Can the stripes sort it out and make friends?

[Reef_scuba]

So, I’m sure I can rely on this great forum to have a lot of experience and opinions to help me make some discussions on what to do next.

I have a pair of ocellaris clownfish, just over three years old. The female has always been a bit of a brute and have even separated her into a hospital tank before, due to her removing the males fins. When she returned they were a lot better but recently she’s been pretty aggressive again.

Advise from my lfs was that I should get more fish (as they are the only two) as a bit of a distraction. I go to this store a lot and trust their opinion so they showed me round a few options and we landed on .... four stripe damsels or otherwise known as “humbugs”.

When first placing them into the tank there was definitely some peacocking for authority but the damsels ran circles around my clownfish so I left them to it.

Waking up this morning to one of the damsels being finless I have placed the female in a breeding net to separate them.

I am so conflicted on what to do. On further research these guys look like they were bound to have a problem..

My lfs have said my options are:

Take the damsels back - but this would mean still having an aggressive clown.

Keep the female separated until the damsel repairs and reintroduce

Some other ideas I have seen are the mirror technique or changing landscape..

All and any advice is really appreciated!!

Thank you.

 

[Rogued_Reefer]

I would move the clown to a separate tank temporarily and rescape the whole tank then put her back in to see if she settles down more peaceful

 

[Mical]

+1 on "re-arranging the furniture in the tank". She'll be in a new environment (to her) and might be less aggressive. Might being the key word.

 

[X-37B]

I had a simial problem with a pair of clowns. Has them for 2 years in my 25 nano with a 6 line wrasse. The female would beat on the male every day for over a year. She was just mean. When I set up my 120 the female went back to the lfs. The male hosts a frogspawn in the 120. The female went straight to an anenome in the lfs display. She is happy for now.
The male is out and about with his tank mates and is happy for now.

 

[Reef_scuba]

Thank you for your replies everyone. I will definitely try this. It did work last time so hopefully will again.

90’s reefer, glad your changes have worked for you, thank you for letting me know your experience.