Clownfish aggression help!

[saltwaterswiftie]

I have 2 ocellaris clownfish in a 55g. I have had them a little over a month with no signs of aggression. They seem to have become a bonded pair as one has gotten larger and I have seen the smaller one doing those little clownfish dances to the dominant one. I noticed yesterday the dominant clownfish was being extra aggressive chasing the other fish around. I noticed the smaller fish has some nipped back fins. I know they aren't the best quality but I have attached some pictures of the nipped fins.

I have an extra 10g tank and an acclimation box I can add to the current 55g. Should I separate the fish or just observe and let them work it out?

 

[Porcupine Reefer]

I found that if they are the same species they will be fine together, its natural for the female to boss the male around as a display of dominance, but if the female is not letting the male eat much food, thats when you act. I had a bonded pair that I bought from one of my local fish stores and they seemed fine, they hung out with my smaller black and white clownfish that I had previously. The next day though, massive ich attack on my entire aquarium. The female of the pair did recover, but both males didn't, the female would eat the most food and the males got the scraps. Both eventually died. I still have the female though, which by now is probably a male due to no other clownfish. The point of the story is, the female is aggressive to the males and I personally found that my singular clownfish has done really well without a male, but thats just my experience, wait it out and see how things go, otherwise remove the male.

 

[kevgib67]

I had a pair together for 17 months. Went on vacation for a week and came home to the male beat up and near death. He eventually died. I still don’t know what happened as they were bonded. You could try putting the female in the acclimation box for a while and do some rock rearranging before putting her back in.

 

[mushrommy]

I have 2 ocellaris clownfish in a 55g. I have had them a little over a month with no signs of aggression. They seem to have become a bonded pair as one has gotten larger and I have seen the smaller one doing those little clownfish dances to the dominant one. I noticed yesterday the dominant clownfish was being extra aggressive chasing the other fish around. I noticed the smaller fish has some nipped back fins. I know they aren't the best quality but I have attached some pictures of the nipped fins.

I have an extra 10g tank and an acclimation box I can add to the current 55g. Should I separate the fish or just observe and let them work it out?

My male got a slit on his tail. 2 weeks later he died from unknown source. Maybe it was my female or he choked on some sand. Who knows. Keep an eye on them.

 

[Swbvegas]

Any other fish in the tank? Or inverts?

 

[vetteguy53081]

I have 2 ocellaris clownfish in a 55g. I have had them a little over a month with no signs of aggression. They seem to have become a bonded pair as one has gotten larger and I have seen the smaller one doing those little clownfish dances to the dominant one. I noticed yesterday the dominant clownfish was being extra aggressive chasing the other fish around. I noticed the smaller fish has some nipped back fins. I know they aren't the best quality but I have attached some pictures of the nipped fins.

I have an extra 10g tank and an acclimation box I can add to the current 55g. Should I separate the fish or just observe and let them work it out?

this is generally hard to avoid due to behavior known as clownfish hierarchy. Generally the female clownfish are much more dominant than the males. They become greedy and try to eat most of the food that gets into the tank (which is one reason the males don't grow as large). They aggressively protect their home oftenbeing an anemone, a nesting site, a clay pot or the entire fish tank. If it attacks your hand when you're trying to clean the glass or it won't let any other fish near its spot, you most likely have a female clownfish. Often if you separate the female for a week or two into an acclimation box or sump, there may be a change in her behavior, and you will quickly see the male come out in the open.
Isolation in a sump or acclimation box may or may not help. I had to place a female in my sump over 2 months to get her to stop and it took about a week and she resumed her unwelcomed behavior and I gave her away