Clowns still going at it.

[thedog12]

Hi all,

 

So I have had two clowns for about 2 months now. I got both of them at the same time and they both were the smaller clowns that were available in each tank, One is a Picasso and the other is a Black ice. I have paired two clowns up before and hade relatively little problems compared to this time. The tank I have them in is a well-established Red sea max 130 with 4 BTA’s 3 reds and one green. All of which are fairly good size, minimum of 3-4 times the size of the clowns. Both clowns took to the first BTA in the front within a few days. They were hosting it together and doing happy clown things then the Picasso (small of the two) discovered the large RBTA in the bank of the tank and the two smaller RBTA’s that are in the same area. After a week or so of both clowns constantly changing where they host it soon became apparent that they would no longer host the same anemone. The Black Ice clown would start to chase the Picasso around and not let it hang out in any BTA. I originally though that this was just them picking out who would be boss and who would be the submissive one but now after a 5 weeks or more of this activity its still going on. The Black clown is constantly chasing my smaller Picasso out of any BTA that its in. When I feed the tank it’s a fight for her to eat everything and she is just picking on the smaller Picasso. Is this something that I should be worried about? Or are they just still trying to figure out who is the boss still? As of right now they are the only fish in the system. I was thinking of adding something else possibly a royal gramma or damsel this month but I am not sure if that would help things by changing the “Social” dynamics of the tank.

 

Is there something I can do to help this situation at all?

 

Thanks in advance for all of your help.

[Murphs_Reef]

So my established pair are just the same. The male often has ripped fins, after a short while he recovers and they are good as gold. Then back to it. Mine are hosted by a Duncanopsammia axifuga which is bearly big enough for them to sit in.

 

They are odd little fish...

[thedog12]

This seams a little extreme to me though. here is a video of what is going on.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j_beYqaL4mQ

[Murphs_Reef]

Hmmm yeah maybe a bit.. But if there is no real damage to the male / less dominant it may well use be showing who's boss.. Just keep an eye out

[Boggers]

I had 2 in a 110G and I ended up removing one. The male was cornered to about a 3in area next to the overflow and not able to get to food without a fight. previous clowns did not have any issues together, so like people....some just don't get along.

[metrokat]

They both look similar in size to me which could explain the issue. You can try a time out for the aggressive clownfish. I'm not sure if you QT fish but if you do, maybe adding a 3rd clownfish might take the focus away from the one. You will eventually re-home the 3rd. But what if the 3rd pairs with one of the 2 you currently have?

[CrazyEyes]

Kat literally said the same thing I was going to say, I think the fact that their both relatively close in size is why it might be this extreme, my clowns were close in size when they paired up and they did this for close to two weeks before one of them gave up, they were violent, like, grabbing each other by the tail and dragging them to the sand bed.

[justinfox]

My clowns are still fighting. I was so much happier when I had no fish at all and just corals! So much more serene!

[Hammerstone]

I put me female in a net for a time out and the male hung out with her. Then they were BFF. The male did all the quivering and shaking to her. I'd put the aggressor in time out.

[Difrano]

Looking at the sizes and if you get them from different tanks there is a chance that both of them have made the transition to females, and the anemones fired a territorial fight.

[thedog12]

Thank you all for the advice.

 

How long do you put them in time out for? also would it be a good idea to move some of the rock around at all? The idea would be to confuse them so they don't know where there territory is.

 

I do not have a QT tank set up right now, but I can set one up, I also do have my old BC14 I brought up from the basement and set up about 9 months ago to move some of my softies into. Its had some corals in it for a while just no fish, so I could move them into there to get them away from the nem's.

[vlangel]

I had 2 tomato clowns that were a similar size in a 90 gallon that did the same thing. The one picked on the other so much that the less dominant clown hung out behind the HOB pump all the time. Eventually the dominant clown grew 3Xs the size of its tank mate. Then I got a nem and of course SHE claimed it. I felt sorry for the little male but eventually she must have decided that there weren't any other men to choose from and she finally invited him into her nem with her. It wasn't long after that, that they began to display mating characteristics. Once they began to mate in earnest they mated twice a month for literally years. I had to re-home the pair when I downsized my tank but I had raised 1 clutch of larvae clowns and I still have 1 of those now. BTW, the female never got over her 'bossy, hormonal' ways and he was totally hen pecked his whole life, LOL.

[Hammerstone]

I had my female in time out in the fish net for about ten minutes. When I saw her starting to get stressed I let her free. What I did was caught her in the net and then close the lid over the net handle to hold the net in place and she couldn't jump out. I kept watch on her during the process. She had always been my little buddy, first fish so I felt kind of bad about time out but she was going like 90 mph after the little guy and I couldn't just sit there and watch.