Clownfish Fight Chromis joins them...

[Rogued_Reefer]

Hello guys and girls! I have had two clowns one is a Maroon and the other is an Oscellaris... I know what you’re going to say but hear me out.
They were behaving extremely well for the first 10 days, no fights or anything as a matter of fact they were both sleeping/hosting my magnetic glass cleaner.. literally pegged to each other.

2 or 3 days ago I started to notice a little bit more hostility between the two. Yesterday the maroon had some bits off his dorsal fin so I said to myself welp looks like I might have to separate them but throughout the day the scuffles were on and off and everytime the oscellaris did the submission shake so I got a bit happy.
Last night at around 2-3am when I got up for water and to check on them this was my sight...

The blue chromis joined the fight against the tired maroon.

So this morning I found him all beat up... all fins showing signs of aggression and I improvised an isolation box.

Do y’all have any advice going forward?

 

[Cell]

I think you already know considering you already pointed out you know what we are going to say.

 

[Rogued_Reefer]

I think you already know considering you already pointed out you know what we are going to say.

If you’re referring to having two clowns of different species yeah I know

 

[Cell]

I guess I dont understand what you are looking for here. You admittedly went against the grain and got the expected results. Re-home one of the clowns.

 

[Rogued_Reefer]

I guess I dont understand what you are looking for here. You admittedly went against the grain and got the expected results. Re-home one of the clowns.

Well I didn’t know about the rule when I got the maroon... it was an impulse buy because he looked gorgeous. I learned about the “rule” a week later when I showed an employee/reefing buddy at Petco.

Is rehomming one the only solution? Can’t one of them submit to the other one?

 

[Cell]

There are always exceptions to the rule, but you tried this already. If you are looking for someone to say they will be fine together, I doubt it happens here.

 

[Mjrenz]

You will definitely need to rehome one, I'm just surprised that the maroon is the one who got picked on. Anytime you aren't sure feel free to toss up a post and we'll help out the best we can

 

[Cell]

Yeah, that's one BA oscellaris. That maroon is super beat up.

 

[User1]

At this point as others said you tried and failed. The Chromis joined in because the fish was weak so it is a mob mentality because with the death had you not caught it means a bit of food.

Impulse buys never work. Today there really shouldn't be an impulse buy because, well, we have smart phones with browsers and can generally take a minute or two out and take a looksy. No use crying over spilled milk. Pick a clown you want, re-home the other and the chromis. And while you catch and return the chromis tell it he/she is lucky they are not going to a predator tank...

 

[Cell]

The chromis was just picking on a weakened tankmate. Normal behavior. I don't think it needs to go.

 

[Rogued_Reefer]

Thanks to everyone that replied!

I will start looking for a new home for the maroon :/. You’re right about the impulse purchases and not checking before buying it was a “lazy” more like “it’ll be fine” mentality and if I want my tank to grow I can’t have it so thank you for making that clear to me.

The chromis now that the maroon is separated is doing absolutely fine with the oscellaris so I guess I’m just going to bring in a few more chromis to give him company.

 

[Cell]

Instead of adding more chromis, consider adding another oscellaris instead. Chromis tend to kill each other in captivity. There are countless examples of people buying groups of chromis and almost always ending up with just a single one after some time. I started my tank with a chromis, then followed with a b/w oscellaris pair and the three of them became best friends and schooled together.

 

[Rogued_Reefer]

Instead of adding more chromis, consider adding another oscellaris instead. Chromis tend to kill each other in captivity. There are countless examples of people buying groups of chromis and almost always ending up with just a single one after some time. I started my tank with a chromis, then followed with a b/w oscellaris pair and the three of them became best friends and schooled together.

Do you think is safe to add another oscellaris? If so does size matters?

 

[Cell]

Do you think is safe to add another oscellaris? If so does size matters?

Add a smaller one than your current. As long as it's the same species, they should work things out.

 

[Rogued_Reefer]

Add a smaller one than your current. As long as it's the same species, they should work things out.

Does color matter? I want to get a black and white or something a little more special than the classic coloring.

 

[User1]

The chromis was just picking on a weakened tankmate. Normal behavior. I don't think it needs to go.

Yep, it was. However, it is called collateral damage and we do not support bad behavior It has to go.