Tank size for clown fish

[Carmend]

I’m looking into owning 2-3 clown fish but I don’t want a big tank (my room is kinda small) what’s the smallest you can go with harming your clown fish? And I need a supplies list..

 

also If I just get one clown fish would he get lonely should I just get 2?

[seabass]

Welcome to Nano-Reef.com.

 

You will want to stick with either one or two.  You can pair a small juvenile with a notably larger clownfish of the same species.  Some just buy two and hope it works out (which it might or might not).

 

A ten gallon tank is probably suitable for a single ocellaris clownfish.  While at least a fifteen gallon tank is probably better for a pair.

[aclman88]

Clownfish won’t be lonely, but if you do get a pair the interaction between the two will make for an interesting tank. You could swing two in a ten gallon in my opinion, as long as you keep up with water changes. What size do you have for the tank? Do you have a stand or a place to put the tank already? What’s your budget? Those will help us give a better answer as to your options.

[Clown79]

I have 2 adult clowns in a 10g. Perfectly healthy and happy.

 

I do a waterchange every 2 or so weeks now.

[paulsz]

On 11/21/2020 at 2:07 AM, Carmend said:

And I need a supplies list.

do a little research online. Watch some youtube videos if you can. Make sure to specify saltwater in the search as there's a few items you need that you don't need in freshwater aquariums.

 

And i recommend making a small spreadsheet or keep a list and see what things will cost (just to give you an idea of what you're going to end up paying). 

 

At the very list, for only two clownfish in a 10 gallon tank, you'll need:

 

- 10 gallon tank

- heater (50w should be enough unless your house runs really cold)

- water. For saltwater aquariums, we use RODI water. or RO water at the very least. This is just very filtered water. RODI water usually comes out of the filter as pure H2O. RO only will have a bit of stuff in the water, but usually removes about 97% of the stuff compared to just using tap water, so it's pretty clean. You can buy an RODI unit to make some water at home, or you can buy jugs of RODI water from the fish store. 

- salt. To mix with the water

- refractometer (to measure how much salt is in the water. You need to have it at a specific level for saltwater tanks)

- rock. Either live rock (rock that is full of life from other tanks and from the ocean), or dry rock (dry, "dead" rock that is pulled from the ground rather than the ocean. Dry rock takes more time to mature than live rock, but at least you make sure you don't have any little pests that might come on live rock). I prefer live rock, full of life

- light. If you don't want to add corals, use any light. If you plan on getting corals, you will need to get some better lights when the time comes.

- filter. A HOB (hang-on-back) will work fine for a tank that size. 

- powerhead. This moves the water around the tank. Your rock filters a bunch of the water, so it's important to have water move around the tank to have it properly filter. And water that isn't moving for a long time can cause other issues. 

 

This is a very basic list. I definitely recommend researching on forums and watching vids on youtube.