I posted some time ago that I found a way to get more than 2 clowns to survive together in happy harmony. What I concluded was the key to success was to make sure there is a large difference in size between clowns that are added.
This all started when my mother shut down her reef tank and gave me all of the fish she had left in it. She had two large paired occ. clowns that had been together for a few years. I really didn't know what to do with them because I already had a pair in my 240, plus I had a single clown in my 20H at work. So for the first couple months the large pair just ended up living in a sump in the 240 until I decided to upgrade my work tank from a 20H to a 40B. Then I decided to start the 3 clown experiment.
The clown I already had in the 20H was very small compared to the other two, so I moved all three in to the 40B together. They lived happily together in the 40B for a while until the larger pair started laying eggs. Then the female became aggressive towards the other fish (though not the third clown), so I decided to take them home and put them in my 240 and bring the two clowns from my 240 in to work to my 40B. Well I decided a couple months ago to shut down the 240, I sold the bigger fish (tangs,foxface etc.) and moved the smaller fish in to the 40B at work except for the three clowns and a YWG. Those three were placed in a 20H until I decided what to do with them...
Without thinking about it I moved a couple pieces of rock with corals on them to the 40B as well which kicked off an ammonia cycle and killed a few things, one of which was my black clown. So now for a little bit I've just had a single clown (the male of the two, the black one was the female in my work tank). I finally decided I don't want to deal with the salty tank at home, I haven't moved my ATO and such over to the 20H so the water level has been evaporating and I haven't really been down there much so I decided it was time to try the 4 clown experiment.
So here we are... I now have 4 clowns in my 40B... I just put them together today and so far everyone seems happy. The picture shows the 4 clowns, you can see the size difference pretty well. The smallest one is one of the group of 3 that I just added, the second smallest is the one that has been established in this tank for a while, but was pretty sad/lonely after the black clown died, not very active... now he has kin friends he is already much more active. We'll see how this integration goes seems how the single clown is not the smallest (but seems to already have taken a submissive role in the quad, might be due to already being the submissive one in the previous pair...)
This all started when my mother shut down her reef tank and gave me all of the fish she had left in it. She had two large paired occ. clowns that had been together for a few years. I really didn't know what to do with them because I already had a pair in my 240, plus I had a single clown in my 20H at work. So for the first couple months the large pair just ended up living in a sump in the 240 until I decided to upgrade my work tank from a 20H to a 40B. Then I decided to start the 3 clown experiment.
The clown I already had in the 20H was very small compared to the other two, so I moved all three in to the 40B together. They lived happily together in the 40B for a while until the larger pair started laying eggs. Then the female became aggressive towards the other fish (though not the third clown), so I decided to take them home and put them in my 240 and bring the two clowns from my 240 in to work to my 40B. Well I decided a couple months ago to shut down the 240, I sold the bigger fish (tangs,foxface etc.) and moved the smaller fish in to the 40B at work except for the three clowns and a YWG. Those three were placed in a 20H until I decided what to do with them...
Without thinking about it I moved a couple pieces of rock with corals on them to the 40B as well which kicked off an ammonia cycle and killed a few things, one of which was my black clown. So now for a little bit I've just had a single clown (the male of the two, the black one was the female in my work tank). I finally decided I don't want to deal with the salty tank at home, I haven't moved my ATO and such over to the 20H so the water level has been evaporating and I haven't really been down there much so I decided it was time to try the 4 clown experiment.
So here we are... I now have 4 clowns in my 40B... I just put them together today and so far everyone seems happy. The picture shows the 4 clowns, you can see the size difference pretty well. The smallest one is one of the group of 3 that I just added, the second smallest is the one that has been established in this tank for a while, but was pretty sad/lonely after the black clown died, not very active... now he has kin friends he is already much more active. We'll see how this integration goes seems how the single clown is not the smallest (but seems to already have taken a submissive role in the quad, might be due to already being the submissive one in the previous pair...)
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