Clown fish pairing issues

[Genie382]

Seems like I may have some trouble in paradise. Had a female perc for about 3 years. She was solo in the tank. I added a small perc to the tank about 3 months ago. They seemed to get along fine initially. They usually swim around each other and I can’t for the life of me recall if the little one ever did the submission seizure, but recently I noticed the larger female charging at the little one and the little one charging back! 

 

No damage done so far, but I’m a bit concerned I may have trouble brewing. I may have to eventually remove the smaller one, but didn’t want to unless there was little to no chance of pairing. What do you all think? Any thing I should be looking for or trying? Thanks in advance!

[Aurortpa]

I wouldn’t be too concerned unless there were signs of actually ripped fins...this back and forth thing is typical in my experience. The smaller one will eventually submit in time.  My female still charges my male now and then just for good measure.

[Genie382]

3 hours ago, Aurortpa said:

I wouldn’t be too concerned unless there were signs of actually ripped fins...this back and forth thing is typical in my experience. The smaller one will eventually submit in time.  My female still charges my male now and then just for good measure.

Ahh, ok. It didn’t help that the female is “resource guarding” me and charging the little one as soon as I go over to the tank...which resulted in the little one snapping back. Made it difficult to observe how they were getting along without bickering occurring. I’ll continue to keep a watch on em, hopefully they’ll settle down soon.

[TheBig053]

I had a pair of oscellaris in my tank that paired up relatively quickly and all seemed fine for several months. The female would occasionally rush and bump the smaller male but he would submission shuffle and all would be fine. One day the female began to get very aggressive with the male. The rushing turned into constant chasing around the tank, lots of fin nipping, and I actually observed her bite and latch on to the male and shake him. At that point I decided to remove her from the tank because I didn’t want to her to kill him. Not sure what changed between them, but some level of bullying by the female is normal. As long as the male continues to submit and she isn’t damaging him then I’d say your fine, but keep an eye on them to make sure it doesn’t escalate. 

[Clown79]

My 2 clowns in my 25g paired off immediately. No real aggression.

The female does charge and boss around the Male but it's all normal as no one gets hurt

 

My 10g the clowns never paired well. They slept together but that's it.

The female is very mean. Poor guy was hiding behind the rocks all the time and had damage to its dorsal from her charging and attacking him.

I am reforming her, she is exiled to qt.

 

 

In the wild, the females job is to keep males to the anemone. Her position is staying the aggressor to maintain her female boss position.