Who Gives A Fish Forums

I've been hearing mixed opinions on keeping clowns without anemones, some people say they're fine without them, while others claim anemones are no good for beginners. Someone told me that only maroon clowns can live well without one, but I'm after the smaller common clowns.

I've got an Ambon damsel (Pomacentrus amboinensis), 2 turbo snails and 2 burrowing snails in my tank at the moment. My water params are salt 1.024, ammo 0, nitrite 0, nitrates 20. I added the damsel 3 days ago (9 sep) and I'm wondering if it'll be aggressive towards the clowns. Is there anything I can do beforehand to prevent this?

I don't know much about the Ambon damsel, but generally speaking, Damsels aren't exactly clownfish-friendly. They might have a territorial dispute on their hands.

As for the clownfish, they don't necessarily need an anemone to thrive. They're happy to make a rocky cave or even a soft leather coral their home. Anemones, on the other hand, can be a real challenge to keep, even in established tanks.

I'm with you on the anemone thing, clowns don't necessarily need them.

As for your damsel, I'm not familiar with that specific one, Pomacentrus amboinensis - there's not a lot of info out there on it. It's hard to say how it'll get along with the clowns, but since it's still settling in, now's the time to introduce them and see how it goes.

I've had a Domino Damsel and a Maroon Clown in my 20-gallon setup for a while now, and they get along fine. I'm guessing other damsel species like yours might also be compatible with clowns.

I've been thinking about this a lot and I'm still not sure if I should or could keep these clowns without an anemone. I've heard mixed views on this - some people say they're fine without them, while others claim only the maroons can thrive without one. I'm leaning towards getting the smaller common clowns, but I'm still unsure.

I'm relocating my tank, so I'll have to re-aquascape everything again. I'll get the clowns the day after this is done, so the damsel will have to get used to a different layout as well. Should I put them both in together or one at a time - the damsel's already settling in, so maybe it's better to introduce them separately.

I've kept tank-bred clowns from TMC and they've never seen an anemone before, but they quickly get the hang of it. Thing is, they don't actually need one to thrive.

I've had various damsels living with a pair of clowns, and they all get along just fine. However, any new clowns I've introduced have been beaten up by the resident pair.

Considering you're rescaping your tank, now's as good a time as any to introduce the new fish.

I stopped by my LFS recently and they've got a reef tank setup with a bunch of different fish, including 3 or 4 domino damsels. They're sharing the space with a bi-colour angel, diamond goby, lunar wrasse, a clownfish, and a few others that I couldn't quite make out. What caught my attention, though, was how the domino damsels just kind of stuck to one spot - they weren't very active, especially compared to the blue damsels I've seen before.

I've been wondering about fake anemones too, I mean since clowns can make a home in a rocky cave or a soft leather coral, maybe they'd be happy in a fake one, do they actually work though?

Yeah, they'll host in just about anything that looks like a decent home to them.