The size thing is based on dominance (the one with the biggest bite wins).
It's not always correct because being the biggest don't make you the
toughest. However it is usually the case. My guess would be that the loner
will probably remain a loner for the most part unless you have a death in
which case it will step up in the chain as Richard was saying. You could
also add some other kinds of community fish and it might swim with them. I
just added a Tang to my set of clowns and they both seem to get along
pretty good with it. If you do decide on a Tang though you will need a
larger tank and it should be added as your last "type" of fish due to its
aggression. There are plenty of other fish that will go fine with the
clowns though. Just go to your LFS and see what they keep in the same tank
with their clowns. And ask questions before you buy anything. Hope this
helps some.

Ed

"Nick Buol" wrote in message
...
So, will the one always be a "loner?" Or will he start socializing
again? You are right that the largest and second largest (not by
much, though) have "paired."

Nick


On Wed, 10 Sep 2003 21:39:13 -0500, "Adam" wrote:


"Nick Buol" wrote in message
.. .
How many clownfish make a good number? The reason I ask is that we
added 3 perculas to our 75 gallon, and for the first 4 days, they all
swam together, but now, it looks like 2 of them "paired" up and the
other looks so lonely. What should I do? Get another clownfish? Get
rid of the "extra" clownfish?

Thoughts? Ideas?

Nick

My guess would be that the two that paired up would be the larger of the
three (maybe). What is probably going on is that you will soon have a
female, a male and a juvenile (the one by itself being the juv and still
unsexed). They should all be ok together. If you add more they might
not
get along because the new one might try to break the hierarchy that from
what you are saying has already been established. Also if one of the new
ones that you get is already sexed (not really any way to tell), You will
most likely wake up to one or more floaters.

I'm pretty new here but Clowns are my thing. The rest of you folks here
may
now check my FIRST attempt at being the helper instead of the helpie.