Will my clowns settle down? (2 pairs)

[A sea K]

It seemed like a very feasable idea to me but is not working out quite as well as I had hoped and was looking for experienced opinions from those that have tried this.
I have a 210 gal which houses a BTA and H.crispa anenome. Both nems have been in the tank roughly 2 yrs and are healthy and the H. crispa hosts a mating pair of true percs.
I also have a mating pair of percs in a smaller tank that I'm breaking down and thought it would be great to have both nems in the 210 hosting percs.
I introduced the new pair yesterday and they almost imediately went to their new host BTA and I thought all was well, Observed them for a while and they appeared to be very comfortable with the new home so I left for a few hours. Upon my return the resident female from the H. crispa had rousted the new female out of the BTA.
There is over 2 full feet of seperation between the two nems in the tank and I felt the 2 pairs would be able to reside in their respective nems and live in peace. At this point it does not appear so and I'm looking for others experience and insight to my situation. The long term resident female is currently in the sump for a few days with the thought the new addition will get more comfortable and hopefully stand his ground.

 

[rkelman]

You need more separation than 2 feet for sure. Ideally they should be on different sides of the tank. Percula can be pretty aggressive. I have 2 pairs of Ocellaris in my 190 but they are separated by probably 4 feet and seem to be doing well. Percs are not so easy though. I tried Percs with my Ocellaris and I thought the Percs were going to kill them.

 

[MM WI]

Temporary separation is a good idea. Maybe even rearrange a bit in her absences. It may work, always the chance for conflict adding multiple pairs. It can be done though. I have had up to three pairs in three different anemones in the same tank with out much fighting at all. The techniques I have used to make this work are

1. add the smaller pair first.
2. add the new pair soon after adding the new anemone giving the smaller clowns a large engulfing anemone that they can easily disappear in.
3. Add very different types of clowns with their natural choice, two pairs of percs makes it more difficult. If they are as aggressive as the large mated pair I have this one may be tough.
4. Keeping the anemones far apart is a good idea, but I have had two pairs in anemones that were very close so it can be done.
5. One other technique, expense is the only problem, I had two pairs in two anemones that quit working after a long period of harmony, so I added a third anemone and school of baby yellow stripes. Everything settled down again. It was just too much for the aggressive female to process. The advantage here was watching that small school share a large bta was really great. I will check and see if can find some old photos of these to post.

Best of luck.

- mark

 

[ILLiDaN]

I have seen it done, just that really isn't recommended. Like anything its a risk.

 

[A sea K]

Thanks for everyones suggestions. I appear to be in somewhat of a pickle and about the only thing I could do is add a third nem (the BTA the new clowns have been hosting from my other tank) but really don't want another one in the 210.
It also seems that I have more going towards failure than I do success. Can't see any possible way to rearrange and moving the nems is out of the question, they have been quite happy right where they are for a couple of years. Both pairs are almost the exact same size and are mature and have been spawning regularly for some time now. The females have always interacted with their tankmates and regularly leave the nem for a look around so the seperation distance is an issue.
I will replace the resident female tomorrow and hope for the best. If it does not go well I'll have to find one pair a new home as I'm really fond of both pairs (main reason i'm trying this) and don't want harm to come to either pair.