Four Year Clowns Suddenly Fighting

[egwich]

I’ve had a pair of ocellaris clowns for four years in my 55 gallon. Last week I moved my entire tank to a new house and upgraded to a 75. The male clown (or the smaller one who always seemed to be the male) is now bullying the larger female one. To the point where the other clown seems to be running for her life. What the heck is going on?? They’ve been best friends since I got them years ago and now a week into their new tank and they’ve turned on each other. Will this pass or should I be worried?

 

[Glenner’sreef]

I’ve had a pair of ocellaris clowns for four years in my 55 gallon. Last week I moved my entire tank to a new house and upgraded to a 75. The male clown (or the smaller one who always seemed to be the male) is now bullying the larger female one. To the point where the other clown seems to be running for her life. What the heck is going on?? They’ve been best friends since I got them years ago and now a week into their new tank and they’ve turned on each other. Will this pass or should I be worried?

She probably called him “shrimp” , they hate that!!! Interesting will follow this.

 

[agame2021]

From my studies this can happen when the landscape changes. They are territorial fish that have interesting quirks. Firstly how does the female look? She starting to thin out? Not eating as much? Kinda tired of fighting? She could be in shock from the new scape/bigger tank.
Second thing this is something that happens with big changes. Fighting is natural in this specific fish and there are studies that show this is how they get ready for breading as well. Aggression could be brought on by the scape change, less food, water quality, and breeding.
I would make sure they have a good place to hide and feed them a bit extra and watch to make sure the female stays healthy. If not you might soon have 2 females on your hands and will need to separate them. Luckily it could take a couple months for roles to changes so you will have time to watch and make sure. Hope this helps!

 

[egwich]

From my studies this can happen when the landscape changes. They are territorial fish that have interesting quirks. Firstly how does the female look? She starting to thin out? Not eating as much? Kinda tired of fighting? She could be in shock from the new scape/bigger tank.
Second thing this is something that happens with big changes. Fighting is natural in this specific fish and there are studies that show this is how they get ready for breading as well. Aggression could be brought on by the scape change, less food, water quality, and breeding.
I would make sure they have a good place to hide and feed them a bit extra and watch to make sure the female stays healthy. If not you might soon have 2 females on your hands and will need to separate them. Luckily it could take a couple months for roles to changes so you will have time to watch and make sure. Hope this helps!

It seems like the chasing and bullying only happens at night before bedtime (low light). It is odd that the smaller one is the bully while the bigger one has become the submissive one. Can the female switch back to a male? She’s not being aggressive at all and is being completely submissive. She’s still eating a lot, doesn’t look beat up, but is breathing heavier (seems stressed from getting beat up). I’m pretty shocked to see this after years of them being best buds.

 

[Cell]

Sounds like the aggressor could use a timeout.

 

[egwich]

Nature has a sense of irony. Woke up this morning and only saw one clown but it was the clown being bullied....and happy as can be swimming around. I found the naughty clown on the floor dried up. My lid is air tight except for a small opening where the return pump goes in the tank. The aggressor must of been going full speed ahead last night to attack his former friend, missed, and left the water at the exact spot he needed to exit the tank. It’s sad it came to this but I feel better that it wasn’t the one getting bullied and that he wasn’t bullied to death.