4 ocellaris clowns in a 75

[Frogmanx82]

I picked up 4 ocellaris clowns from the lfs last week. They are tank bred and I'm guessing are all siblings. They have been at the lfs for about 6 weeks. I almost just picked up a pair, but they all seem to get along so good, I got all four.

Two of them are larger, does that make them more likely to be females?

They all swim together now with no signs of aggression, but they are only about 1 inch for the small guys to 1.5 inches for the bigger ones. Am I headed for trouble? Can I get two mated pairs out of this? Does the fact that they have been together so long give them a shot at staying compatible?

[MarineFlake]

Clowns are strange indeed. I had added several to a new tank and for the first couple days/weeks they were fine. Aggression did pick up and after starting with eight, only 3 are left. After a couple months, things have calmed down, the remaining three swim together and do well. All in all, as with most things in this hobby, its a gamble at best. Just be prepared to capture and place any clowns that do not look like they are going to be able to handle any 'hazing' that he dominant pair may hand out. Best of luck!

[Toddrtrex]

I personally wouldn't do it. IME it will work for a while, but once the main pair starts to spawn all bet are off. Even my docile clowns (( pink skunks )) became aggressive after they started to spawn. About a year ago I paired up my existing Potter's angel with a new one -- I had bigger issues from the pink skunk pair then I did from the existing Potter's.

[rkelman]

Keep in mind they may and quite often do kill each other very quickly. They could be fine one minute and kill the weakest one the next. It can happen very quickly. They get almost a mob behaviour at times it can sometimes just take one nip to get things started.

[sedor]

In a larger tank you can get away with 4 for sure, but in a 75 as everyone else has mentioned, its a gamble.

[patriots81]

i do not think that you should do that. 4 clowns in a 75g is asking for trouble. they will be ok for a while bue they will eventually end up fighting.

[Frogmanx82]

Thanks for the replies. Not what I wanted to hear so I'll monitor the situation and be prepared to remove the two that don't pair up.