Tomato Clowns more aggressive in pairs?

[Speedy77]

Hey guys!

I just bought a 40B with Petco's $1 per gallon sale which I'm looking to upgrade to from my 20 long. In my current tank, I have a tomato clown that's about 3''. I was misguided by the LFS that I bought it from a few years back and was told it would be fine in a 20 gallon, but my recent research tells me otherwise, hence the tank upgrade. In the tank, I also have a blue sapphire damsel, and a Tanaka's wrasse (surprisingly, the tomato clown and the Tanaka's wrasse love swimming together).

I was looking to get my new tank cycled before the transfer, and was hoping to do so by adding a single hardy fish that I had the desire to keep with my other fish. I don't want to take the risk losing one of my favorite fish, so I was hoping to buy a new one.

I was looking into different options and was considering getting another tiny tomato clown to pair up with my current one in the new tank. The only worry that this brings up is a concern for aggression in the new tank. I know that tomato clowns are notoriously one of the more aggressive kinds of clown, and was wondering what your guys' experiences were with aggression increase/decrease when two clowns are paired up. Mine is a very docile one from what I can tell so far, but I'm not too sure if/how this will change. Will they pair up and chill out a bit? Or do they set up in an area of the tank and become bully's?

Any advice is appreciated, thank for reading!

 

[Winwood]

Hard to say. It's really up to the individual specimens a lot of times. Some big clowns get really boisterous with other species and some ignore tank mates completely. I've kept several breeding maroon pairs that ignored everything they were kept with. I also had a big chrysopterus female that regularly attacked tankmates, to the point of dragging them into her anemone.

 

[Speedy77]

That's really interesting. Is it usually the female that's more aggressive than the males? Because if that's the case I might have gotten lucky with my docile female (it's so big I can only assume it is and will remain the female). Still not sure if I should try to pair it up, but this helps!

 

[Winwood]

IME, a big mean girl is just that, with or without a mate. I'd risk it if I were you. The pair bond between two clowns is so fascinating, it really is worth clearing space if need be.

 

[Azedenkae]

Hey guys!

I just bought a 40B with Petco's $1 per gallon sale which I'm looking to upgrade to from my 20 long. In my current tank, I have a tomato clown that's about 3''. I was misguided by the LFS that I bought it from a few years back and was told it would be fine in a 20 gallon, but my recent research tells me otherwise, hence the tank upgrade. In the tank, I also have a blue sapphire damsel, and a Tanaka's wrasse (surprisingly, the tomato clown and the Tanaka's wrasse love swimming together).

I was looking to get my new tank cycled before the transfer, and was hoping to do so by adding a single hardy fish that I had the desire to keep with my other fish. I don't want to take the risk losing one of my favorite fish, so I was hoping to buy a new one.

I was looking into different options and was considering getting another tiny tomato clown to pair up with my current one in the new tank. The only worry that this brings up is a concern for aggression in the new tank. I know that tomato clowns are notoriously one of the more aggressive kinds of clown, and was wondering what your guys' experiences were with aggression increase/decrease when two clowns are paired up. Mine is a very docile one from what I can tell so far, but I'm not too sure if/how this will change. Will they pair up and chill out a bit? Or do they set up in an area of the tank and become bully's?

Any advice is appreciated, thank for reading!

Where did you get info from via your recent research? The guidance from the LFS is not at all wrong, it is entirely reasonable to house a Tomato in a 20 gallon aquarium.

Anyways to answer your question, whilst it does depend on individuals, in general pairs of Clownfish will be more so aggressive to other types of fish.

This is because all fish have an innate fight or flight response, and usually once paired, their 'fight' response is enhanced. This is especially true in an enclosed space where their territory may be constantly challenged.

 

[Speedy77]

Awesome, thanks for the additional help! I may try it after all once I see how things go with the new tank. Liveaquaria has the recommended tank size set at 30 gallons, and the clown itself is pretty large. It seemed as though getting a larger tank would be much better for the fish, and I definitely love the fish! Hopefully things with the new tank go smoothly and we'll go from there. I may just do a transfer from the 20 to the 40 straight away after seeing people doing similar things on the forums with little to no mortalities. I have an additional 20 pounds of sand and 20 pounds of base rock which should be solid for the new tank. Definitely excited!

 

[Azedenkae]

Awesome, thanks for the additional help! I may try it after all once I see how things go with the new tank. Liveaquaria has the recommended tank size set at 30 gallons, and the clown itself is pretty large. It seemed as though getting a larger tank would be much better for the fish, and I definitely love the fish! Hopefully things with the new tank go smoothly and we'll go from there. I may just do a transfer from the 20 to the 40 straight away after seeing people doing similar things on the forums with little to no mortalities. I have an additional 20 pounds of sand and 20 pounds of base rock which should be solid for the new tank. Definitely excited!

Yeah that should be right, with the straight tank transfer.

LiveAquaria and similar websites should only be used as a guide, as a lot of their information is incorrect. So take it all with a grain of salt.

But of course, the bigger the tank size, the better regardless. Basically.

 

[Speedy77]

It would be a really cool thing to try out! I'm thinking about getting a BTA down the line in a few months once my tank gets reestablished; clowns and anemones have always been something I've been into, and initially were what got me into the hobby! They had some beautiful (and big) condi anemones for $9 at Petco and I was super tempted. My tomato hosted a condi a few years back when I had one. I'd be curious if it still likes them!