Do clownfish NEED anenome?

No, and anemones tend to be very hard to keep. Clownfish are very hardy, and do perfectly fine. With an anemone, clownfish can even be WAY more aggressive.

 

With regular maintanence and Water Changes, I do not see any reason why this can't be done. In FOLWR and Reef tanks we rely on Live Rock and the Protein Skimmer to provide the only means of filtration. Someone correct me if I am wrong, but in a FO tank you can run it like a common freshwater tank. They do offer Skimmers for these biocube units that might come in handy to remove DOCs before they break down into Nitrates. Your filter pads will get dirty faster than in freshwater tanks, so you will have to rinse them more thoroughly, and more often.

Clownfish do not need an anenome, like toonyace said. They will get along just fine, and actually do better in a pair than they do alone with an anenome. I have a Rose Bubble Tip that just split twice, and a rock anenome and my Clowns host neither. They are just fine in a hammer coral that I have had forever.

For the Puffers, you are limited to a few species considering the size of the aqaurium. I have heard that the Valentini Puffer (Saddle Puffer also, I think) is a very personable fish. And this species would do fine in a 45 gallon tank IMO. For tank mates, I wouldn't put anything with elegant fins, as puffers have a tendency to nip at those. Maybe a pair of clowns and a small wrasse, like a mystery wrasse would be good comapnions for the Valentini.

 

I have 2 puffer tanks so not so much interested in more puffers.

I'm trying to remember what my LFS has...damsels, clowns (not sure what type so need to find that out and see how big they get), something that had 'chocolate chip' in the name...

I really like clowns though...I'm hoping in my research I will find a type of clown pair I can keep in a 29 as well as some crabs and shrimps.
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Here is a list of what the LFS has for saltwater....I am slowly researching them, but any advice on what would do well in a 29g biocube together would be great.

Percula Clown
Valentini Puffer
Lawnmower Blenny
Firefish Goby
Coral Catfish
Emerald, Red and Hermit Crabs
Sea Slug
Strawberry Pseudochromis
Peppermint Shrimp
Royal Gramma
Blue and Jewel Damsel
Yellow Tang
Psychedelic and Green Mandarin Goby

 

Of those, you could easily get the Percs, Firefish, Blenny, Crabs, Peppermint shrimp, Royal Gramma, Strawberry Pseudo, and the Blue Damsel, but not all together.

Maybe 2 Percs, a CUC including crabs, Firefish, Peppermint Shrimp, and maybe a Royal Gramma (Somebody correct me if this is overstocked).

Fish to AVOID in that tank:
Yellow Tang (Size)
Mandarins (Specialized diet on live pods, need larger tank to hold LR)
Jewel Damsel (Size and Aggression as a damsel)
Coral Catfish (Size)
Sea Slug (Hard to care for unless it is a certain kind, hard to tell)
Valentini (Nipping and size)
MAYBE Blue damsel (Aggression)

 

I'm trying to figure out what kind of sea slug it was, I forgot to ask. It had a lot of orange and red in it.

I'm hoping to do 2 percs, a royal gramma, lawnmower blenny and the CUC. REALLY love the mandarin but no dice in a non-liverock tank as you said, so that sucks. Oddly enough the fish store doesn't have the mandarins in a liverock tank so no sure what she feeds them...

 

If there are corals in there, they import pods on them, which they eat. They also survive in numbers in the gravel but that's beside the point.

 

Ah, gotcha, yes there were corals in the tank and a very deep crushed coral bed.