Opinion needed

[stupid_naso]

Mixing clownfish.
I understand that this matter has been brought up a lot. I have read several of earlier posts and there were mixed opinions. Here's my plan. Again, it's a PLAN. I do want your opinion on this. Please provide your reasons. Not just, I-heard-it's-a-no-no type of reason.
I have been checking out several of the LFS. One LFS has a very small clarkii/ sebae clowfish (too young to distinguish). One other LFS usually sells a very small false perculas. Both juveniles, both tank-raised.
I will introduce them at the same time, and attempt to mix them. Perculas, as I understand them, are the more peaceful species of clownfish. Sebae/ clarkii, well let's just say they're not maroon or tomato clown .
I have a well-established tank, with plenty of hiding place. It's been setup for more than a year. Water parameters are perfect. I have no other inhabitants in the tank, except cleaner shrimp, hermits and snails and of course corals.
Please give me your opinion on this. If you have anything else that I need to add such as anemones to increase the success rate, please let me know. More info on my tank is on my signature.
I know it is a ten gallon.
Thanks,
stupid_naso

 

[stupid_naso]

jwtrojan44,
As you said, it depends on the personality of each fish. The sebae/ clarkii that I've been keeping my eye on is the shy one of the buch. It stays by itself and very seldom it approaches other clowns. It is somewhat similar to Beth's clown (she has a tomato who avoid a picture of a tomato clown that she attached to the tank). It actually lives with about 10 more clarkiis and one large GS Maroon in a 20 gallon tank with lots of live rock and very small swimming room. Of course it is the LFS tank. If you're saying just because of the size tank this plan will not work out, then how is it then that those clowns can live together? Keep in mind that some of those clowns in the LFS, are relatively larger than the one I'm planning to keep.
Melody and jwtrojan44,
Obviously, I'm not planning to mix maroon and other species. jwtrojan44, the example that you gave me was maroons with perculas. We all know that maroons are the most aggresive ones of all clowns. That, of course I know not to try. That goes back to the whole personality of the fish again.
Thanks for the opinion guys. I really appreciate it. This is not just some crazy and immature idea of having different species of clowns swimming together. I really want to know and try. I will not let them kill each other if it happens. For now, I do want to hear both the for's and the against's.
stupid_naso

 

[pferboy]

i did not see that it was a 10 gal. so i need to change my vote to NO. i voted yes because i kept 2 perc. and one maroon in my 135 for 2 years. they never fought. the maroon stayed in the anemone and the percs did there thing. but in that small of a tank not a chance. sorry

 

[php]

i have a 55 gal. and a tank raised perc and tank raised clarkii they get along perfectly..but you do have a 10 gal....so i dunno might be very risky especially as they grow

 

[azonic]

Well for one thing, the fish will out grow the small tank size.
Secondly, no matter how small they are, they will fight. I've tried mixing various clowns in my 90 gallon and it didn't work well. I mixed my pair of GS maroons with a sebae...they all fought.
More recently, I mixed a very tiny percula, and a very tiny sebae in my 90. They were ok sometimes, but this was a 90 gallon and they still had fights.
It seems to me that you have already made up your mind to do buy the clowns, so why ask for opinions?

 

[makai]

Clown killer!!! just kidding...i feed small percs to my trigger.

 

[jferrier]

Yeah I'm in agreement with the rest of the crowd. 10 is too small.
Also I'm not so sure hiding places makes a difference to a clownfish anyways. Mine won't even dart under a rock when I'm trying to net him. I've noticed that while all my fish seek the shelter of the liverock when the lights go out my clown is always on top of the anemone or leather. In the wild they use anemones and corals w/ stings for their shelter and defense. I'm guessing what really matters is territory space rather than hiding spots.
Thats my two cents.

 

[php]

you feed clowns to your trigger!?!?! does anyone else find that crazy...isn't that expensive to but clowns instead of feeder fish?..unless you were just kidding

 

[stupid_naso]

Thanks for the replies, guys. I have changed my mind about this. Although I still want to do this 'experiment' (hate to call it that), I just don't have the resources to work with. Probably once I upgrade to a much larger tank, then I might try it.
I have one thing to say after all this. This board has changed a lot. From the people, to the information that are being shared among the members. Some of this information was considered ridiculous two years ago. Although some are still considered ridiculous, some are considered normal.
To mention a few...
1. Starting with a tank less than 40 gallons. Now it seems there are a lot more hobbyist who keep tanks, or even reef less than 40 gallons. I remember when I first started with 10 gal, people immidiately put me down by saying I willl have a hard time keeping it. My friend started with a tank much larger than mine, she went through the same thing I did.
2. Fish/gallon. People used to follow this rule with all their heart. Although some still do, most people know there are other factors to ensure the well-being of the fish, i.e. swimming space, hiding space, water movement, etc. We used to use the fish adult size in nature to measure how many fish we're allowed to keep. Not knowing the adult size in captivity will be smaller. Probably some did know back then, but when I started, most people used the nature adult size.
3. Watt/gallon. This rule is not being used as crazy as before. People now know better about all the aspect of lighting in aquarium. This rule is not even as important as before.
To sum them all up. This hobby will keep evolving. We will learn new things as we go. Some of the new ideas came up when we try something new. Although, I understand that mixing clowns is totally different, but given the right resources it can be done. So I just want to say to everyone in this board, when someone came up with a crazy idea, don't immidiately put them down. Try to look at all the aspect of the 'experiment.' If it's totally out there then stop them but if there's a chance then why not?
Many scientist/ inventors were considered crazy when they invented the things that we currently use.
Thanks,
stupid_naso

 

[makai]

I was just kidding.... I've seriouslly thought of it though. Just for a treat. They were on sale at *****, and they were the smallest perc clowns i've ever seen.

 

[wamp]

I had a Perc and a maroon in my 180 for a couple of years. Never had problems.
I fed my Lion Fish Damsels on occasion for a treat. He mostly ate Krill and silversides though...