One baby clown hosting and 2 not

[LaReine]

Here is the deal I had 4 tiny baby clowns. I lost one (died).

 

planned to grow them into 2 pairs separate into 2 nano tanks.

 

one baby clown fish is now hosting an anemone and 2 are not. had hoped all would, together.

they are all about three months old .

 

I put all them with anemone at same time.

one won't leave it. definitely hosting. (very cool)

2 not interested.

 

one hosting is very territorial of anemone.

tried to beat up others. esp. very mean to one of them ,seems picked on.

 

I was surprised it was so mean at this age , i was expecting them to grow much larger before this aggression occurred.

 

should I leave both in same tank so they can maybe pair up with hosting girl/guy?

 

or move one or both non-hosts to another tank?

 

ideas, thought? experience?

 

thanks

[seabass]

The aggression problem might have to do with them all being roughly the same size. I always pair a substantially smaller juvenile with a notably larger clownfish (of the same species). This way it is clear which one is dominant and the smaller one will know to be submissive.

Showing dominance is normal, it only really becomes a problem when the smaller fish doesn't submit to the larger (more dominant) fish. Then they are both competing to become the dominant female in the tank (and fights can ensue).

Threesomes don't tend to work long term in a nano. If it were me (and I wanted two pairs for two different tanks), I'd trade one of the three current fish for two notably smaller juveniles. Then put the two older/larger fish in separate tanks, each one with a new smaller juvenile. If you don't have access to smaller juveniles, you could wait until they get a little larger before introducing their new mates. Alternatively, still being young, it might be possible to introduce a larger (more mature) clownfish as a mate for one of the juveniles.

As far as a host anemone, the most dominant one has claimed the amemone. And since it doesn't have a mate, it probably isn't allowing the others to join in. Plus sometimes it can take awhile for clownfish to take to a host anemone.

[LaReine]

Thanks for your answer I planned to add a bigger clown and then and separate 2 couples.

Already one is a bit bigger that the other two.

Update:
Seems like one is hosting front of BTA and one is hosting back of it, can this happen?
one guy has not left the underside and back for about 12 hours. except to eat for a minute.

plus another strange thing, all 3 were sleeping on top of it at night last night.
I checked with a flashlight last light.
I know, my fish are weird.. whats going on?

[seabass]

IDK, it doesn't sound all that unusual to me. There is no one behavior to expect. Sometimes they are willing to share an anemone, while other times the dominate fish might not allow it. Sometimes a clownfish immediately takes to a host anemone, while other times it could take several weeks (or even months).

[Steensj2004]

I've never had a clown host anything but powerheads and the corners of tanks, lol.

[HarryPotter]

I've never had a clown host anything but powerheads and the corners of tanks, lol.

 

Im at that moment now and its F******* annoying! I have a beautiful speckled red anemone as the centerpiece of my tank and the clowns would rather be near the Vortech!

[LaReine]

I put my BTA and my clowns in a fish breeder box in the tank for a few hours and they seem to take to it after that