Needed Advice!

[nate9]

i have decided to convert my current freshwater tank( U.S. 20-25 gallon) to a saltwater. now i was thinking about making it into either a tank with just some coral and nanos or some coral and some clownfish. hoe many clown fish do you think i could have in a tank that size and how many nanos? which would you Prefer?

thanks, nate

 

[J-Money]

you're not gonna be able to pack the tank with a bunch of fish if that's what you're hoping to do. as far as i know you only want a max of 2 clowns in a tank at once. Otherwise there might be lots of fighting once there is a dominant female. But i only have gold-striped maroon clowns and they are some of the more aggressive species so hopefully someone else will chime in here. )

 

[Lynden]

Clownfish, technically, are hermaphrodites. To establish a pair, simply buy two males (they are all born like this) , and one will turn into a dominant female. You can usually have a large shoal this way, but a large shoal needs a large tank. I would get a pair if i were you. If the female dies, buy another male to take her place.

To host the clowns, buy a leather coral or similiar animal. NEVER put an anemone into a nano.

Also, what are you talking about? Nanos? Do you mean, small inverts?

-Lynden

 

[J-Money]

i thought clowns were born asexual and the dominant one became the female and the "2nd top dog" became the male and the rest were just waiting to make a move up )


told ya' you might wanna wait for some better advise, shows ya wut i know

edited to add, why would you add another fish to become the female, the remaining one would become the female right? if he bought another clown from somewhere it might already be a female and if he took too long to get it, the remaining one would already be a female so he could have big problems no?

edited again to add this little snippet from liveaquaria:

Although there are no external characteristics to differentiate male and female, all clownfish are sexually immature when hatched. Meaning that the fry do not have a pre-determined sex, and develop into males and females depending on the hierarchy of the school.

http/liveaquaria.com/product/prod_Display.cfm?pCatId=137

 

[JJ1234567]

J-Money is right. If you were to buy 10 clowns the biggest one would eventually be the female. The second in charge would be a male and the rest would be sexless "juvinelles" until they either moved away from the group or were required to move up by the loss of either the male or female.

For everything you could possibly want to know about clownfish pick up the book "clownfishes" by Joyce D Wilkerson. I couldnt put it down, and I have just finished it for the 6th time. Very valuable info, esp. if you want to give breeding a try.