clownfish is a bully

saliva911 · May 2, 2014

i have a black clownfish and a true percula they get along but bully any fish i add i added five damsels and only one survived.i added
a high fin goby and hes hiding cause the true percula keeps attacking it now i got a flame hawkfish and the black clown keeps attacking it
will the hawkfish survive

Bad Company · May 2, 2014

What size ss your tank, and how big is the clown?

saliva911 · May 2, 2014

The tank is 28 gal the clown and the wrasse are the same size

saliva911 · May 2, 2014

My bad the clown and the hawk are same size

Bad Company · May 2, 2014

If the clown is fairly full grown it and the other clown may consider the whole tank their territory. 7 saltwater fish is too many for a 28 gallon. A rough rule of thumb is 3" of salt water fish for every ten gallons.

dmjr1201 · May 2, 2014

Agree with bad company! Make sure they haven't laid eggs also! They will get aggressively territorial.....

saliva911 · May 2, 2014

Could be I like the hawkfish more than the clown so maybe I'll be removing the clown

Reefing Madness · May 2, 2014

Clownfish are extremely aggresive and territorial. As long as the Hawk stays out of his territory, he will be ok. And usually after a few days they get used to each other.

dmjr1201 · May 2, 2014

I've had a mating pair before and it didn't matter how big the fish or even my hand, they just attacked! Traded them to my LFS.

saliva911 · May 2, 2014

Only the black clown is being aggressive

mike007 · May 2, 2014

My maroon Is extremely territorial I added a medium size harlequin tusk and he would not leave it along for a month. Now everything is cool no issues. Sometimes after some time they will ignore each other.

rworegon · May 2, 2014

Clown are brats. They dony lioke red fish either. I have a ocelaris that chases my flame hawk. He bullied a red scooter dragonette to death. Remember, clowns are just cute damsels.

saliva911 · May 2, 2014

I'll leave it alone then hopefully he stops

davocean · May 2, 2014

saliva911 said:
Only the black clown is being aggressive

Is that the bigger of the two?

saliva911 · May 2, 2014

No it's the smaller one

fishroomlady · May 2, 2014

that's an interesting observation regarding the clowns not liking "red" fish. I have two black and white occys and they did not like my flame hawk either when I added him. You may have to make a choice because your tank doesn't have a lot of room for them to maybe work it out. My tank is a 65 gallon with plenty of areas for the hawk to hide and after about 2 months now, the clowns have drastically reduced their chasing of him. They've never picked on any new additions (hard to believe) other than this hawk.

davocean · May 2, 2014

saliva911 said:
No it's the smaller one

Oh I'm surprised it's not the female.
I'm sure they see the hawfish as a potential egg stealer more than it's color, cause they are.
Make sure to add another small one if you pull the black one.