Clownfish aggression

whyoming.white · Jul 9, 2017

Hello all,

I have had a pair of clowns in one of my tanks for about 4 months now before I bought them they were in the same tank at a LFS for at least 2 months before I purchased them.

They have not bonded yet but never showed any aggression. I got back from a weeks vacation last Monday and noticed the smaller of the 2 hiding in the back of the tank. Anytime the smaller ones comes out the larger one ends up chasing it a little and the smaller one ends up in the back of the tank.

How long should I let this go on before I need to remove the smaller one? Will they work it out and bond eventually?

The smaller one still eats, and will occasionally come out and hide around one of my leathers. Eating habits are mostly the same(maybe eating a tiny bit less) and doesn't show any signs of being beaten up by the other one(fins are all fine no missing chunks or anything like that)

I don't remember my other pair in another tank going through this phase before they paired up. But could this be how these 2 are setting up their pecking order?

Mike

clsanchez77 · Jul 9, 2017

whyoming.white said:
Hello all,

I have had a pair of clowns in one of my tanks for about 4 months now before I bought them they were in the same tank at a LFS for at least 2 months before I purchased them.

They have not bonded yet but never showed any aggression. I got back from a weeks vacation last Monday and noticed the smaller of the 2 hiding in the back of the tank. Anytime the smaller ones comes out the larger one ends up chasing it a little and the smaller one ends up in the back of the tank.

How long should I let this go on before I need to remove the smaller one? Will they work it out and bond eventually?

The smaller one still eats, and will occasionally come out and hide around one of my leathers. Eating habits are mostly the same(maybe eating a tiny bit less) and doesn't show any signs of being beaten up by the other one(fins are all fine no missing chunks or anything like that)

I don't remember my other pair in another tank going through this phase before they paired up. But could this be how these 2 are setting up their pecking order?

Mike

At this point, I wound assume this pair has failed. Sometimes, fish just don't pair up as planned/expected. Fish are individuals and that does present us with some degree of unpredictability. I would swap the aggressive one out and try again.

whyoming.white · Jul 10, 2017

If they aren't any better by the end of the week I'll pull the bigger one. I really don't want to pull all my rock out to catch it.

Yesterday they were doing the seizure thing at each other around feeding time and they were both in the same area when lights went on this morning(by the new bubble tip I added). So who knows what's going on with them.