What will thrive with a pair of maroon clowns in a 25 gallon tank

[petroreef]

I am new to the hobby and I’m pretty set on getting a pair of the devil fish, AKA Maroon Clowns. Is there anything that yall have seen that will thrive with a pair of maroon clowns in the tank? If not, I am perfectly happy having just the pair in the tank.

Thanks in advance!

 

[Macbalacano]

I am new to the hobby and I’m pretty set on getting a pair of the devil fish, AKA Maroon Clowns. Is there anything that yall have seen that will thrive with a pair of maroon clowns in the tank? If not, I am perfectly happy having just the pair in the tank.

Thanks in advance!

Welcome to R2R!

I think you might be able to get away with another fish or two, but i'm sure others might disagree!

Have you looked into a watchman goby and pistol shrimp pair? Might be cool to watch in a 25g and add some movement to the bottom of the tank.

You could also go with a firefish or royal gramma, but it really does depend I think on the personality of the clowns you have. I think if you do an acclimation box, that might help increase your success.

Alternatively or as a supplement to the above, you could get more inverts, which I think are just as interesting as fish. Like Fire/Blood shrimp, cleaner shrimp, peppermint shrimp, a conch, bunch of different snails. When your tank matures more you can get an anemone, clams etc..

Happy Reefing!

 

[Quietman]

Hey at least you're doing it right. You settle on the fish you want even though you know there's going to be aggression issues in that small of tank and willing to adjust other fish or forgo completely...applause to you.

I would think something that stays out of the way - maybe a goby/shrimp pair maybe a royal gramma or something fast - pygmy wrasse. Anything else nano size is likely to draw attention...my blennie, firefish, chromis, cardinalfish all had some interactions with my one ocellaris - a pair of maroons could have been problematic.

 

[nereefpat]

I think that a pair of maroons will completely own a tank that size. They get pretty large, compared to the other common clowns.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Most non-clownfish will. I have 33 other fish in one tank with 7 oversized clowns and no issues
Another tank6 clowns in with flame angel, azure damsel, Thompson goby and 2 fire fish- no issues there also

 

[FlowGod]

A lot of people don't like Maroon clowns because of the aggression, but they are my favorite clowns. I have had my two lightning maroon's in a 40 gallon, 42 gallon, and now my 70 gallon. They are slow growers from my experience, but if you feed heavy they will grow quicker I bet. My girl is the aggressive one and she bites my hand every time my hand goes in the tank. But in regards to having them in a 25 gallon I think you will be ok, I would also look into having bubble tip anemones. I have a corner of my tank with the bta's there and they stay close by them. Like I said they are slow growers so I wouldn't worry until she gets really big to maybe upgrade to a bigger tank. I think you would be ok having one other fish in the tank like a damsel fish or maybe a royal gramma. They are great fish!

 

[petroreef]

Thank you all for the advice!

To explain the small tank: I have kept Freshwater tanks since I was a kid. Loved it. I bought this little tank as a test to see if I like saltwater. If I do, I'll probably end up doing what I did when I was a kid and get a 100-gallon tank or larger within 6 months LOL. If that ends up being the case I'll use this tank as a frag tank.

At this point, I'm pretty married to the idea of getting the maroons. I really want to love the ocelaris clowns, I did up until I went to my lfs and saw maroons, but being a Texas A&M grad has made the decision pretty clear.

I will probably try the Royal Gramma, but what inverts are pretty cool? I'm running this tank as bare bottom, so I'm not sure what inverts that will rule out other than the pistol shrimp.

 

[DoomFactory]

Thank you all for the advice!

To explain the small tank: I have kept Freshwater tanks since I was a kid. Loved it. I bought this little tank as a test to see if I like saltwater. If I do, I'll probably end up doing what I did when I was a kid and get a 100-gallon tank or larger within 6 months LOL. If that ends up being the case I'll use this tank as a frag tank.

At this point, I'm pretty married to the idea of getting the maroons. I really want to love the ocelaris clowns, I did up until I went to my lfs and saw maroons, but being a Texas A&M grad has made the decision pretty clear.

I will probably try the Royal Gramma, but what inverts are pretty cool? I'm running this tank as bare bottom, so I'm not sure what inverts that will rule out other than the pistol shrimp.

I recently got a pair of maroon clowns and I love them, although getting them to pair was a little process they get along great now in a tank with a helfrechi fire fish, blue spotted jaw fish, and peppermint shrimp. In my other tank, I have a solo maroon clown that was introduced into my tank last, my yellow tang took a day to become ok with him, and stopped tail whipping him, and the maroon doesn’t black/white ocellaris clown pair already there, but I made sure to put several anemones.
so yes maroons can get along with other fish, but I’d recommend buying an existing pair already or if you can’t buy one lrg/med and one small as they can be hard to pair.

 

[Clownfish_Boy]

My favorite Clownfish !

 

[Zionas]

I wouldn’t do a pair of Maroons in a 25 gallon if I were you. Yes they’re not the most active fish but the female can still get to maybe 5-6”. If you want more fish with them, I would go with something that can stand up to them, like some kind of Dottyback or Yellowtail, Azure, Blue or another Chrysiptera damsel. You might also be able to get away with a shrimp and goby pair, hoping both of them being a bottom dweller will make the pair ignore them.


Edit: Bare bottom? Ahh ok. Then maybe you could go for a smaller blenny, again hoping it will be ignored, or a smaller Hawkfish though no Hawkfish is 100% invert safe.

I would try my luck with the Maroon pair, damsel and an Orchid or other Dottyback.

However in a 25 there’s no guarantee that a Maroon pair won’t be turning on anything else that gets added.

 

[Tamberav]

I would probably try a neon dottyback but only if the clowns are large enough that a neon dotty wouldn’t harm them. Those dottybacks are pretty dang mean as well so little baby clowns may not fare well.