Two different anemonefish species in one tank?

ThRoewer

ThRoewer

New member
I'm kicking around the idea to try two pairs of different anemonefish species in one tank. I think that it could work as long as each pair has their preferred host anemone that the other species doesn't take as host.
The species in question would be A. percula in S. gigantea or A. ocellaris in H. magnifica on one side and A. epigrammata in E. quadricolor on the other. The difficulty will most likely be that percula and ocellaris are too similar in looks to maroons, in the Amphiprion clade.
But my other anemonefish (bicinctus, latezonatus, and milii) are either not as host specific or take all anemones in question as hosts.
I'm kind of leaning towards giving the Sumatra maroons with a BTA and the Philippines ocellaris in a magnifica a shot as that would allow me to put my tiger jawfish in there as well.

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usually not recommended. But sometimes it works if the tank is big enough and spacious enough for each one of them.


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Would be interested to see the results. How large of a tank are you going to attempt this in?
 
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The challenge is that it has to be in a 40B.
I've seen it work in public aquaria, even with the anemones of the different anemonefish only inches apart.

This is actually more a need than a want. It's either working this way or I will have to partition the tank with eggcrate. But then it will be hard to find a safe home for the jawfish - they really don't do so well with giganteas and even less so with haddoni.

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Yes, I have seen multiple spawning pairs of frenatus/ephippium along with regular and darwin ocellaris in a 1500 gallon public aquarium system. The frenatus all hosted bta's while the ocellaris just swam the tank.

May be tricky in that size tank especially with the gsm pair. I have heard of people mixing pairs of sandaracinos and ocellaris in medium/small size tanks.
 
My true percs have lived in their gigantea for years. I recently tried a pair of tomatoes (had a bunch if btas that i figured should be hosting SOMETHING, why let themgo to waste?) Things were great for about a month and a half, and i was patting myself on the back thinking, SUCCESS! Then, yhe female tomato just snapped one day and started straying out of her bta area and attacking the tru percs . Mamma true perc suffered a torn mouth and it was all too stressful. Tomatoes were removed the next day.

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I added a true pair of A. akindynos and four A. latifasciatus (two adults and two juveniles) to a 800 litre system simultaneously with two H. magnifica and two S. haddoni. The akindynos immediately went for the two adult latifasctiatus and nearly killed them. I removed the pair of akindynos and left the 4 latifasciatus. All going well for 4 or 5 months, then one day one of the adult (females) started attacking the other non stop and nearly killed the other fish. So I had to remove the female that was getting beaten up. Two paired up and spawn regularly, the other juvy is still there, they squabble a bit but that other little male holds his own and snaps at the much larger female when in his territory! So there's a spawning pair (hosting blue carpet nem) and one male who hosts an Elegance coral. It's all trail and error with clowns, compatibility, nems etc. The only downside is that if it doesn't workout is catching the buggers before they're killed by the aggressor in the tank.
 
I wish you luck!!

It worked for me in one case in an 8 foot 360 gallon DT. I had a pair of Perculas in a Gigantea on one side and a pair of Latifasciatus in a Merten's on the opposite side. Both pairs stayed pretty close to their anemones and there was little interaction. Of course, this is just one instance of it working.

I want to try again also. I have a pair of Chrysogasters in a Merten's now, but the female wanders quite a bit. There is an empty Mag on the far side of the tank and I have a pair of "White Margin" Latifasciatus I think I will try over there (despite not being a natural host). The Chrysogasters really have no interest in the Mag despite wandering near it at times. Both pairs of clowns are on the large size so I am going to put in a divider when I introduce the second pair. We will see what happens. I am hoping both pairs will stay closer to their hosts so I can eventually pull the divider.

Just an observation, but when diving in Fiji, I saw Pink Skunks in a Mag, right next to A. barberi in a bubble tip. The anemones were touching and the clowns were close as well.
 
So I have right now 3 different species together in a 40B with 8 BTAs and 1 magnifica:
1 single Sumatran Amphiprion epigrammata (Goldbar maroon)
2 juvenile S&R Amphiprion bicolor (Black & White Darwin Ocellaris)
and a pair of Philippine Amphiprion ocellaris (or rather A. cf ocellaris)

The maroon claims the BTAs on the ground, the Philippine ocellaris occupy the magnifica, and the Darwins are usually in one of the BTAs on top of the rock (though they would likely prefer a gigantea.)
There was some bickering at the beginning, especially between the Darwins and the Ocellaris but by now they have found an arrangement and generally stay clear of each other.
 
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/0uJ3B9r-RZc" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>

There is at times a little tension between the larger Maroon and the Philippine ocellaris. But they each prefer a different type of anemone and don't really infringe on the other's territory. Both, however, chase the Bicolors whenever they get too close to one of the anemones the Maroons and Ocellaris claim.
An interesting side effect: after some initial chasing the Maroons actually get along far better than I would have expected. I suppose common enemies unite... Unfortunately, the smaller Maroon seems to be from the Philippines and not Sumatra like the larger. Only his head bar is wide and yellowish while the body and tail bars are narrower and bright white. The larger has all bars wide and yellow. So at a minimum, they are different local forms, but more likely actually different species. I got another Sumatra Maroon in QT that, once confirmed to be clean, I plan on pairing with the larger one.

Here another video with the front panel cleaned:

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/d7fJ8UDhjaA" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>
 
I had to take the Darwins out because they fought too much with each other. Right now I have them in an anemone recovery tank with one of my large magnificas in the hope they learn to get along. So far they still try to kill each other whenever they run across - which isn't too often in that large anemone.

The Ocellaris and Maroon get along well, though the same can't be said for the Maroons among each other - though it seems to get better and they never injured each other. Interestingly enough, the smaller of the Maroons has teamed up with the Ocellaris and they seem to get along well.
 
The Maroons are starting to get along now after I moved the larger ones anemone to the corner of the smaller:

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/_g96iMPayIk" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/CAS6Qp-6EL8" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>
 
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