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Will adding fish decrease aggression


Odyssey350kc

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Odyssey350kc

Right now I have 2 clowns and a chromis in a 40 breeder.

 

I am worried because for the first week the chromis was out and about all the time, now he just spends all day hidden in the rockwork.

 

I feel like this is because when he gets too close to the clowns the female goes after him.

 

I have kept african cichlid tanks for years and was always most successful when keeping a greater number of fish, making it so the more aggressive fish could not single out another fish because there were so many.

 

Does this apply to saltwater as well? I am going to be adding several other fish to the tank, and I am wondering if i should do it sooner rather than later.

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Imo, yes and no.

 

Let's take clowns, 3 normally won't work. 1,2, or a large group seems to work without issues. On the other hand, a lot of marine fish are aggressive towards one type and not another, be it due to color or size and shape or where they tend to spend their time, whether on the substrate or the water column.

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I believe chromis, clowns, damsels are all from the same family. The clowns could be bothering the chromis since it shares a similar body shape. Adding more fish may not help the situation :( They tend to dislike specific fish and single them out.

 

My goby hates my dartfish (both like to hang in rocks). My damsel dislikes my gramma and jawfish (they always trying to steal the damsels burrow). My tang and angel duked it out for a month before getting along (fighting over grazing area).

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In reality, a 40B is a very small space and one clown can easily claim such a small space as their own. Adding more fish might not work. Certainly more damsel type fish. Female clowns can be a real PITA and can be very territorial.

 

Might want to take the fish out of the tank and rearrange the scape. Reintroduce the new fish first and the clowns last.

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Odyssey350kc

Thanks for the advise everybody. I will most likely put the clowns in a breeder net for a while and let the chromis establish its territory.

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+1 I would avoid adding fish to even out aggression. In saltwater this usually ends up creating more aggression because each fish has it's own place in the tank as mentioned.

 

The suggestion to re-introduce may help, but ultimately you'll just have to watch it. Clownfish are actually quite aggressive, and chromis can be somewhat as well, though IME tend to fight more with their own species than with others.

 

How long has everything been set up? It's possible something else is adding to the stress of the chromis making it less able to fend for itself. Or maybe there's a big size difference?

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Odyssey350kc

The clowns have been in the tank since I transferred everything from my 20 gallon a little over a month ago. They host the frogspawn and seem to be most territorial around it. The chromis is nearly the exact same size as the female clown. I'm not sure what else would be stressing him out. Everything else in the tank is doing great. I guess we'll see. I'm going tonight to get a breeder net to put the clowns in. If the chromis doesn't start venturing out by Friday I know I've probably got something else bugging him.

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if it is just the clowns, adding more chromis may distribute aggression but then you introduce aggression into the group of chromis, which is another issue in itself.

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What does your aquascape look like? Are there lots of hiding places, and a number of "islands" for each fish to claim as their own? That could be the problem too, because there should be enough space in a 40b for 3 fish!

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russian roulette.... Spawn of satan or model citizen I've had both on almost any of the common fish. If I have aggressive fish I'll go to long John silvers and put a piece of fish up to the glass. Usually works

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Odyssey350kc

What does your aquascape look like? Are there lots of hiding places, and a number of "islands" for each fish to claim as their own? That could be the problem too, because there should be enough space in a 40b for 3 fish!

Not really any good hiding places. Basically just one large mass of rocks against the back corner and one small island in the front corner. You can see a pic of the tank in my sig. So that could be part of the problem. I was gonna add a bit more rock so I'll probably do that sooner than later.

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