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Saltwater Clownfish, Why This Damsel Fish is Not Funny!

• Oct 17, 2018
• PalaciosAn
•   2170        1      0

So you are considering a clownfish for your saltwater aquarium, what should you know?  

Clownfish get their name because when you look at them they look like they are always bouncing around. Most people consider them their own family of fish but in fact, they are part of the damselfish family. While damsels are extremely hardy fish, if you ask, many people in the hobby may try to stray you away from getting one. They are commonly referred to as a pain because they are extremely territorial, they are aggressive towards other fish in the tank, and they can be difficult to remove from an aquarium. Yet, clownfish are praised by many, even though they have similar traits as the damsels.

Clownfish are territorial and can be aggressive toward anything that comes near them or that they do not want in the tank. I do mean anything, it is even common for a clownfish to bite your hand when you place it in the tank. The bite doesn’t really hurt but will most like cause you to jerk your hand back, which only confirms who the boss is. That's right the clownfish now owns you.

Clownfish sometimes also get into a remodeling mood and will grab crabs, snails, corals, rocks shells or anything they can grab with their mouth to lift and move it to another location in the tank. So if you own a clownfish and are not sure how something was moved to another location in the tank. Place the item back where it was original location and sometimes the clownfish will move it right away.

There are about 30 different species of clownfish and tons of different hybrid designer clowns to choose from. The nice thing about clownfish is that they are hardy and they are commonly bred by hobbyists and by major marine aquaculture facilities. There are still many that come directly from the ocean at your Local Fish Stores (LFS).

While clownfish are known to host with anemones (symbiotic relationship allowing the two to help one another to survive) that not always the case. Even if you choose the correct anemone for your type of clownfish hosts in, your clownfish may never choose to host with the anemone, instead, it may choose to host with a Mushroom, Leather Toadstool, Anthelia or something else in the tank.

With good water parameters, a bonded pair of clownfish is likely to lay eggs in your tank. If you thought they were aggressive when species came near their host, anything that comes near the eggs will be attacked then again they will most likely get chased away way before they get anywhere close to the eggs.

This does not sound like the cute little Nemo from the movies, with that said some species of clownfish as more aggressive than others. All variations of the Maroon Clownfish but especially the Gold Striped Maroon are claimed to be some of the most aggressive clownfish. The Tomato Clown, Fire Clownfish and Clarkii Clownfish are all considered to be aggressive clownfish as well.

With that all said, I can’t imagine owning a saltwater tank that did not have a pair of clownfish in it just because they are cool to stare at and full of personality. There are many horror stories though of super aggressive clownfish that have killed all of the none aggressive fish in the tank if they are not provided enough room.