tomato clown problem

[chris44]

i have a pair of non breeding tomato clownfish in a 20gal nano,the problem is i cant add anything due to there aggression.kept them after shutting down my 35gal reef tank last year and dont want to get rid of them as they were the first s/w fish i got.
any ideas how to add livestock without it getting beaten to death,tried re-arranging the rock/corals without success and would like to add a firefish at some point.any ideas would be great,thanks

 

[Kevin8888]

I don't know if it's possible, Tomato clowns are quite agressive/territorial, this is increased further do to them being in an undersized tank (recomended size for them is min 30gal). In a tank under 100gal I have found that they have verriable levels of aggression, usually dependant on their tank mates, and when the Tomatos where added (first or last or middle). If you want to try to add more livestock, I would recomend removing both clowns, changing the entire layout of the tank (it has to be quite different), then place the clowns and new additions in. As this, in theory, makes the tank "new" territory therefore the clowns haven't claimed it yet, so they can be more willing to co-habitate with others... but this is not a sure thing.

 

[chris44]

I don't know if it's possible, Tomato clowns are quite agressive/territorial, this is increased further do to them being in an undersized tank (recomended size for them is min 30gal). In a tank under 100gal I have found that they have verriable levels of aggression, usually dependant on their tank mates, and when the Tomatos where added (first or last or middle). If you want to try to add more livestock, I would recomend removing both clowns, changing the entire layout of the tank (it has to be quite different), then place the clowns and new additions in. As this, in theory, makes the tank "new" territory therefore the clowns haven't claimed it yet, so they can be more willing to co-habitate with others... but this is not a sure thing.

yes am thinking of giving them to a friend for his 80gal and starting again with livestock,seems to be the only way to add anything for certain

 

[Pig8enis]

Well I have seen a good measure of success win the change of habitat choice. If you really want to keep them give that a shot but I would add the firefish first and let t settle in for an hour or so and then float the clowns in a ventilated tupperware container as a test run. This is by no means definitive and here might be aggression down the road in light of kevin's point but it is one way that might work.

 

[nonstophoops]

I don't know if it's possible, Tomato clowns are quite agressive/territorial, this is increased further do to them being in an undersized tank (recomended size for them is min 30gal). In a tank under 100gal I have found that they have verriable levels of aggression, usually dependant on their tank mates, and when the Tomatos where added (first or last or middle). If you want to try to add more livestock, I would recomend removing both clowns, changing the entire layout of the tank (it has to be quite different), then place the clowns and new additions in. As this, in theory, makes the tank "new" territory therefore the clowns haven't claimed it yet, so they can be more willing to co-habitate with others... but this is not a sure thing.

Very good points here.

I think that if you are dead set on getting different fish you should let them go to your friend.

 

[chris44]

hopefully going to new home this weekend or failing that trade-in at lfs,thanks all