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I think my Clownfish has a crush on my Blue Mandarin


FiveGallonSea

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FiveGallonSea

Reefers,

 

Here's an interesting one for you guys. I have a single Percula and Blue Mandarin in my tank. My Clown since the day I got him stays in the top right corner of the tank 95% of the time until night time hits where he'll do laps for a little while (they are the weirdest little guys). Anyway, my Mandarin has recently taken a liking to the right side of the tank in the back corner and sometimes will just hang out over there. As of recent I catch my Clown come down by him and literally rub himself on him and just stay near him for a bit. Then they will swim together for a bit up and down that corner until my Mandarin takes off. My Mandarin by the way doesn't seem to care at all about all this, it's mostly the Clown that literally seems like he has a crush on him. I notice this mostly during the blue light phase of my cycle.

 

Anyone seen anything like this? Lol. My wife finds this so entertaining. Haha

 

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[UPDATE] 3/9/17

 

Should let everyone know I decided to return my Clownfish last Saturday. What started out as "cute" and only a couple times a day turned out to be almost 24/7 and I did not want to take any chances with stressing out my Mandarin because I've been through a lot for that little guy. My wife and I are pretty upset because we very much liked the personality of my clownfish and it's been such a happy hardy fish for the last few months, but that's the hobby for you. 

 

I wish I knew why he was doing what he was doing. There was no biting or tail slapping. It could have been mating behavior, but nonetheless it was seemingly stressing my Mandarin out. 

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9 minutes ago, FiveGallonSea said:

Reefers,

 

Here's an interesting oner for you guys. I have a single Percula and Blue Mandarin in my tank. My Clown since the day I got him stays in the top right corner of the tank 95% of the time until night time hits where he'll do laps for a little while (they are the weirdest little guys). Anyway, my Mandarin has recently taken a liking to the right side of the tank in the back corner and sometimes will just hang out over there. As of recent I catch my Clown come down by him and literally rub himself on him and just stay near him for a bit. Then they will swim together for a bit up and down that corner until my Mandarin takes off. My Mandarin by the way doesn't seem to care at all about all this, it's mostly the Clown that literally seems like he has a crush on him. I notice this mostly during the blue light phase of my cycle.

 

Anyone seen anything like this? Lol. My wife finds this so entertaining. Haha

 

Part of the joys of the hobby. Fish will sometimes do the weirdest things. For a while, my paired female clown swam with my shoal of anthias, ignoring the male clown. It's like she had a guy on the side or something. 

 

That stopped when I re-homed all my anthias. 

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My tri colored fairy wrasse slept with my rabbitfish and they swam together all the time.

We were worried he was going to get spinned by her because he'd do courtship moves and piss her off lol

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Usually when 2 fish rub on each other, it means that they are trying to figure out who is more dominant. This could potentially turn out to be fatal for the weaker fish. It could turn into tail slapping and biting. You should try to separate them for a little while. It isn't common for two fish of different types to love each other.

 

Hope it helped,

Trevor=)

 

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FiveGallonSea
On 2/26/2017 at 10:16 AM, Trevor Flahardy said:

Usually when 2 fish rub on each other, it means that they are trying to figure out who is more dominant. This could potentially turn out to be fatal for the weaker fish. It could turn into tail slapping and biting. You should try to separate them for a little while. It isn't common for two fish of different types to love each other.

 

Hope it helped,

Trevor=)

 

That could be true, but I don't believe so in my case. There is absolutely no aggression in the few weeks they've been doing this. I watch them closely. They look as happy as can be. They even swim together now where before it's as if they didn't even know each other existed.

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I had a clown that instantly fell for a strawberry pseudochromis is put in. There was a blue damsel that attacked it as soon as i put it in. The clown would get between them and break it up. Even bit the damsel's tail and body. Finally the damsel was taken out because with half a tail would still attack. The clown and strawberry lived together happy until Strawberry shortcake jumped out.(no lid) one week later clown jumped out. Probably looking for its friend... no more fish w/o lid.

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This made me D'awww out loud haha. More proof fish are among the most interesting of creatures. And if it's aggression, well, we as humans can still perceive it as "cute"!

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FiveGallonSea
11 hours ago, fishhands said:

I had a clown that instantly fell for a strawberry pseudochromis is put in. There was a blue damsel that attacked it as soon as i put it in. The clown would get between them and break it up. Even bit the damsel's tail and body. Finally the damsel was taken out because with half a tail would still attack. The clown and strawberry lived together happy until Strawberry shortcake jumped out.(no lid) one week later clown jumped out. Probably looking for its friend... no more fish w/o lid.

 

10 hours ago, bofo said:

This made me D'awww out loud haha. More proof fish are among the most interesting of creatures. And if it's aggression, well, we as humans can still perceive it as "cute"!

 

The only concern I do have is that my Mandarin is constantly bothered now by my Clownfish. He can never just go about his things because she's always there rubbing on him or right next to him swimming with him. I just don't want him to get stressed out. They've been together for 1-2 months before this all started. What could of triggered it? Will it ever stop?

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5 minutes ago, FiveGallonSea said:

 

 

The only concern I do have is that my Mandarin is constantly bothered now by my Clownfish. He can never just go about his things because she's always there rubbing on him or right next to him swimming with him. I just don't want him to get stressed out. They've been together for 1-2 months before this all started. What could of triggered it? Will it ever stop?

Hm, how big is the tank again? I've had brief experience keeping clowns, so I'm really not the one to ask. I guess short of rehoming there's no way to stop it for sure.

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FiveGallonSea
10 minutes ago, HecticDialectics said:

In a 5 gallon i wouldn't expect a blue mandarin to live very long anyways. 

My Mandarin was purchased from a reputable seller who has trained them to feed solely on PE Mysis and I went beyond that and trained him to eat pellets as well. He has put on weight, color, and looks as happy as can be. But I bet you assumed I bought a wild caught who eats only pods because I'm probably some idiot, right?

 

Thank you so much for your helpful comment regarding the topic at hand. 

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FiveGallonSea
3 minutes ago, HecticDialectics said:

Also having 2 fish in a tank that small is very likely to create territory and stress issues.

It's a grow out tank to acclimate my Mandarin to his new home and my Clown is very small. I'm planning a Red Sea Nano or Reefer.

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FiveGallonSea

Should let everyone know I decided to return my Clownfish last Saturday. What started out as "cute" and only a couple times a day turned out to be almost 24/7 and I did not want to take any chances with stressing out my Mandarin because I've been through a lot for that little guy. My wife and I are pretty upset because we very much liked the personality of my clownfish and it's been such a happy hardy fish for the last few months, but that's the hobby for you. 

 

I wish I knew why he was doing what he was doing. There was no biting or tail slapping. It could have been mating behavior, but nonetheless it was seemingly stressing my Mandarin out. 

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Christopher Marks

That's too bad, but it's probably for the best. It was likely a territorial issue, clownfish can be pretty aggressive in defending their area.

 

Thanks for updating us!

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My little Perc LOVES my yellow watchman goby. She stays in his bubble like 75% of the time and often has even a fin in contact with him. It's absolutely adorable and he doesn't seem to mind. There's never any aggression between the two unless Its lunch time and I missed a feeding the day before. It's actually why I finally decided she would be totally content without a second clown and it's just been the two of them since January (I bought them together).

IMG_1434.JPG

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