Male Clownfish Getting Beat Up or Sick?

[Brit’s Fish]

I have had my pair of Flurry (I think, correct me if they’re another morph) clowns since November in a JBJ NanoRL 20g. Their other tank mates are a Neon Blue Goby and a Bicolor Dottyback. The female is much larger than the male and I’ve been watching him carefully for the last few months. I know, I said months... he has times where he just looks rough and other times where he looks great. I’m not sure if he’s maybe just not thriving or what is going on. These two were paired in a tank at my LFS and had been there for at least a month before I got them. This pair are absolute monsters and both bite me any time I get near their tank. The female definitely bosses this guy around but I’ve never seen her nip him.
This guy has some “bullet holes” on his sides which are part of his pattern but I’ve noticed his tail and fins look sort of picked at or tattered at the ends. His pectoral fins in particular are really noticeably picked at. He does have some indents on his head & I remember reading somewhere that this type of clown is more susceptible to HLLE.
As I mentioned, he’s looked the same for a pretty long while now... never gets any worse but sometimes looks pretty great. He eats just as much as my other fish & is always really active.
Any thoughts on what’s going on? I just want to make sure he has a good life.

 

[Brit’s Fish]

Bump

 

[KrisReef]

It does look a little battered but that is the role of male clownfish.

Second opinion from @Jay Hemdal perhaps? He's got a keen eye for fish diseases and wisdom for treatments.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Do they have an anemone, or a "spot" that they hang out in together? If they don't hang together, they aren't truly paired and are most likely just barely tolerating each other. Two things about clownfish aggression; they are pretty sly, and will temper their behavior when you are in the room with them, and when you see a clown "boss another around" but not nip it, that is likely still happening, but only once out of every dozen or two rushes. If the clown was contact each time, the male would be dead in a day or two.

The question is then, how long can they manage to cohabitate under these conditions, but I can't tell you that....dynamics change frequently

Jay

 

[OrionN]

Also the Bicolor Dottyback can and will be the problem in a 20 gal tank. They are very aggressive especially in small tanks like yours. I would remove him.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Also the Bicolor Dottyback can and will be the problem in a 20 gal tank. They are very aggressive especially in small tanks like yours. I would remove him.

Ha! I was going to mention that, but then got sidetracked. Yes - dottybacks can be terrible for running "sneak attacks". The only thing is that I would expect both clowns to be affected if so. However, it gets complicated: lets say the female is keeping the male in a certain part of the tank, that just happens to be in the line of fire of the dottyback, then the male would get the brunt of the dottybacks aggression.

The one trick I know people do is to set up a cell phone to video their tank, and then leave the room. After 30 minutes or so, returns and review the video to see if you can tell who the culprit is.

Jay

 

[Brit’s Fish]

Ha! I was going to mention that, but then got sidetracked. Yes - dottybacks can be terrible for running "sneak attacks". The only thing is that I would expect both clowns to be affected if so. However, it gets complicated: lets say the female is keeping the male in a certain part of the tank, that just happens to be in the line of fire of the dottyback, then the male would get the brunt of the dottybacks aggression.

The one trick I know people do is to set up a cell phone to video their tank, and then leave the room. After 30 minutes or so, returns and review the video to see if you can tell who the culprit is.

Jay

Thank you @Jay Hemdal & @OrionN
I kind of knew that the Dottyback could pose an issue in this tank & am starting to get more annoyed with him. He’s picking off all of my CUC except my two large hermits and my cleaner shrimp who stays clear of him. He did eradicate the Zoa Eating Nudis I had on a colony, but still. So I would agree that whether or not he’s the culprit, he should probably go.

The female clown is quite a bit larger than the male and the Dottyback and she is definitely the boss in this tank. They do have a nem in the tank but she doesn’t host it as much as I’ve seen my others in other tanks do. He is not allowed near it. They do host a specific corner of the tank together and they sleep side by side in that area every night.
I’m I have never seen any fish being chased in this tank, but I’m not watching it all day so I’m going to try the phone recording suggestion. Thank you for that! I’m completely open to splitting them up though since they make any work I need to do in their tank really tough. They bite constantly and the female has jumped out of the water several times to try to get me.
Does unpairing them affect them at all? Would it lower their overall aggression towards each other and me? I know aggression also heightens in a smaller tank since the whole tank is their territory.