1 clown, 2 clowns, 3 clowns more.....

saltymist

Member
Okay, no I dont have more, or even three, or even 2, just one clown fish.
I was asking the attendant at ***** :needhelp: about keeping clown fish.
What would happen if I bought one now and one later. He said it would probably be best to buy 2 now, and put them into a cycled tank. I asked why, and he said that if I put one in now, and added a second later, then the first one would probably kill the one added later. I declined to get two at the moment since I dont want to chance overloading my tank right away (only about 4 weeks old, but showing all the signs of being cycled , amonia 0, nitrites 0, nitrates 30).
Anyway, I told him I would research into what other type of fish I could put in this tank with the clown when Im ready.
But the whole point is, if I want to add a second clown fish later, is it not possible, and the established one will kill the second one, or can you put one in one of those hospital type hang ons, so that it gets the same water, but keeps it seperated by a plastic wall, until they get use to each other?
Thanks,
 

saltymist

Member
The clown was just added today, so I expect that if I really want to add another one, it will be anywhere from 1.5 to 2 weeks away to give the system time to buildup whatever it needs to do to accomodate another one.
 

karajay

Active Member
You may have been better off adding them both at once. But that doesn't mean it's impossible to add another. So long as you get a small juvenile, and get it while yours is still a small juvenile, they should be fine. A little squabbling between them will be normal. They need to establish which will be dominant.
:happyfish
 

saltymist

Member
Okay, thanks

I'll give it a week to a week and a half and then find another juvinile clown to go into the tank. Shouldnt be hard to find in my area as all the LFS carry the clowns now and have an abundance of different sizes.
So all in all, should I find one that is slightly smaller than the existing one, *might* be hard to do, this one is no large fish and I only picked it out because he is deformed (deformed in the sence that on the left side of his body, the second white stripe doesnt compeltely encircle it's body, it stops about1/4 inch from meeting the white stripe that comes around under his belly, and he was the most active one in the tank, but that probably means that he was also the most aggressive one in the tank).
 

microman2k

Member
you can also rearrange your rocks right before you add the new fish so the old fish will have to restablish the territory with the new fish creating less friction:yes:
 

stillfrodo

Member
You might be able to add another clown if its smaller then the first. I agree with rearranging the rock. You could also try acclimating him in one of those convalescent containers in full view of the other clown. this way they may get used to each other before full release into the tank.
 
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