Tank Idea... Clown + Damsels

[haywood2]

Could I do an all damsel and maroon clown in a 46 gallon bowfront? I plan on adding live rock to the mix soon, and I figured both of these types of fish seem to be hardy, which would be good because this is my first salt tank. How many damsels could I put with one Maroon Clown?

 

[haywood2]

Oh yeah, will Damsels and Maroon clowns be safe with clean up snails and crabs?

 

[salty3]

I would do 2 or 3 with one clown. Clowns are damsels too, but I would go with chromis also a damsel but not really agressive.

 

[frederickk]

Neither clown or damsels with bother your cleanup crew.

 

[haywood2]

Really, only two or three? I was thinking about chromis because I like their color. I was also thinking about getting a bi-color angel, false perc clown, and 3 chromis but I'm afriad of making that big of a leap this early.

 

[papagimp]

It's been done before, but as for my own personal opinion. I wouldn't want to put a maroon in with alot of damsels. Seems like a recipe for disaster. The aggressiveness and territoriality of these fish would lead to some "arguments" that may not turn out so well for the various fish. Maroons and other damsels will just get meaner as they get bigger. I had one small dominoe damsel in a 55g tank with varous other livestock. He killed 3 other fish before I could get him out. And he was only 3" big at that time.

 

[salty3]

Dont add all those at once. You should only add about 2 small fish every three weeks or so to make sure the bacteria can keep up. I thought you were going to have a maroon, dont mix different types of clowms in a small tank, they will most likly kill each other.

 

[haywood2]

No it would have been either of these combinations:

1 Maroon Clown
4-5 Damsels

OR

1 False Perc Clown
1 Bicolor Angel
3 Chromis

OR what I originally wanted

1 Bicolor Angel
1 Tomato Clown
1 Snowflake Moray Eel

 

[frederickk]

The second one seem's more logic to me and safe.

 

[papagimp]

I agree, from those options, I would go with the second group, but add another ocellaris to the group. Clowns tend to do best when kept in pairs. (that's male/female pair)

 

[haywood2]

If I get two clowns at the same time, that are the same size, won't they have aggression/dominance problems? Would I need to find 2 different sizes?