arrrgh too much information!

[Ian]

welcome!
You should be able to keep a pair of clowns ,an anemone, and a goby/shrimp pair in an 40 gallon tank. As others have mentioned just do your research as to which species are best suited to each other and go very slow when adding each new member to your aquarium. Even once your cycle is complete adding more biological load to the system needs to be followed by an adjustment period before adding more load once again.
If you do this you should be fine

[sheamurai]

Great! thanks everyone for their responses. Its nice to ahve confirmation on things.
The filter is on more for extra flow than anything else. All I am running in it is floss to catch the big floaties.
Its amazing to find out that I can keep everything I want in my tank, with a bit of research into specific species. I'm so used to finding out that a certain critter is an absolute no-go compatibility or size-wise.

Do anemones/corals count towards the bioload of the tank like fish do? In a 40g I'm expecting to be able to keep 4-6 fish depending on size (excluding hermits/shrimp) - do corals detract from that?

[PoonTang]

Welcome to Canreef
Your on the right track by asking questions before you take the big plunge.
The only thing I would like to add is that in my opinion Hermits=Bad , Snails=Good. Also rather than trying to get an Anemone why not just get a Frogspawn coral. Much easyer to care for, Less lighting, feeding required etc. and the clowns absolutely love them.

[sheamurai]

if clowns absolutely love them, nothing at all except ignorance, lol.
thanks for the tip, I will look into them...

[Millepora_Maniac]

Welcome to our community!! I'd hate to already start contradicting what people are saying, but...I have to say that using a Skimmer is NEVER a bad Idea. I would keep using it, i't definately won't harm anything! Also, as for the frogspawn idea, A frogspawn is a coral, not an anemone. So if you get clownfish and get them to host in it, it won't benefit the coral at all! The constant thrashing of the clownfish into the host can really be hard on the flesh of the coral. My maroon clown will push so hard against his host that he squishes it flat! I would advise to use an anemone, they're just as easy to care for as a frogspawn or torch, and really, you should be target feeding both lps corals and anemones so there is no extra benefit to using a coral to hold a clownfish. I hope this helps steer you in the right direction Cheers-MM

[simplycoral]

Originally Posted by Millepora_Maniac

Welcome to our community!! I'd hate to already start contradicting what people are saying, but...I have to say that using a Skimmer is NEVER a bad Idea. I would keep using it, i't definately won't harm anything! Also, as for the frogspawn idea, A frogspawn is a coral, not an anemone. So if you get clownfish and get them to host in it, it won't benefit the coral at all! The constant thrashing of the clownfish into the host can really be hard on the flesh of the coral. My maroon clown will push so hard against his host that he squishes it flat! I would advise to use an anemone, they're just as easy to care for as a frogspawn or torch, and really, you should be target feeding both lps corals and anemones so there is no extra benefit to using a coral to hold a clownfish. I hope this helps steer you in the right direction Cheers-MM

I think he mean't to remove the HOB Filter.. and that the Live rock would be enough filtration...

S.

[sheamurai]

ya, I figured...nobody ever suggested not using a skimmer here, lol.
Still researching the anemone vs frogspawn issue tho...seems like frogspawn are easier to find...there's someone parting out a 20gal tank right now and has frogspawn for sale...my tanks not ready!!! OY!

[PoonTang]

Originally Posted by Millepora_Maniac

Welcome to our community!! I'd hate to already start contradicting what people are saying, but...I have to say that using a Skimmer is NEVER a bad Idea. I would keep using it, i't definately won't harm anything! Also, as for the frogspawn idea, A frogspawn is a coral, not an anemone. So if you get clownfish and get them to host in it, it won't benefit the coral at all! The constant thrashing of the clownfish into the host can really be hard on the flesh of the coral. My maroon clown will push so hard against his host that he squishes it flat! I would advise to use an anemone, they're just as easy to care for as a frogspawn or torch, and really, you should be target feeding both lps corals and anemones so there is no extra benefit to using a coral to hold a clownfish. I hope this helps steer you in the right direction Cheers-MM

True enough for the larger species of clowns but for Perculas i have never had an issue with the frogspawn getting upset. Infact mine thrived because my clowns kept feeding it.

[fishytime]

Welcome to canreef... Sometimes you can have both an anemone and frogspawn(etc) in the tank and your clowns will host in a powerhead....nothing is a 100% guarantee for clowns to host in...The best relationship for a clown is with an anemone....Ive seems clowns with burn marks from being stung from coral and Ive seen clowns love coral to death...