Clownfish Problems! HELP!

[Baby Ray]

Hey everyone,
Right now I have a snowflake and percula clown pair (kind of weird but that is why i bought them)
At first the percula was showing her dominance and I know that is normal. I am justing assuming that the percula is the female because she is very aggressive. For awhile she was being a little too harsh so i put her in my sump for a few days and that seemed to help. Now she is starting to be mean again and i put her in my sump for a few days again but it didn't help. She is pinning my snowflake clown up against the glass and whenever he tries to swim aways she attacks him. She has been nipping at his fins and i feel really bad for him. Sometimes they do that "twitching" thing and i'm pretty sure that that means that they want to be in a pair but it doesn't look like that.
Should i get rid of the female?

Thanks

 

[melypr1985]

Does the male look torn up? Ripped fins? or red marks on his body at all? If he appears to be physically fine then I would let it play out. They were sold to you as a bonded pair?

 

[Baby Ray]

My LFS said that the percula clown was supposed to be paired with another percula but she was not showing any interest in him. He said that she was showing interest in the snowflake. He had them in the same tank for about a week or more and they appeared to be very interesting in each other so I bought them. They were swimming side by side and doing that "twitch" thing. I really liked the pair so I bought them.

His fins are a little torn up. She seems to target his side fins. She bits down on the side fin and slams him into the sand.

 

[melypr1985]

That seems rather forceful. I wonder if the store employee didn't know if that snowflake was also a female. Or maybe it had begun it's change into being a female already. Pairing clowns isn't always difficult like this, but you have to be sure you have an immature clown so that it has the best chance of it not being female. Having only been together for a week, I think you are seeing a "pairing" not quite working out.

 

[Baby Ray]

That seems rather forceful. I wonder if the store employee didn't know if that snowflake was also a female. Or maybe it had begun it's change into being a female already. Pairing clowns isn't always difficult like this, but you have to be sure you have an immature clown so that it has the best chance of it not being female. Having only been together for a week, I think you are seeing a "pairing" not quite working out.

They are both pretty small and I can tell that the female is larger than the male

 

[Baby Ray]

Do you think that it would be better to just return the female?

 

[Chrisfish]

Do you think that it would be better to just return the female?

I had a similar situation with 2 picassos that I bought on line, they were a pair and the female was bigger than the male, when I first introduced them to the tank all seemed fine he was doing the twitching etc. a few days later I noticed that she was being reall aggresive to him, it got worse. I contacted the place I got them from and they said it was normal but to watch them. Then I noticed he was looking really bad so contacted again . To make a long story short took him out , waited put him back in same thing, obviously couldn't return took him out and soon after he died. They gave me a credit but didn't make up for how bad I felt. Well ironically Mr. Crabby as I call him got a hold of her face and left a wound and she died 4 days later from it, so that expierence was horrible. So if I was you I'd take the mean one back and take really good care of "male".

 

[Baby Ray]

Thanks,
That is going to be pretty hard because I have become attacked to both of them.

 

[Chrisfish]

So was

Thanks,
That is going to be pretty hard because I have become attacked to both of them.

So was I, but I felt even worse when the first one died and it was not about the money.

 

[LiveWire]

You can try one tactic that has worked in the past for my bluestripes. First get them both out of the display and in separate areas of your sump by dividing it with egg crate or a tank divider but still letting enough water through to filter. Second feed them both well but feed one more often than the other one. You will have to do this for a month or two and if one is slightly bigger than the other to start then that would be the one that I would feed that one more than the other. Once you notice there is a large difference in size you can place them back in the display tank at the same exact time. It will help if you rearrange the display just a little as well. I did this with my Bluestripe pair by adding them both to a smaller tank where they were separated but could see each and it worked well. Clowns will fight when they are close to the same size to become dominant female. Fighting to be the female is less of a risk if one is already a good size larger than the other. It may be worth the time for you if you are attached to them both already. Make sure to feed them both well and dont stress them out. If you have a QT tank it would be wise to move them there and divide it.

 

[melypr1985]

You can try one tactic that has worked in the past for my bluestripes. First get them both out of the display and in separate areas of your sump by dividing it with egg crate or a tank divider but still letting enough water through to filter. Second feed them both well but feed one more often than the other one. You will have to do this for a month or two and if one is slightly bigger than the other to start then that would be the one that I would feed that one more than the other. Once you notice there is a large difference in size you can place them back in the display tank at the same exact time. It will help if you rearrange the display just a little as well. I did this with my Bluestripe pair by adding them both to a smaller tank where they were separated but could see each and it worked well. Clowns will fight when they are close to the same size to become dominant female. Fighting to be the female is less of a risk if one is already a good size larger than the other. It may be worth the time for you if you are attached to them both already. Make sure to feed them both well and dont stress them out. If you have a QT tank it would be wise to move them there and divide it.

Pretty solid idea. Give it a try!

 

[Chrisfish]

You can try one tactic that has worked in the past for my bluestripes. First get them both out of the display and in separate areas of your sump by dividing it with egg crate or a tank divider but still letting enough water through to filter. Second feed them both well but feed one more often than the other one. You will have to do this for a month or two and if one is slightly bigger than the other to start then that would be the one that I would feed that one more than the other. Once you notice there is a large difference in size you can place them back in the display tank at the same exact time. It will help if you rearrange the display just a little as well. I did this with my Bluestripe pair by adding them both to a smaller tank where they were separated but could see each and it worked well. Clowns will fight when they are close to the same size to become dominant female. Fighting to be the female is less of a risk if one is already a good size larger than the other. It may be worth the time for you if you are attached to them both already. Make sure to feed them both well and dont stress them out. If you have a QT tank it would be wise to move them there and divide it.

That sounds like a really good idea, unfortunately mine had already been established, the female was much larger.

 

[Baby Ray]

Thanks for your suggestions but I think that I have decided to send the female back.

There is a bright side thought....... I will be able to get some other fish that I have always wanted

I really like Pygmy angles, Pygmy wrasses, clown gobies, and Ora Pygmy filefish (I like Pygmy things)

 

[Baby Ray]

After second thought.......
Would that plan still be productive if I kept the female in the sump and the snowflake I the DT or do they have to see each other?

 

[Chrisfish]

After second thought.......
Would that plan still be productive if I kept the female in the sump and the snowflake I the DT or do they have to see each other?

Thanks for your suggestions but I think that I have decided to send the female back.

There is a bright side thought....... I will be able to get some other fish that I have always wanted

I really like Pygmy angles, Pygmy wrasses, clown gobies, and Ora Pygmy filefish (I like Pygmy things)

I have had a pigmy angel for about 2 weeks now and love her( not really sure if it's a she but it's so cute that's what I'm saying) leaves my corals alone and it's really fun to watch her hang around my live rock. No problems with my other fish.

 

[Baby Ray]

I always loved flame angels fit my tank is too small and the first time I saw a Pygmy angel I fell in love. One of the first ones I ever saw was about the 3/4 of an inch long. It was so cute

 

[Baby Ray]

You can try one tactic that has worked in the past for my bluestripes. First get them both out of the display and in separate areas of your sump by dividing it with egg crate or a tank divider but still letting enough water through to filter. Second feed them both well but feed one more often than the other one. You will have to do this for a month or two and if one is slightly bigger than the other to start then that would be the one that I would feed that one more than the other. Once you notice there is a large difference in size you can place them back in the display tank at the same exact time. It will help if you rearrange the display just a little as well. I did this with my Bluestripe pair by adding them both to a smaller tank where they were separated but could see each and it worked well. Clowns will fight when they are close to the same size to become dominant female. Fighting to be the female is less of a risk if one is already a good size larger than the other. It may be worth the time for you if you are attached to them both already. Make sure to feed them both well and dont stress them out. If you have a QT tank it would be wise to move them there and divide it.

Would this plan work if I kept the female in the sump and the male in the DT and just feed the female more or do they have to see each other.

 

[LiveWire]

After second thought.......
Would that plan still be productive if I kept the female in the sump and the snowflake I the DT or do they have to see each other?

If you leave one in the DT it may claim territory so it’s better to just avoid that by pulling them both out. But if the one left in the tank is the one that you are feeding heavier that could work out. Although that will also depend on what other fish are in the DT as they may limit your efforts by just stealing the extra food that you are trying to feed the clown. By taking them both out you have more control of how much you are feeding each one also by them seeing each other daily it will limit any stress that could occur when you introduce them both back into the DT. If the one sees that the other is getting much bigger at some point it will submit and accept that it will be the male of the relationship.

 

[Hawain_Rob]

Divorce court it is.

 

[Baby Ray]

Thanks for the info,
I really don't have enough time to do something like that even though I really want to keep both of them. (I am a 13 year old boy and exams are coming up at my school so I am BOOKED)
Again, thank you for all of your help