year. The tank was set up with 3 H. magnifcas- two together high in the tank, one alone low in the tank. The upper nems hosted a pair of A percula, the lower a mixed pair of bluestripe/sandracinos. Several months ago I added a carpet and pair of A sebae to the same tank- everyone got along fine. I just moved the 65 up into a new 120XH setup (60x18x26) and added into the mix my A chrysopterus pair and a few straggler clowns from a 3rd system. (The deal to get the 120 was it could be the only tank, so the other 3 had to go ). The new tank has been up 2 weeks now. The big A chrys dominates the tank, but doesn't chase the other clowns away from their respective anemones. The pink skunk and akallopisos added into the mix have nosed in on the bluestripe/sand pair, in the largest/smallest H mags ( center of tank, low). There is a little strife there, but they seem to have settled into a unit for now. The A perc pair stay in their H mag, at the top left of the tank. The A chrys pair have a green carpet at the left of the tank, the A sebae pair have another carpet at the far right of the tank. There is also a small pizza anemone and a small LTA in the tank. The pizza hosts an anemone crab, the LTA is used sporadically by the straggler clowns. I tried to lay out the tank so that the anemones are all out of line of site with one another, so that when the clowns are nestled in their anemone, they can't see anyone else. The idea being if they don't see another clown, they don't have to protect their territory. This seems to work ok for the carpets and the high H mag, perhaps not so good for the H mags at center.

here's the tank on day1.

 

[Jadran]

Mark, thx for your info and pictures. That's one brave experiment with all those clowns and anemones in your aquarium. Best of luck with it. I'm looking forwards to see how things are going to unfold in your tank, nice juicy magnificas you have in there (got to love one on 2. shot :thumbsup: ) Your advice about pink skunks make sense .. I'll think this trough :hmm2: According to my literature (Clownfishes by J. Wilkerson) pinks prefer ritteris but also host in giganteas so I figured if magnifica already hosts breeding pair of false percs, female certainly wont be impressed with two little skunk buggers trying to move in her home, which would leave em no choice but to find shelter in gigantea.. Reason why I thought of skunks was their docile and shy nature. I definitely don't like idea of introducing aggressive sp such as clarkiis, and for the rest dunno.. true percs look like ocelaris and in this respect I rather have some other sp. to bring extra colors to my display.. I don't know much about rest of natural hosting damselfishes (availability, aggression, demands..) need to read up....

for the end I'd like to share pics of my friend's H.crispa. Anemone dedicated tank.. Anemone is already 15 years in his aquarium, and its just phenomenal animal.. Aquarium is home to breeding pair of Clarkii clowns, introduced roughly 10 years ago, and next to them there is a harem of Blue Devil Damselfishes.. Old, nice, aggressive, wild ; )

more info on my local Croatian forum

http://www.elegancereef.com/smf/index.php?topic=1206.0

regards

 

[iku]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6988896#post6988896 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by maww
I would reccommend getting a second set of clowns that don't like H mag, but do like S gigantea. This will reduce the possibilty of competetion for the same anemone. Pink skunks prefer H mag in nature- not the best choice here.

I have had 3 pairs of clowns sharing a 65 gallon for the last year. The tank was set up with 3 H. magnifcas- two together high in the tank, one alone low in the tank. The upper nems hosted a pair of A percula, the lower a mixed pair of bluestripe/sandracinos. Several months ago I added a carpet and pair of A sebae to the same tank- everyone got along fine. I just moved the 65 up into a new 120XH setup (60x18x26) and added into the mix my A chrysopterus pair and a few straggler clowns from a 3rd system. (The deal to get the 120 was it could be the only tank, so the other 3 had to go ). The new tank has been up 2 weeks now. The big A chrys dominates the tank, but doesn't chase the other clowns away from their respective anemones. The pink skunk and akallopisos added into the mix have nosed in on the bluestripe/sand pair, in the largest/smallest H mags ( center of tank, low). There is a little strife there, but they seem to have settled into a unit for now. The A perc pair stay in their H mag, at the top left of the tank. The A chrys pair have a green carpet at the left of the tank, the A sebae pair have another carpet at the far right of the tank. There is also a small pizza anemone and a small LTA in the tank. The pizza hosts an anemone crab, the LTA is used sporadically by the straggler clowns. I tried to lay out the tank so that the anemones are all out of line of site with one another, so that when the clowns are nestled in their anemone, they can't see anyone else. The idea being if they don't see another clown, they don't have to protect their territory. This seems to work ok for the carpets and the high H mag, perhaps not so good for the H mags at center.

here's the tank on day1.

are they in the 65 gallon?? or the new 120??