Clownfish Divorce

Lukas75 · Jul 13, 2019

Dom said:
This is interesting. I'd like to read more. Can you provide the source of this information?

Orion is the source on this. He breeds clownfish and is the go to source for clowns and anemones here.

OrionN · Jul 13, 2019

Dom said:
This is interesting. I'd like to read more. Can you provide the source of this information?

Dom,
I consider this as self evidence.

Dom · Jul 13, 2019

OrionN said:
Fish are not people. They don't really think. They don't try and/or give up trying. They don't try to get along and give up trying once they find out they can't.
As they mature, they will instinctively try to dominate and fight. The looser have behavior signals for submissiveness when he know that he lost to her. The case here is what when the looser put up the white flag, the winner does not recognized it as such so there is no truce and the fight goes on in the winner's mind. Therefore she keep on beating him up.
These are animal's instinctive behavior not rational thought process like human.

Obviously fish are not people. But fish have personalities. They can be trained. For example; I have trained mine to come over to one corner if the tank when I tap on the glass at feeding time. Some fish can learn behavior. And my clowns have learned what that tap means.

I am not saying that you are wrong. I will ask again; please provide me with the source of your information as I would like to read more about your point of view.

Dom · Jul 13, 2019

Lukas75 said:
Orion is the source on this. He breeds clownfish and is the go to source for clowns and anemones here.

I am just trying to vet information. You have to be careful; many people post opinion as fact.

mdbronco · Jul 13, 2019

Lukas75 said:
Joking? Why? If this were my home I'd have two tanks. J/K I had to merge tanks to lower the number I had active to a more manageable state and had to rehome my pink skunk. I gave him to a school tank in the area. It was the pink skunk or the GSM and my wife loves the GSM.

I wish I could have two tanks. Wife is on the edge with just the one, and the QT set-up in the guest bedroom now is basically a ticking time bomb...

OrionN · Jul 13, 2019

Dom said:
I am just trying to vet information. You have to be careful; many people post opinion as fact.
....
You may want to try the placing both in the QT and placing a divider in it. This would allow them to see each other but not hurt each other. After a while, they may become trained to think that they see each other but can't get to each other. Leave it this way for a few months and then pull the divider from the tank to see how the respond.

Dom,
So you have published information on your advises (the ones I quoted above)or is it something that you think is logical to do?

I tried my hand at breeding Ocellaris, Percula, Crossbreed between the two, especially SnowOnyx which is a cross between Snowflake Ocellaris, and Onyx Percula. What I wrote was per my observation trying to pair same species and cross species multiple times.

Also a lot of the observation come from having clownfish come out of my ears, I tried to raise the very best clownfish in my main 420 DT, and sump and refugiums. The things is having a bunch of various clowns species and mutts clowns of various and crosses, they always (almost 100%) end up pair with almost a copy of them self if they have a choice of a bunch of potential (which is what happen when I put a bunch of them in my DT, about 12-16 in my 420 gal DT). I don't think they are racists. They ended up pairing because they have, in general, the same, signals.
I always have problems with pairing cross species. They beat the tar our of each other before they end up pairing. Same species pairing is a breeze with Ocellais and Percula.

Dom · Jul 13, 2019

Look... I wasn't trying to question your experience or expertise. But when someone posts something that I find plausible (as I did with your post), I simply wanted to delve deeper as I see it as an opportunity to learn something new.

mdbronco · Jul 13, 2019

OrionN said:
Dom,
So you have published information on your advises (the ones I quoted above)or is it something that you think is logical to do?

I tried my hand at breeding Ocellaris, Percula, Crossbreed between the two, especially SnowOnyx which is a cross between Snowflake Ocellaris, and Onyx Percula. What I wrote was per my observation trying to pair same species and cross species multiple times.

Also a lot of the observation come from having clownfish come out of my ears, I tried to raise the very best clownfish in my main 420 DT, and sump and refugiums. The things is having a bunch of various clowns species and mutts clowns of various and crosses, they always (almost 100%) end up pair with almost a copy of them self if they have a choice of a bunch of potential (which is what happen when I put a bunch of them in my DT, about 12-16 in my 420 gal DT). I don't think they are racists. They ended up pairing because they have, in general, the same, signals.
I always have problems with pairing cross species. They beat the tar our of each other before they end up pairing. Same species pairing is a breeze with Ocellais and Percula.

This sentence makes me wonder if I should like it ride out then? Or was this more of a generalization and not meant as a potential solution.

OrionN · Jul 13, 2019

I have to separate them and try other pair when I think the life of one is in danger. I now this when I see one so beat up that he just hide away and not even trying to show submissive.
How he behave not how torn up his fins are.

Lukas75 · Jul 13, 2019

Dom said:
I am just trying to vet information. You have to be careful; many people post opinion as fact.

NP, just pointing out that he is an expert on the subject.

mdbronco · Jul 13, 2019

OrionN said:
I have to separate them and try other pair when I think the life of one is in danger. I now this when I see one so beat up that he just hide away and not even trying to show submissive.
How he behave not how torn up his fins are.

Got it. Basically pins itself into a rock on the bottom and doesn’t fight back at all. Seems like a separation.

liveround69 · Jul 15, 2019

I had two Clarkii clownfish that didn't like each other and the bigger of the two tried to kill the smaller one. I successfully got them to get used to each other and eventually started breeding. I dont have them currently cause I sold the tank.

What i used is called a lee's kritter keeper. I simply filled it with enough rubble to keep it pinned to the to floor of the tank so it wouldnt move and then placed it near where the larger one was hanging out. It has a small door to open and drop in some food for the fish. Of course at first it was weird to get used to looking at but the results were worth it. A few weeks went by and I kept trying to release him but didnt get successful until about 5 weeks into it. If you try this method then simply buy two of them so you will have a clean one to take out and replace the dirty with a clean one and then clean the dirty one at your leisure.

https://www.amazon.com/Lees-Kritter-Keeper-Rectangle-Colors/dp/B0002APZOO

Good luck
https://www.amazon.com/Lees-Kritter-Keeper-Rectangle-Colors/dp/B0002APZOO

Kit_Kat · Jul 15, 2019

I have a yellow Clark clown that I rescued from Petco. I put him in tank with 3 Picassos. They tore him up. Now he lives in the sump and doing well.

Eva Rose · Jul 16, 2019

OrionN said:
Dom,
So you have published information on your advises (the ones I quoted above)or is it something that you think is logical to do?

I tried my hand at breeding Ocellaris, Percula, Crossbreed between the two, especially SnowOnyx which is a cross between Snowflake Ocellaris, and Onyx Percula. What I wrote was per my observation trying to pair same species and cross species multiple times.

Also a lot of the observation come from having clownfish come out of my ears, I tried to raise the very best clownfish in my main 420 DT, and sump and refugiums. The things is having a bunch of various clowns species and mutts clowns of various and crosses, they always (almost 100%) end up pair with almost a copy of them self if they have a choice of a bunch of potential (which is what happen when I put a bunch of them in my DT, about 12-16 in my 420 gal DT). I don't think they are racists. They ended up pairing because they have, in general, the same, signals.
I always have problems with pairing cross species. They beat the tar our of each other before they end up pairing. Same species pairing is a breeze with Ocellais and Percula.

Thank you for sharing this. I am have been looking at designer Ocellaris pairs to buy. Could you share some behaviors to watch for in a pair that is probably a good bonded pair? Some gorgeous LFS pairs I have observed are offered for sale as “bonded pairs” . But several of these pairs seem to squabble or not swim together much. Any tips on selecting a good pair that is likely to stay bonded?

OrionN · Jul 16, 2019

When clowns fight they just fight like any other fish, circling and bite. When they try to exert dominance they have this sideway jerking movement. It seem to me both the fish do this. As long as they doing these it is OK to leave them be. When the fighting is flat out fighting and one got so beat up that he does not show submissive behavior any more but just flat out running for got beat to the corner and the larger one is keeping at beating then it is time to separate the two.