Clown Aggression - need advice!!!

[kzitzman1]

After having our tank with 2 clown fish and a Banggai Cardinal for 1 1/2 years all of a sudden the female clown fish became very aggressive to the Cardinal and tattered it's fins and killed it within a day?! This lead to me researching on google and finding that others have experienced this with their clown/cardinal mates after 1-2 years of peace. We also have a Starry Blenny and a Purple Firefish in the tank and are worried the female Clown fish will do the same to them and plan on taking both Clown fish to the LFS. Is this basically likely to happen if we again get a pair of Clown fish as babies and introduce them to an established tank or will it be fine if the Clowns are the last fish introduced? Is it ok to just have one Clown fish and, if we only have one will it not turn female and show that aggression? Any insights and advice is very welcome.

 

[Dbichler]

Clownfish mature around that timeframe they could be wanting to mate and that would make them more aggressive especially the female. If you only had one clownfish it certainly will turn female. Unfortunately that’s the way clowns work.

 

[kzitzman1]

Thanks for the reply. It looks like I either need to get rid of my Clowns and not get anymore or be willing to have this sudden aggression that could harm other fish.

 

[kzitzman1]

We decided to trade our two clowns in at our LFS. We got a yellow watchman goby (paired with a pistol shrimp) and a McCosker Flasher Wrasse to replace them. The tank seems happier and our Firefish, especially, seems more at peace and comes out and swims around a lot more since the Clowns were taken out.

 

[BrightReef]

I’ve had multiple pairs of clownfish and at some point I’ve noticed they all got aggressive. The two I have now are the only ones that haven’t yet (fingers crossed)

 

[Labora]

Mine recently passed from disease but they ended up getting really mean if you put your finger in they would try to draw blood.

 

[kzitzman1]

I’ve had multiple pairs of clownfish and at some point I’ve noticed they all got aggressive. The two I have now are the only ones that haven’t yet (fingers crossed)

Thanks for the response. That's basically what I've found out in my research. It seems they start to get aggressive around that 1 1/2 - 2 years range as they mature.