How many clowns for a 215?

[fishy7]

Hello all,
I am newbe to saltwater tanks and could use some sound advice before I start spending lots of $$$$$$$$$

In four months, I will have a 215 Oceanic tank and want to keep percula clowns and maroon clowns.
My question, how many can I keep of each species and have harmony?
I am just starting from scratch and do not know exactly what I need but know what I want. I guess this is a good place to start....?
Appreciate the help....
:needhelp:

 

[thegrog]

dont want to spend a lot of money......and you are starting with a 215 gallon tank?!?!?!?
You are in for one heck of an investment. Kudos to you for reading up ahead of time!
Now, a tank that large you could possibly put in 2 clown species. As long as it is a long and not a tall, there is potentially enough room. Now mixing marroons with anything else may be a different matter. Maroons are one of the most aggressive species of clowns and may not tollerate any clowns that it sees at all. If the maroons have a anemone host, they may stay within a foot or two of it in each direction so there may be room for another. Anemones require a lot of extra care and expertise so read up before undertaking that.
Perculas with perhaps clarkii or cinnamons would work IMO in that size tank.

 

[fishy7]

Hi TheGrog,
Actuclly I'm doing my homework before, so I won't spend a lot of money by killing fish.
With me being to new at this, I want to stock my tank piece by piece. I'm starting out slow with about 100lbs of live rock and 200lbs of live sand. I am not sure how long I should wait before stocking the tank with actual fish?
Thanks for letting me know about the clown fish and how difficult the anemones can be. I want to have 2 diifferenct species but, think it may be to difficult for me at this time. I really want to perfect breeding grounds. Would you suggest getting 15-20 clowns and let them mate up?
Stupid question time :notsure: Do clowns need the anemones to survive? From reading it looks like they do.
Any suggestions are very welcome to setting up this tank......

Thanks for the help...
Fishy

 

[sleeper]

Fishy, clowns don't need anenomes at all to survive, in fact they've been known to form relationships with corals, and even without any "hosts" they tend to do OK in captivity is their conditions are pristine.
Some even say taking anenomes and corals from the reef is bad news, so they only get tank bred or not at all...