Clownfish in a 10g?

[Friendofish]

Okay...so I just won a Waterbox 10 giveaway on here and I’m thinking about stocking. I really really wanted to have a pair of Picasso clowns, but the more research I do, the more I question if this is a good idea. I’ve seen mixed things about having 2 clowns in a tank so small and I’m confused. Is the issue that the bioload will be too high? Or is the issue that there is not enough swimming space/territory? Obviously, I don’t want my fish to be constantly stressed or anything. Can potential risks be averted by adding a refugium or algae scrubber? Thanks in advance for the help! 

[seabass]

I realize some people will say that it will be alright, provided they are the only fish in the tank.  However, I'd feel better about 20 gallons for a pair.  While a ten gallon tank will comfortably house a pair of young fish, they will likely be cramped as they mature.

 

I'd also feel better about keeping a single in a ten gallon tank.  Although, I feel that a pair exhibits an unique set of behaviors which are interesting to watch.

 

It's not so much that they will overload the biofilter of a typical ten gallon tank with live rock (though they are big eaters), as lacking room for a typical territory.  I realize they aren't big swimmers, but I feel a ten gallon tank is still a bit limiting.

[Tired]

It's definitely about territory and moving space. That's a perfectly safe bioload to have. If they were both perching gobies, you'd have no problems, but there's a reasonable question of if that's enough swimming space. It might depend somewhat on scape, and on how far out of their hosting spot your particular clowns want to go. 

 

Congrats on the win!

[Friendofish]

Thanks for the help guys! Based on what y’all said I think I’m going to pass on the clowns for this tank. I’ll see if I can add them to my Red Sea 170 instead without them causing problems with the other fish in there. I think I’m going to stick with a pistol shrimp and Goby duo instead. Thanks!!!

[debbeach13]

Congratulations on the win! I like the idea of a shrimp and goby set up.

[Clown79]

I guess it depends on the clowns.

 

My mated pair never swim around my 25g, they have been lazy from the day i got them.

 

They take up a small area of the tank and rarely leave it. They'd be fine in a small tank

Its been 6yrs like this. 

 

 

My other clown in my 20g swims everywhere all the time but recently has started sticking to 1 area since he's been hosting.

 

[Tired]

Shrimp and watchman pair is great! IMO, get a smaller watchman and a candycane/Randall's pistol, tiger pistols are bigger and would really like more space than a 10gal. Yasha goby, antenna goby, one of the 2-3" ones, mostly so it'll fit in the hole with the pistol shrimp.

 

You can also keep a clown goby, if you'd like something wiggly and cute. They're different enough from the watchman to get along just fine. Or maybe a gumdrop coral croucher if you can find one- they're kinda like mini frogfish. 

[Friendofish]

11 minutes ago, Tired said:

Shrimp and watchman pair is great! IMO, get a smaller watchman and a candycane/Randall's pistol, tiger pistols are bigger and would really like more space than a 10gal. Yasha goby, antenna goby, one of the 2-3" ones, mostly so it'll fit in the hole with the pistol shrimp.

 

You can also keep a clown goby, if you'd like something wiggly and cute. They're different enough from the watchman to get along just fine. Or maybe a gumdrop coral croucher if you can find one- they're kinda like mini frogfish. 

Yah I think for this 10 gallon I’d really like to get a Yasha goby if I can find one. I actually already have a yellow clown goby and I LOVE her. Honestly, I’m a big goby person in general. I recently realized that all the fish I own are technically gobies (firefish, yellow clown, and Rainfordi) lol

[TerraIncognita]

To me the most important thing is territory to me. If the fish can settle in, and feel comfortable. You'll notice. You can look up clown fish behaviors too, there are things they do when their stressed and when they feel at home. Additionally I really believe each fish is a bit different. Clown fish will never breed if they're uncomfortable.

 

My friend had a clown once in a 20G and she didn't like it, and she beat up his Six-line and his Goby.

 

He later got 2 juvenile's and they bonded in the tank and were just fine without an issue. They eventually tried to breed, so they were definitely settled.

 

I think you gotta gauge your fish on a fish by fish basis honestly.

[Clown79]

2 hours ago, TerraIncognita said:

To me the most important thing is territory to me. If the fish can settle in, and feel comfortable. You'll notice. You can look up clown fish behaviors too, there are things they do when their stressed and when they feel at home. Additionally I really believe each fish is a bit different. Clown fish will never breed if they're uncomfortable.

 

My friend had a clown once in a 20G and she didn't like it, and she beat up his Six-line and his Goby.

 

He later got 2 juvenile's and they bonded in the tank and were just fine without an issue. They eventually tried to breed, so they were definitely settled.

 

I think you gotta gauge your fish on a fish by fish basis honestly.

Definitely. My 2 were friendly with everyone for yrs yet in the last month, they have become more aggressive.

 

I think the 2 clowns would be happier together alone in a smaller tank than with others.

 

They are odd fish. 

[TerraIncognita]

11 minutes ago, Clown79 said:

Definitely. My 2 were friendly with everyone for yrs yet in the last month, they have become more aggressive.

 

I think the 2 clowns would be happier together alone in a smaller tank than with others.

 

They are odd fish. 

They may want to start breeding and want a bigger space. I've read something about that once, like 10 years ago random. Don't quote me on it. But interesting reaction.

[debbeach13]

Let us know when you get the tank. I hope you are planning on keeping a journal.

[TerraIncognita]

As a final note. I got 2 clowns in my 10Gallon and I don't think im being cruel :).

[jservedio]

1 hour ago, TerraIncognita said:

They may want to start breeding and want a bigger space. I've read something about that once, like 10 years ago random. Don't quote me on it. But interesting reaction.

IME they don't need or want a bigger space when they start breeding - they actually use less space. However, they start defending a larger area even more aggressively than they used to. By that I mean if there are no other tank inhabitants, they won't venture any further out than they normally did, and probably even less.

 

However, if they have tank mates, they will start attacking them much further out and much more aggressively. Clowns don't play around to begin with but when there are eggs involved, they really, really don't. This is probably one of the biggest causes of people just having their clowns go from perfect tank mates to downright nightmares pretty much overnight.

[Friendofish]

18 minutes ago, debbeach13 said:

Let us know when you get the tank. I hope you are planning on keeping a journal.

Will do! I’m so excited but I’ll be honest getting this tank set up will probably take a while because I’m heading back to school in a few days and the coronavirus has really limited the availability of pretty much everything reef-related near me. 

[jservedio]

14 hours ago, seabass said:

I realize some people will say that it will be alright, provided they are the only fish in the tank.  However, I'd feel better about 20 gallons for a pair.  While a ten gallon tank will comfortably house a pair of young fish, they will likely be cramped as they mature.

 

I'd also feel better about keeping a single in a ten gallon tank.  Although, I feel that a pair exhibits an unique set of behaviors which are interesting to watch.

 

It's not so much that they will overload the biofilter of a typical ten gallon tank with live rock (though they are big eaters), as lacking room for a typical territory.  I realize they aren't big swimmers, but I feel a ten gallon tank is still a bit limiting.

While I think a bonded or mated pair of mature clowns would do fine in some 10g tanks (heavily dimension dependent) as the sole inhabitants, I agree a 20g tank would be much, much better. A big issue I haven't seen mentioned is that if you start with two juvenile clowns, managing the aggression as they start to mature is impossible. For a 10g tank, the clowns territory is going to be the entire tank, which means when fighting begins over who will be the dominant female, there is nowhere to run, hide, and calm down. This makes it much harder for the clowns to pair and greatly increases the chances of them just fighting to the death.

 

I wouldn't attempt to pair up two clowns in a 10g without selecting them extremely carefully. Just having the LFS grab two random clowns from the juvie tank that are likely the exact same size and age would pretty much be a recipe for disaster in a 10g - there are tons of threads on here with this exact scenario.

[pokerdobe]

My breeding pair have a primary residence on one side of my tank and like to travel to their vacation home on the other side every so often. 

 

I have a 6' tank. 

[Clown79]

2 hours ago, jservedio said:

IME they don't need or want a bigger space when they start breeding - they actually use less space. However, they start defending a larger area even more aggressively than they used to. By that I mean if there are no other tank inhabitants, they won't venture any further out than they normally did, and probably even less.

 

However, if they have tank mates, they will start attacking them much further out and much more aggressively. Clowns don't play around to begin with but when there are eggs involved, they really, really don't. This is probably one of the biggest causes of people just having their clowns go from perfect tank mates to downright nightmares pretty much overnight.

Sounds about right.

 

My clowns had a 25g to themselves for almost a yr. Still never left the small area they chose as theirs.

 

Added 2 other fish over time and everyone was friends.

 

The last month, my clowns have become absolute jerks to the other fish.

 

They still only stay in their area 

[seabass]

My clowns and cardinalfish get along well in their 100 gallon tank, and both pairs are breeding (old fish too).

[coralline-adam]

I have done it before with a tomato clown. He lived a long, healthy, and happy life. A 10 gal, a clown, and a BTA makes for a very nice setup.

[Tired]

Don't tomato clowns get like 5" long? 

[coralline-adam]

Lol no mine was like 3" full grown. He really just spent most all of his time in or around the anemone. I was prepared to move the setup into a larger tank, but it was never necessary to do so.

[Tired]

Huh, that's interesting. Maybe yours stayed a male? Because I know I've seen one nearly the size of my hand, and when I looked it up, about everywhere I could find online said they get to 5".

[coralline-adam]

His name was Thomas so it would make sense 😂

[Tamberav]

I have a pair of percs and they could live in a 10g but at 6 yrs old the female is fairly large and large fish tend to look awkward and out of place in small tanks.

 

10 hours ago, coralline-adam said:

I have done it before with a tomato clown. He lived a long, healthy, and happy life. A 10 gal, a clown, and a BTA makes for a very nice setup.

How long did he live? They are really long lived fish.... 30 years I believe.