Clownfish Beating up another Please Help!

[Ashv5]

My clownfish have recently been attacking each other for around a day or two. The slightly bigger ocellaris clown is beating up the smaller one and his fins have been torn a lot. The little guy is usually under a rock or when he swims, the stronger one comes in and the little guy tries to jump out. Please Help! I have a 40g bowfront aquarium, parameters are ideal except for 0.25ppm phosphate. Stocking: 2 ocellaris clowns and one small yellow tang.

Please see the attached pics.

 

[jsvand5]

Time to pull the smaller one and put it in QT. It won’t survive much longer in that tank. May already be too late unfortunately. How long have they been together?

 

[Ashv5]

They’ve been together with no problem for 1.5 years. All of a sudden? Also I don’t have qt and only have a small bucket. Is that good enough?

 

[Ashv5]

I thought this could have been the mating process.

 

[Medic58]

Mine did the same thing. You have to pull one of them. These fish are mean. I have one left in my tank but I’m going to move him to the bio cube.

 

[jsvand5]

They’ve been together with no problem for 1.5 years. All of a sudden? Also I don’t have qt and only have a small bucket. Is that good enough?

Can you use a divider or put it in an acclimation box? Even a cheap guppy breeder net would be better than nothing.

 

[Ashv5]

I'm sorry I sold all those items when I transitioned from freshwater to saltwater. I guess the bucket is my best choice. Are you guys 100% sure that this isn't the mating process? My initial plan was to leave them in and let them take its course but at this point, I don't know what to do.

 

[W1ngz]

How long has the tang been in there? My guess is she's resource guarding. The tang is bigger and has a blade on his tail so she can't go after it, so she's eliminating the male to protect the food supply.
Pull the small clown for a few weeks until he heals, re-home the tang. I'd be willing to bet the clowns patch things up in a few weeks with no larger fish in there.

 

[Ashv5]

Tang has been there for less than a year. I personally don't think he's the problem. This just happened today. I guess I should rehome him for sure.

 

[KrisReef]

I thought this could have been the mating process.

That's what always happens to me after I've been with a lady >1yr.

Seriously, she is rejecting the smaller male, and it looks like he isn't going to survive her insults. I'd move him out of the tank, anywhere is better to be than with her at the moment. Float him in a bag if you have to.
Edit:
No, that's not mating, that's a fight to the death most likely. Establishing dominance involves some nipping, but you are looking at her rejecting him.

 

[Ashv5]

Oh wow really? So I've moved the little guy to the bucket and placed a small piece of live rock. Hoping for the best at this point. If he survived and heals throughout time, can I place him back in the tank?

 

[jsvand5]

The bucket isn’t going to work for long. You’ll need at least an air stone added. Probably a heater as well.

Petsmart has breeder nets for a few dollars. It would be a much better option.

 

[KrisReef]

Yeah, if you have a big enough net, if you can suspend that like a kennel in the tank to keep them separated would be an ok option for short term. Keep an eye on him because he is pretty badly wounded and he may heal or not.

 

[HB AL]

Throw the aggressor in the sump for a couple weeks then reintroduce and see how it goes.

 

[Dom]

https://www.chewy.com/marina-hang-o...MI8vWG4YD44gIVBFqGCh0SFAO5EAQYAiABEgKFMfD_BwE

 

[Rover]

Invest in one of the small breeder boxes, like Dom linked to above.

Your 40 gallon bowfront is not sufficient for a yellow tang. Respectfully, I don't know of any Tang that will be happy in a 40 gallon tank for long.

You will experience issues as your fish grows. This might be one of them. The fact it was okay for a year does not mean that as the tang grows up and begins to feel the stress of being in a small enclosure it won't get aggressive. It could be the source of your female clown turning on the male, or it could be something else.

Either way, you'll need to seperate them as you've done. You must make sure the bucket has aeration (preferably an airstone) so that it stays oxygenated, and a heater to stay stable.


You could try rearranging the rocks, and once the small clown is healed up drop him in at night and see how the female does with him once he is introduced.

Alternatively, put her in 'Clown Jail.' I did this to my aggressive clown and removed her from the situation by placing her in a breeder box and when I added her back in about 4 weeks later she was well behaved again.

 

[Ashv5]

Guys thank you for helping but unfortunately, the little guy passed away this morning when I woke up

 

[WMR]

Guys thank you for helping but unfortunately, the little guy passed away this morning when I woke up

Sorry to hear that, are you going to keep her alone, rehome her?

 

[Ashv5]

I'm thinking of getting another one. Or I might go to my local breeder and asks him to swap her out for a new pair of clownfish. Still, never expected this would happen out of all the other possibilities.

 

[AshleighC]

My clowns did the same thing this week and they have been together about the same amount of time. I put her in fishy jail by submerging a kritter keeper, she’s so mad!
So sorry your little guy didn’t make it!