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Unread 01/02/2018, 08:41 PM   #1
lifeoffaith
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Experienced Clownfish Harem Reefers

It has been way too long, but I am about to set up a clownfish harem, and I'm looking for those experienced with harems.

From what I gather, maroon clowns are not recommended, but I'd be interested to see if anyone has ever done it or at least attempted it. I'd love to, but I won't do it if anyone has not had any positive experience doing it.

Details on my build. I have an established 75 gallon currently that I am planning on moving from my basement to the main level to start the harem tank. It has a 25 gallon sump with a large skimmer (reef octopus formerly used on around 200 gallons worth of tank and the sump). I also run an algae scrubber that produces quite a bit of algae. Some of the rock will be swapped out for dry rock, but most will be established rock (I'm also setting up a 110 gallon at the same time). I plan on having probably around 100 lbs of rock in the tank. It will be at least 60 established. I plan on doing a 4 bulb HO T5 for lighting and want to have one central island with a "flat" top to get the nems closer to the light. The tank is 24 inches deep (so the nems will probably be about 10-12 inches from the top of the tank and lighting can be placed at any level from the top of the tank since I won't have anything else in the tank except the fish and clean up crew), 36 long, 18 wide.

I plan on doing green bubble tip nems, and I'm still deciding on which clowns I want. My wife decided she didn't like pink skunks which is what I wanted, but basically I would prefer something that is naturally hosted in a bubble tip.


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Unread 01/03/2018, 01:51 PM   #2
pfan151
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Originally Posted by lifeoffaith View Post
It has been way too long, but I am about to set up a clownfish harem, and I'm looking for those experienced with harems.

From what I gather, maroon clowns are not recommended, but I'd be interested to see if anyone has ever done it or at least attempted it. I'd love to, but I won't do it if anyone has not had any positive experience doing it.

Details on my build. I have an established 75 gallon currently that I am planning on moving from my basement to the main level to start the harem tank. It has a 25 gallon sump with a large skimmer (reef octopus formerly used on around 200 gallons worth of tank and the sump). I also run an algae scrubber that produces quite a bit of algae. Some of the rock will be swapped out for dry rock, but most will be established rock (I'm also setting up a 110 gallon at the same time). I plan on having probably around 100 lbs of rock in the tank. It will be at least 60 established. I plan on doing a 4 bulb HO T5 for lighting and want to have one central island with a "flat" top to get the nems closer to the light. The tank is 24 inches deep (so the nems will probably be about 10-12 inches from the top of the tank and lighting can be placed at any level from the top of the tank since I won't have anything else in the tank except the fish and clean up crew), 36 long, 18 wide.

I plan on doing green bubble tip nems, and I'm still deciding on which clowns I want. My wife decided she didn't like pink skunks which is what I wanted, but basically I would prefer something that is naturally hosted in a bubble tip.
75 gal is not big enough for more than a pair of maroons when they get bigger. Definitely couldn’t fit enough in there to be what would be considered a harem.


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Unread 01/03/2018, 06:20 PM   #3
lifeoffaith
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Good to know, thanks! I wondered about that based on their adult size. Any other suggestions based on bubble tips as the host anemone? I'd like to keep it as natural as possible.


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Unread 01/04/2018, 01:52 AM   #4
Kinetic
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The sticky thread in this forum shows you exactly what hosts what naturally:

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh....php?t=2375473

BTA hosts the following:

Amphiprion akindynos - Barrier Reef Clownfish
A. clarkii - Clark's Clownfish
A. frenatus - Tomato Clownfish
A. melanopus - Red and Black Clownfish

Why not look for other types of anemones too? I went with an h. mag so I could get ocellaris to be hosted.


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Unread 01/04/2018, 09:01 PM   #5
lifeoffaith
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Thanks Kinetic, I've thought about other anemones too, but the cost of the other anemones and slightly more difficult care makes me want to stick with the bubble tip. Do you know how these clownfish do in a harem? I've seen one comment here that Clarkii don't play well together. I like the tomato, but I hear they're quite aggressive, so I imagine they won't play well together either. Red and black is aka as Cinnamon, right? I don't know much about these other than that they look very similar to the tomato, so maybe also rather aggressive? And then the barrier reef I would imagine is a bit higher priced?


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Unread 01/04/2018, 10:57 PM   #6
Kinetic
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Originally Posted by lifeoffaith View Post
Thanks Kinetic, I've thought about other anemones too, but the cost of the other anemones and slightly more difficult care makes me want to stick with the bubble tip. Do you know how these clownfish do in a harem? I've seen one comment here that Clarkii don't play well together. I like the tomato, but I hear they're quite aggressive, so I imagine they won't play well together either. Red and black is aka as Cinnamon, right? I don't know much about these other than that they look very similar to the tomato, so maybe also rather aggressive? And then the barrier reef I would imagine is a bit higher priced?
There's a big thread on the other forum (r.2.r) that has a bunch of people talking about harems. Best bet would be to check out all the info there and ask your questions with those guys.

The best success of harems are percula, ocellaris, and skunks. As soon as you introduce anemones, it gets even harder, as the territories will become anemones and each will yield dominant pairs, which can become a fight. best is to have a lot of natural hosting anemones well established beforehand.

I have a magnifica that hosts my ocellaris no problem. it is a bit of work when you first import a magnifica, but once they're treated with cipro, they as hardy as a BTA.


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Unread 01/05/2018, 08:33 AM   #7
lifeoffaith
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Cool, thanks. I do plan on adding the anemones to the tank first and getting them well established before adding clowns. I've seen your tank on here as well while doing some of my research, it's beautiful!


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Unread 01/05/2018, 09:00 AM   #8
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Is the thread you mentioned above the one you started?


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Unread 01/05/2018, 06:01 PM   #9
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Originally Posted by lifeoffaith View Post
Is the thread you mentioned above the one you started?
It is! I'm trying to get all the collective of harem keepers to exchange info/notes as we go.

Also, if you're looking for an already treated Magnifica in good health, I would point you to Gig'em. That's who I got mine from. I know he has two Magnificas currently that are now recovering from successful Cipro treatments and might be up for sale at some point soon.


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Unread 01/11/2018, 02:16 PM   #10
eppersonm16
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I used to have a 24 gallon cube with 4 percula clowns and about 12 rose bubble tip anemones which I kept for about 2 years with no problems.


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Unread 01/11/2018, 02:19 PM   #11
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As long as each fish had its own anemone to sleep in aggression was kept to a minimum.


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Unread 01/11/2018, 02:22 PM   #12
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Another thing that probably helped was that I had one big dominant female and the other 3 were much smaller males(I assume they were males...maybe not).


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Unread 01/11/2018, 02:27 PM   #13
eppersonm16
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I know this is off the topic, however, I had to laugh at myself right now because my old clown tank sounds like my family....one dominant female(my wife) and 3 males(me and my two boys).


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Unread 01/11/2018, 09:19 PM   #14
Silfer
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I have a 2ft cube harem tank.

I have about 25kg of live rock, 22 tri colour bubble tip anemones and 10 baby tank bred ocellaris clownfish. They are all living together well as one big family, there is already one that has out grown the others fast and is clearly the boss of the lot.

I run a single AI Hydra 26 HD with my own modified BRS AB+ profile, I have 2 x Vortech MP10 QD's that run anti-sync mostly in lagoon mode, but I'll switch it between that, NTP and Gyre mode throughout the day. In the sump I have a Bubble Magus C3.5 Skimmer and a Santa Monica Surf 2x. I did have bio pearls but took them off to see how the scrubber would cope. I recently put the pearls back on as for some reason the scrubber wasn't doing it's job well enough. With the pearls on too though my nitrates are 5 or less.

Thinking of removing the surf2x and trying chaeto in an algae reactor instead.

Someone said above you can't have more than 2 in your size tank. Well mine has 10 and nitrates are low.. you have to remember, only 1 clownfish will get big, then the male below her and the rest will stay quite small throughout their life.

*Also, any clownfish will use any of the main host anemones if you get them as juveniles. My 10 ocellaris were all in my bubble tip anemones within 15 minutes of being in the tank and they were tank bred and had never seen an anemone before in their life.



Last edited by Silfer; 01/11/2018 at 09:24 PM.
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Unread 01/11/2018, 09:38 PM   #15
lifeoffaith
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I'm aware that Occelaris will sometimes host in a bubble tip. I'm looking to do what they naturally host in. My understanding though is that those get big (mags, sebaes or carpets) and in a 75 I'd probably have more problems than I'd have good experiences.


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Unread 01/11/2018, 09:46 PM   #16
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Quote:
Originally Posted by lifeoffaith View Post
I'm aware that Occelaris will sometimes host in a bubble tip. I'm looking to do what they naturally host in. My understanding though is that those get big (mags, sebaes or carpets) and in a 75 I'd probably have more problems than I'd have good experiences.
I have a Magnifica in a 36g display. The foot is about 4" across, and fully inflated I am around 7".

I don't feed it ever (on purpose), and sometimes the clowns try to feed it. I don't think it'll grow much for quite awhile. Your 75 will be fine unless you're really actively feeding. Just get a small one to start. They grow slow and sometimes not at all.


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Unread 01/15/2018, 06:37 PM   #17
lifeoffaith
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My concern is only that once at their largest I'll probably only be able to squeeze one or two Magnifica into the tank. That being said, I think I'd have problems with the clown if they don't have multiple nems available to them.


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Unread 01/15/2018, 06:48 PM   #18
Kinetic
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My concern is only that once at their largest I'll probably only be able to squeeze one or two Magnifica into the tank. That being said, I think I'd have problems with the clown if they don't have multiple nems available to them.
Largest magnificas can be 3 feet across. But if you don't regularly feed them, they can stay small.


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Unread 01/15/2018, 06:48 PM   #19
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I also had a lot fewer issues when there were no anemones. Once you have some, you need enough anemones for ALL. One magnifica = one territory, unless it's more than 1 foot across.


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Unread 01/17/2018, 09:11 PM   #20
lifeoffaith
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Yeah, that's what I'm concerned about. One Magnifica will take up my entire tank at full size. Let's say I put three in there and I can do, let's just say 15 clowns. What happens when all three Magnifica eventually grow, even if I do slow their growth by not feeding them to stimulate more growth?


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Unread 01/18/2018, 12:29 AM   #21
Kinetic
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Originally Posted by lifeoffaith View Post
Yeah, that's what I'm concerned about. One Magnifica will take up my entire tank at full size. Let's say I put three in there and I can do, let's just say 15 clowns. What happens when all three Magnifica eventually grow, even if I do slow their growth by not feeding them to stimulate more growth?
Well, I don't think you realize that the mag probably won't grow noticeably if you don't feed it. It grows really slow without feeding. It may never get full size. Worse case, just give him to a fellow reefer or trade it into the LFS.


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Unread 01/18/2018, 07:52 PM   #22
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Bigger the tank the better, give them room to spread out. I have 55 different percula family clown fish (darwins, helmets, picasso grade A & B, and platiums) each species of them came from the same clutch from local breeder; in a 180g tank with 24 BTA's. They are spread out across tank.. more the bta the marrier!!

Mine are spread out evenly across tank, aggression is way down (if any). Also, all of them shot straight into the BTA from the net when I introduced them to the tank. Check out my thread in this forum:

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh....php?t=2651161


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Tank #1: 180g "in the wall" ClownFish Harem Tank!

Current Tank Info: 180g In the wall build

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Unread 01/24/2018, 01:30 PM   #23
monkeybiz
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Originally Posted by lifeoffaith View Post
It has been way too long, but I am about to set up a clownfish harem, and I'm looking for those experienced with harems.

From what I gather, maroon clowns are not recommended, but I'd be interested to see if anyone has ever done it or at least attempted it. I'd love to, but I won't do it if anyone has not had any positive experience doing it.

Details on my build. I have an established 75 gallon currently that I am planning on moving from my basement to the main level to start the harem tank. It has a 25 gallon sump with a large skimmer (reef octopus formerly used on around 200 gallons worth of tank and the sump). I also run an algae scrubber that produces quite a bit of algae. Some of the rock will be swapped out for dry rock, but most will be established rock (I'm also setting up a 110 gallon at the same time). I plan on having probably around 100 lbs of rock in the tank. It will be at least 60 established. I plan on doing a 4 bulb HO T5 for lighting and want to have one central island with a "flat" top to get the nems closer to the light. The tank is 24 inches deep (so the nems will probably be about 10-12 inches from the top of the tank and lighting can be placed at any level from the top of the tank since I won't have anything else in the tank except the fish and clean up crew), 36 long, 18 wide.

I plan on doing green bubble tip nems, and I'm still deciding on which clowns I want. My wife decided she didn't like pink skunks which is what I wanted, but basically I would prefer something that is naturally hosted in a bubble tip.

this tank belongs to someone in my area (Mobert). i haven't read the thread for a long long time, but they document their experience of having a harem of clownfish and a bunch of anemones. it a great thread with a lot of information. they also provide a ton of pictures and video as well. i would recommend starting from the beginning.

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showth...ight=clownfish


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Unread 02/12/2018, 08:52 PM   #24
lifeoffaith
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this tank belongs to someone in my area (Mobert). i haven't read the thread for a long long time, but they document their experience of having a harem of clownfish and a bunch of anemones. it a great thread with a lot of information. they also provide a ton of pictures and video as well. i would recommend starting from the beginning.

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showth...ight=clownfish
Thanks! Great read.


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Unread 03/10/2018, 09:37 PM   #25
lifeoffaith
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Anyone have experience with Fire Clowns? I'm up to six nems now, but plan on at least 10. I've decided to go with a 110 gallon instead of the 75 and still plan on about 20 clowns, but thinking Fire Clowns now. I know they're in the tomato family but have seen video from a reef in Indonesia I believe where they were hosting bubble tips. It seems like they tend to live in larger groups than some others in the wild, so I'm thinking it should work.


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