Clown KILLED - Pair Fighting!

[Bonsai]

Hi there,

 

My two clowns have been battling it out the last few days, I think one has finally become the female and is establishing her dominance. She has attacked the likely male, and his tail looks rough .. and his body looks a bit beat up. They seem to be getting along better today though, less fighting, probably because the male has been hiding and sleeping in the rock work.

 

My question is this ... will the male recover? Will his tail grow back in fully?

 

Jason

[douglam]

you have no problems as long as she doesnt kill him. he will look good as new when he heals

[Bonsai]

you have no problems as long as she doesnt kill him. he will look good as new when he heals

 

I have modified the title of this post - as of this morning, the male is dead. What the hell happened? These two have lived in perfect harmony for 3 months, then a couple days ago one turns female and starts picking on the other one ... then she kills him?!

 

Damn. :/ That's really discouraging.

[snowlancer2720]

it happens, they get very territorial. this has happened to me with a clown pair and some damsels after a few months

[tinyreef]

psycho wimmens.

 

maybe the other clown didn't turn "male" enough? i made the mistake of putting two females together once and that didn't turn pretty either.

 

i know yours is a different scenario but maybe some of the elements of the story are the same? (not a clownfish or fish expert) but i think they're born neither sex and then turn into male or female depending on the situation. i think a male can turn into a female but not female back to male (which is where i made my mistake >.< ). just postulating out loud.

 

 

 

 

or then again, maybe the female's just pms'ing majorly.

[qbical]

yea, prime example of women out to get us lol jk

that sucks about your clown, i will be sure to keep a close eye on mine in the coming weeks. i know the female beats up the little male when i get close to the tank, but i think that is her showing that it is her man and no one elses (he must have a good job) hahahahaha

[SPerry]

What kind of clown?

[joer3]

That's women for you.

 

When my clown turned female not only did she end up immediately attacking everything I put into the tank (even my hand) she ended up killing my pacific blue tang which was a fish that had lived with her months. She also ended up killing my purple basslet. When I put in another clownfish all she did was pick on him. He was constantly running away from her, hiding, and attempting to dodge her attacks. I was contemplating getting rid of her because she was such a problem clownfish. Believe it or not, when she started hosting my bubble tip anemone is when she calmed down drastically. She no longer attacks anything. She nips at the other clownfish once in a while to show dominance, but now, the pair live happily together and she seems satisfied now.

[Bonsai]

What kind of clown?

 

Ocellaris ... they both are (were).

[Bonsai]

So my question to the community is ... what now? I really liked having two fish in my 14G BioCube, and they lived great together for 3 months ... but my presumably female clown has killed my other clown.

 

If I purchase another clown, I fear that she will kill the new addition too.

 

Thoughts?

[Izzue]

Dont change species what ever yu do...

 

Izzue

[masterbuilder]

Looking at the pics in your sig, they seem very similar in size. Might try another clown if your set on having a pair. I think it should be VERY small and young.

 

OR

 

Just get rid of the B*tch and get two new babies. (that might be my choice)

[Bonsai]

Just get rid of the B*tch and get two new babies. (that might be my choice)

 

LOL! Well put.

[petkingdom619]

i just got two that were paired up at the fish store.. how can you tell what the female or male is? and they change sex?

[Bonsai]

i just got two that were paired up at the fish store.. how can you tell what the female or male is? and they change sex?

 

Female = larger.

[Toomin]

Female = larger.

and darker.

what kind of clowns are those by the way?

[aquascaper08]

I am by no means an expert but my son has serious experience and advises against adding another clown. They should really be introduced together and I guess unless the other one is very tiny and and the current female feels no threat she will kill the new one also. You might want to try and see if the LFS will take the one large one on an even trade for two smaller ones and let them grow up together and see if you have better luck. I just put to Perculas in my 12 gallon and I hope they will be ok. So far so good but its only been a week. Good luck and keep us posted.

[petkingdom619]

i think mine are oscellaris. so by the lfs saying they are a pair it means that they just get along ? they dont mean one is male and one is female?

[HankB]

Dont change species what ever yu do...

 

Izzue

 

Do you mean not another clown species? Or another fish altogether?

 

I would have thought that some other fish - like a firefish for example - that the clown doesn't care about might work.

 

Or does the clown harass all other fish.

 

Another thing I was wondering about was tank size. Was the problem that the smaller one just could not get far enough away? Would survival be more likely in a larger tank?

 

thanks,

hank

[chuckfullservice]

You could try adding another small (smaller then the one you have left) clown.

I had the same experience with a pair of yellow tail damsels awhile ago . They lived together for 6 months then one day the larger just wouldn't stop attacking the little one , I thought it lost an eye but it made a full recovery. I sent the mean one back to my lfs they have a donation tank were they put all live returns.

 

P.S. If I was you I would take this time to think about adding a different species . Why buy another clown only to be killed again? But it is your tank and if thats what you want just try to get a really small one!!!

[cheney_1999]

Hank-

sorry to hear about your fish. sad and frustrating i know....been there. as for some fish background. all of these guys start out that way....as guys. then typically the largest of the males begings to change to a female for the obvious need to reproduce within that community (can't be all guys to have more kids). as that male changes yes he/she becomes more aggressive especially to the next largest male or males within the group. and unfortunately she can even go so far as to kill him. in small tanks like we're talking about that's not uncommon due to lack of space to escape. sometimes hiding isn't enough. now when talking about your situation...if you want to keep that female you're just going to have to risk her dominating another fish (most likely a male) that put in the tank. usually you want to get these fish at the same time and the same size to go in the tank together. that helps to ensure no territorial issues and no initial gender issues. i went through a period of time when i had three clowns and one turned to female (she got huge) the next largest became the dominate male (definately got bigger and darker) and the third clown stayed small and was constantly picked on by the other two. i had to get rid of the litle guy. so to answer your question you have two options

1)try again with the same species and go small-if you do this i would change around some of your rock to break up the female clown's territorialness on the tank. when you add him they both will have to figure out territories again.

2)get rid of the female and get two clowns that are the same size.

 

if your female gets too aggressive (like mine now) you may not even be able to add shrimps (she has killed four of mine two cleaners and two peppermints) ugh.......

 

oh-she has left my orange goby and it's shrimp alone so that's a good thing.

 

good luck

 

REBECCA

(yes i'm a girl and advising to be careful of her) B*tch seems a bit harsh tho!!!!!!!

[HankB]

Hank-

sorry to hear about your fish...

 

Hi Rebecca,

That was Jason's fish. I haven't run into any problems yet, but maybe that's because our tank just arrived at our dealer today.

 

But I do have FW experience and have seen plenty of situations where tank size matters. I have a couple of skunk botias right now that were a problem in a 15 that get along just fine in a 55g.

 

thanks,

hank

 

I sent the mean one back to my lfs they have a donation tank were they put all live returns.

 

Who has the donation tank?

 

thanks,

hank

[Bonsai]

Yeah - I was the original poster on this thread.

 

I called the LFS that I bought these $25/fish Ocellaris Clowns (kind of steep pricing, I know) -- they told me that I could take the dominant clownfish back for a 75% return. So, basically, I can take the fish back and get $18.75 store credit ... then I'll apply that to buying to very small clowns.

 

They were understanding, at least. Damn dominant clown, killing my male ... women. Pft.

 

Jason

[skydive]

You should take it back for sure if their willing to give you money back. Even though it's 75% at least you won't be buying another one and possibly losing it also.

[Laura6686]

Hi there,

 

My two clowns have been battling it out the last few days, I think one has finally become the female and is establishing her dominance. She has attacked the likely male, and his tail looks rough .. and his body looks a bit beat up. They seem to be getting along better today though, less fighting, probably because the male has been hiding and sleeping in the rock work.

 

My question is this ... will the male recover? Will his tail grow back in fully?

 

Jason

 

Yes, I hate to tell you how many times a fish loses part of their fins and then months later its back. I had a nasty tomato (ops spell) attach my pj fishes constantly. The fins were a mess on but after I removed the offender their fins grew back.

 

 

I have modified the title of this post - as of this morning, the male is dead. What the hell happened? These two have lived in perfect harmony for 3 months, then a couple days ago one turns female and starts picking on the other one ... then she kills him?!

 

Damn. :/ That's really discouraging.

 

How are your levels (ammonia, nitrite etc) sometimes if the biological levels are off you see fighting.

 

 

yea, prime example of women out to get us lol jk

that sucks about your clown, i will be sure to keep a close eye on mine in the coming weeks. i know the female beats up the little male when i get close to the tank, but i think that is her showing that it is her man and no one elses (he must have a good job) hahahahaha

 

Woman here but love the jokes. My brothers would be saying the same thing. However, remember a woman whopped a males butt.