Do clown fish school

[drtito]

I want to buy 5 of the same type clownfish and ONE anemone, will they school or stay in a group ?

 

[dse]

yes if kept from juvenile stage but dont forget the most dominant one will be come the female and second dominant one will be the dom male.
so they can be a slight nightmare excpesh at breeding times.
so if keeping 5 just becarfull please do not get 3 as 1 will die even possibly 2 personally i would go for 6 aswell to keep aggression at a minimum (if your tank has the space)

 

[drtito]

thank you,now I have to place my order.

 

[wangotango]

IMO unless you have a large tank, multiple pairs of clowns generally doesn't work. They're not like chromis or anthias in the sense of schooling.
-Justin

 

[drtito]

I tried that once they only seem to school when scared. I figure if I buy them all at one time they will stay together or make a tasty

treat for my damsel.OTSS. I am picking them up tomarrow, maybe an anmone as well.

 

[sepulatian]

Clowns pair off. If it is a large tank then you MAY get two pairs out of it. Otherwise the dominant pair will harass and/or kill the others. Why are you trying this? They will not all make it.

 

[drtito]

I want them to stay in a group. I have tried differnt damsels before but none stay in a school even if added all at the same time. I figurged they would become a school with one leading the pack. Is that not the way of the wild.

 

[grue]

That is not the way of the wild for clown fish. 2 fish 1 happy 1 submissive male. 3 fish 1 agressive female 1 dominate male 1 fish food. 4 fish 1 agressive female 1 agressive male 2 terroized others with them being slowly killed. As stated before IF you have the room you could possibly have more than 1 MATED pair. Others not paired up or if not enoulf room will become fish food. My 2 cents
Grue

 

[drtito]

got this here from the clown fish section............ In the wild they live in small groups with one large dominant female, one smaller sexually active male, and a handful of smaller males and juveniles. When the female is lost the largest male will then change --- and become the dominant female with the other Clowns moving up the ladder behind it................. I will tell everyone how it goes and add some pics.

 

[wangotango]

In the wild yes it will work. There is a difference between living in close proximity and schooling. If you want a schooling fish look into anthias, chromis, or glass cardinals. They will swim around the tank in a pack. If you're expecting the clowns to do this I think you will be extremely dissapointed.
-Justin

 

[drtito]

I see. I guess I could return the smaller group when they split off.

 

[ilovemytank]

Too many clown fish ! Unfortunately I thought I could pull off the same thing. Trust my mistakes it will never work. I do have two pairs of clowns in my tank but it is 125 gallons and have there anenome homes on the opposite sides of the tank. One pair of false percula clowns and on pair of black clowns. Unfortunately I lost clowns in the process of my current ones making sure that they were the only ones and had there own territory. Buy two clowns as a pair or go for a male (smaller) and female ( larger ). If you expect one to turn ---, the other is probably going to die or need serious theropy before you see a personality.

 

[drtito]

They all seem to stay together ,if one splits off. The damsel gose for him right away. I will see how it gose when I get home after work.