Clown fish attacking Bicolor Angel

WWTPSup · May 19, 2019

Hello everyone,
I’m new at R2R and this is my first post, so bare with me please. I have a 60 gallon community fish/ reef tank set up. There are a variety of “peaceful” community fish in the tank, and the tank has been doing fine for about 6 months now. The problem I’m having currently is that three black and white Ocellaris Clowns started aggressively attacking a Bicolor Angel today. These tank mates have been cohabiting since day one without any problems and suddenly the clowns began aggressively attacking the angel. Anyone have any suggestions as to what’s going on here, and/or how to remedy the situation? Thanks

EmdeReef · May 19, 2019

Welcome to R2R!

Sorry for your problems. Clowns can be real jerks.

Unfortunately, when this happens the options are pretty limited. You could try re-arranging the rocks in your tank a bit. Especially if you can create 2 unlinked areas where clowns are likely to claim one part of the tank that the bicolor may learn to avoid..

If that doesn’t work, you’ll have to rehome the bicolor or the clowns. My recommendation would be the bicolor as 60 gallon is usually too small for them and they tend to be one of the more difficult dwarf angels to keep especially when there’s aggression.

Good luck!

SDK · May 19, 2019

EmdeReef said:
Welcome to R2R!

Sorry for your problems. Clowns can be real jerks.

Unfortunately, when this happens the options are pretty limited. You could try re-arranging the rocks in your tank a bit. Especially if you can create 2 unlinked areas where clowns are likely to claim one part of the tank that the bicolor may learn to avoid..

If that doesn’t work, you’ll have to rehome the bicolor or the clowns. My recommendation would be the bicolor as 60 gallon is usually too small for them and they tend to be one of the more difficult dwarf angels to keep especially when there’s aggression.

Good luck!

This, plus watch the clowns carefully if you keep them. The aggression is probably occurring because two of the Occelaris Clowns are maturing into a pair. They are most likely going to turn on the third clown once the angel is removed....

WWTPSup · May 19, 2019

EmdeReef said:
Welcome to R2R!

Sorry for your problems. Clowns can be real jerks.

Unfortunately, when this happens the options are pretty limited. You could try re-arranging the rocks in your tank a bit. Especially if you can create 2 unlinked areas where clowns are likely to claim one part of the tank that the bicolor may learn to avoid..

If that doesn’t work, you’ll have to rehome the bicolor or the clowns. My recommendation would be the bicolor as 60 gallon is usually too small for them and they tend to be one of the more difficult dwarf angels to keep especially when there’s aggression.

Good luck!

I was afraid that might be the case. This just happened overnight, these fish have been together for about six months. Frustrating!

WWTPSup · May 19, 2019

SDK said:
This, plus watch the clowns carefully if you keep them. The aggression is probably occurring because two of the Occelaris Clowns are maturing into a pair. They are most likely going to turn on the third clown once the angel is removed....

The clowns have been together for over a year and a half. How long do they take to mature? From what I’ve been reading, I’m starting to wonder if keeping clowns in a community tank is a good idea?
Thanks

SDK · May 19, 2019

It can take that long for them to mature and start trying to breed, especially in tanks that have more competition for space and/or fiestier fish mixes...

Jesterrace · May 19, 2019

One of the biggest lies told is the idea of a "Peaceful" Clownfish (they are Damsels after all). They are all territorial/semi-aggressive to some degree once they get well established. I agree it's highly unlikely to improve in that situation and the odd number of clowns is going to cause you problems as well. I had a snowflake Occellaris Clownfish that was a complete jerk to it's tank mates and likely contributed to the death of both my Scissortail and Purple Firefish. My Melanurus Wrasse and Diamond Watchman Goby didn't put up with the little punk and the Wrasse spent a day kicking the crap out of the little brat of a clownfish (and it deserved every bit of it). I ended up kicking it out of the tank because of the issues with the other two fish.

WWTPSup · May 19, 2019

Well, it looks like I might be relocating the clowns then. Thanks everyone for the great advice, I appreciate your time and experiences with this matter.

Aardvark1134 · May 20, 2019

It's been my experience that a mad clown will stay mad until you get 4ft or more away from it's territory or stay out of sight for a long time. In a 60 gallon it's going to be hard for the other fish to get far enough away for the clown to consider it out of it's territory. Best chance in a 4 ft tank is going to be put a major line of sight breaker (big rock) in the middle of the tank so they won't see it unless they go looking for it. This may allow them to make peace. But in most cases I have seen clowns will claim about 4ft of tank space. Except maroons which will claim however much you have...even a whole 8 ft tank. If they don't like you then you need to get out of their space or hide. If you are lucky they will only hate other clowns but they can hate anything they choose to hate...as they are damsels after all.

WWTPSup · Jun 1, 2019

So here’s an update. I isolated the bicolor (until his wounds are healed) and I intend to sell him. The tank has been at peace ever since. In the near future I still plan on finding a new tank for the clowns as I have other plans for the 60 gallon. I guess I’m just lucky that the clowns aren’t currently actin up. Time will tell.