In fact clowns are damsels. And if you thought they're the only damsels that stake out an anemone...you'd be wrong. Other damsels will do it.
What does make them peculiar is that, given that attachment to one area, be it a toadstool leather or a nem, they don't move about as much as most damsels, but all damsels are homebodies, compared to say, tangs, which range far and wide, or angels, which travel down a reef browsing here and there---and (a good thing for the corals) moving on quickly.
Damsels 'hang out' within darting-distance of 'their' hole in the rockwork, their hiding spot, their anemone, or whatever else they think of as their Safe Place. If a predator shows up, they go deep into the Safe Place so fast you'd think you'd hallucinated them being there in the first place. Other fishes have hidey-holes---but damsels get really passionate about them.
That makes them pretty good tank fish---they're bright colored, they're tough, they're usually fairly inexpensive, some will even 'school', and you really CAN recreate something like their whole environment in the wild inside a large enough tank.
The problem comes in the 30 -100 gallon range. Not big enough for most of them to have their Safe Place and short swimming range. And they will fight to have that.
The ones that ARE perfectly happy in the 30 - 70 range are the littlest anemone-based ones, that we call clowns. Even among those---there are some that won't fit---the red clowns in general, the maroons, cinnamons, and even the not-so-red clarkiis all need more room to be comfy.
The other thing these little anemone-lovers will do is breed. And unfortunately when you have a breeding pair of ANYTHING they get cranky---and they don't want other fish doing a swim-through. So you might as well fence off about 50 gallons plus the rockwork for any of the larger (red) species, and adjust the rest of your fish space to say, well, this fish takes a hundred gallon tank, but with a breeding pair of clarkiis in there, a hundred gallons is going to be cut down to 50. To get several other fish without major problems, think about a 150. If it were just one clown among a number of others, they'd share and move about and flex the space---but it's that Immoveable Object, a breeding pair with a nest to protect. The reds also tend to like anemones of pretty large size. (My clarkiis' carpet was trying to be the wall-to-wall sort in a 100 gallon tank.)
Other damsels aren't bad company for a rowdy pair of clowns, given a big enough space. They're tough, healthwise, and disposition wise, they're able to stand up for themselves, given their own Safe Place.
Curiously, with enough Safe Places involved, in a proper sized tank, damsels, contrary to their reputations, often ignore other species. (My nearly 4" domino, dominant in the tank pals around with a watchman goby pair, and ignores other gobies, blennies, basslets, etc as if they didn't exist---but totally hates chromis.)
Damsels are a huge class, ranging from the ever-cranky dascyllus types, the red clowns which are shaped and mannered very similar to the dascyllus, to the mild little percs and the airheaded chromis. Saying all damsels are...is a pretty broad class, sort of like lumping all sharks into one expectation.
They ARE a possibility many people don't know what to do with---but you're generally good with the percs and mild clowns in a 30; you can manage one airhead of a chromis or one bright little yellowtail (actually bright blue) in a 50, or maybe one pair of clarkiis and nobody else but gobies and such...
In a 100 you can have five or six species of damsels---or a mated pair of clowns and 2-3 other damsels with a goby or two. In a 150, again, your possibilities expand, because, with a fish, out of sight IS out of mind, and a 150 long can offer two environments, or a way to get away from each other.
What does make them peculiar is that, given that attachment to one area, be it a toadstool leather or a nem, they don't move about as much as most damsels, but all damsels are homebodies, compared to say, tangs, which range far and wide, or angels, which travel down a reef browsing here and there---and (a good thing for the corals) moving on quickly.
Damsels 'hang out' within darting-distance of 'their' hole in the rockwork, their hiding spot, their anemone, or whatever else they think of as their Safe Place. If a predator shows up, they go deep into the Safe Place so fast you'd think you'd hallucinated them being there in the first place. Other fishes have hidey-holes---but damsels get really passionate about them.
That makes them pretty good tank fish---they're bright colored, they're tough, they're usually fairly inexpensive, some will even 'school', and you really CAN recreate something like their whole environment in the wild inside a large enough tank.
The problem comes in the 30 -100 gallon range. Not big enough for most of them to have their Safe Place and short swimming range. And they will fight to have that.
The ones that ARE perfectly happy in the 30 - 70 range are the littlest anemone-based ones, that we call clowns. Even among those---there are some that won't fit---the red clowns in general, the maroons, cinnamons, and even the not-so-red clarkiis all need more room to be comfy.
The other thing these little anemone-lovers will do is breed. And unfortunately when you have a breeding pair of ANYTHING they get cranky---and they don't want other fish doing a swim-through. So you might as well fence off about 50 gallons plus the rockwork for any of the larger (red) species, and adjust the rest of your fish space to say, well, this fish takes a hundred gallon tank, but with a breeding pair of clarkiis in there, a hundred gallons is going to be cut down to 50. To get several other fish without major problems, think about a 150. If it were just one clown among a number of others, they'd share and move about and flex the space---but it's that Immoveable Object, a breeding pair with a nest to protect. The reds also tend to like anemones of pretty large size. (My clarkiis' carpet was trying to be the wall-to-wall sort in a 100 gallon tank.)
Other damsels aren't bad company for a rowdy pair of clowns, given a big enough space. They're tough, healthwise, and disposition wise, they're able to stand up for themselves, given their own Safe Place.
Curiously, with enough Safe Places involved, in a proper sized tank, damsels, contrary to their reputations, often ignore other species. (My nearly 4" domino, dominant in the tank pals around with a watchman goby pair, and ignores other gobies, blennies, basslets, etc as if they didn't exist---but totally hates chromis.)
Damsels are a huge class, ranging from the ever-cranky dascyllus types, the red clowns which are shaped and mannered very similar to the dascyllus, to the mild little percs and the airheaded chromis. Saying all damsels are...is a pretty broad class, sort of like lumping all sharks into one expectation.
They ARE a possibility many people don't know what to do with---but you're generally good with the percs and mild clowns in a 30; you can manage one airhead of a chromis or one bright little yellowtail (actually bright blue) in a 50, or maybe one pair of clarkiis and nobody else but gobies and such...
In a 100 you can have five or six species of damsels---or a mated pair of clowns and 2-3 other damsels with a goby or two. In a 150, again, your possibilities expand, because, with a fish, out of sight IS out of mind, and a 150 long can offer two environments, or a way to get away from each other.
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