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Coral Vue Hydros

No CUC due to female clown


Hammerstone

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I think I posted something about this before but Iam at a loss. She is best buddies with her little mate and tolerated the firefish that I got close to the time I got her. She kills everything else rather violently. I had a conch which I found upside down and dead recently. I saw her in the act with snails and hermits. Now all I have are two smart hermits and a cowrie. She still attachs them but they are fast to get out of harms way.

 

I can't have a CUC, what would you do? She's my buddy so I'm not getting rid of her. Thanks!!!

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Strange... that's about all I can say.

 

I suppose I have a hard time thinking that the clown itself can take out snails and crabs though... Clownfish just aren't able to get through the shell unless it's figured out some way to lure the snail/crab out or something? About the only thing it could do is eat the snails/crabs whole. How big are these snails and hermits ? Are they super tiny?

 

Funny (or not) story though... I was at an LFS recently and the guy wanted to show me this sixline... The fish had a pot belly like you wouldn't believe... Seriously looked like a bouncy ball with a head and tail. Turns out that this sixline was eating tiny nassarius snails! I've never heard of a fish eating a snail whole and I'm almost positive most fish cannot digest snail shell. I'll have to check back sometime to see what became of the fish - but I'm almost certain that it died.

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I think I posted something about this before but Iam at a loss. She is best buddies with her little mate and tolerated the firefish that I got close to the time I got her. She kills everything else rather violently. I had a conch which I found upside down and dead recently. I saw her in the act with snails and hermits. Now all I have are two smart hermits and a cowrie. She still attachs them but they are fast to get out of harms way.

 

I can't have a CUC, what would you do? She's my buddy so I'm not getting rid of her. Thanks!!!

 

How big is the tank? My female clown would pick up snails and drop them away from her nest. She would swish the larger ones with her tail to stir up sand. I'd also see her knock them off the glass. She also tolerated the Firefish in my tank!

 

Mine would only do this if the snails came within 8-10" of the rock where she nested. Elsewhere they were safe. Maybe yours has a bigger territory or you have a small tank?

 

As alternatives, what about an algae eating blennie or lettuce nudibranch (if you are aware of the risks and needs). Try to build up a colony of stomatella or colonista snails (small) or get snails that can self-right if knocked off.

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Yeah, she made a nest in the sand and my heavily armored hermit was there, she bit the shell and was trying to bite it. When that didn't work she did the mighty tail swishing to get him away. The shell is big enough no hermit parts are sticking out so he's fine. But your right about the nest and interlopers. She knocks snails off the walls and if I can't right them in time they die. She's vicious lol. She doesn't bite once, she does it multiple times while her mate watches. The stay away from my nest thing makes sense. But I get no reasonable CUC. She followed the hermit today as every time it would move shed try to bite the shell. I moved it far away. It went into a cave. Then she stopped. I guess it is a little funny.

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Oh and my tank is 30 gallons

Maroon clown fish by any chance? My 4+ inch FMCF will kill anything that I put in my 28g. She only tolerates her tiny mate, a few snails and hermits. She killed my tuxedo sea urchin, almost killed the poor royal gramma that I had to give away, etc. She's a maniac.

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My clown did the same thing when she started nesting, she literally killed everything in my tank with the exception of my Starry Blenny which hid inside a rock where she couldn't get him. As much as I didn't want to get rid of her I brought her to the LFS and now it's just the male in the tank. I really don't think it made an impact on him because he is still acting like he was when she was around.

 

I would like to get another clown but I'm afraid of them doing that again. She was always aggressive to begin with, whenever I would clean my tank she would bite my hands all the time or the water siphon.

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I can only say that if that was my clown, I would give it away to someone with a bigger tank and bigger fish. Your little clown will pair up with a new mate, and you might be able to house other critters in your tank as well ;)

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I can only say that if that was my clown, I would give it away to someone with a bigger tank and bigger fish. Your little clown will pair up with a new mate, and you might be able to house other critters in your tank as well ;)

Yeah, but one of them will become a female eventually, triggering aggression all over again :P .

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Bristol worms, nassarius snails and some big ass turbo snails. the hermits are over rated.

i do have a lot of bristle worms and they take care of the dead things.
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Yeah, but one of them will become a female eventually, triggering aggression all over again :P .

Not necessarily to the same degree. Lots of people, myself included, have clown pairs, where the female is not being a total maniac. A little aggressive, yes, but still able to coexist with a wide array of other life forms in the tank :)

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Luckily I think my tank is fully stocked fish wise, but I love Bob, she's not going anywhere. I just wish I could put a cool CUC in there. In my other tank everything is very peaceful. I have a blue reef chromis, a fire fish, and two zebra barred dartfish. And a cuc!!!

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