Marital problems...

[OneFish]

Hello all!

Background:
I have had my 22g cube tank set up for over a year now and have had my pair of snowflake/phantom-like clownfish in there for the majority of the time with only one other fish, a six line wrasse. I purchased my clowns from a hobbyist who told me he had them for about 2 years in a little breeder tank hoping that they would make some babies.

Problem:
After moving to my new apartment, and reaquascaping, my clowns do not get along at all. The females bullies the male so bad that he is currently in the overflow because he jumped in there early this morning. I have literally watched the female grab the male by the tail and pull him around the tank. Also, for some reason, the female clown and the six line are big buddies now. I see them interacting with each other almost 24/7.

Can anyone give me some advice on what to do? I don't really want to get rid of one or the other because I have never seen clowns like them before, but I also don't want the female to kill the male.

Any advice helps!

 

[Katrina71]

I recently had someone suggest putting a mirror against the tank.

 

[ilyad]

Sounds like the female left to a relationship with the 6 line.

I think you may have to pull some fish out and house them in a temp tank and re-introduce the clowns together at the same time. Then put the other fish in after. You can also try to re-scape the tank again to see if they reset their territories.

 

[OneFish]

Sounds like the female left to a relationship with the 6 line.

I think you may have to pull some fish out and house them in a temp tank and re-introduce the clowns together at the same time. Then put the other fish in after. You can also try to re-scape the tank again to see if they reset their territories.

Dang I really like the current scape. I'll see if I can get them all out and put them in buckets for a day or two. Maybe they will be overcome with joy after they reunite and forget their differences.

 

[JRAD]

It might be helpful to take the female out and put her in a temporary tank for a couple of days to let the male get comfortable in the new aquascaping.Then maybe when you put the female back and she will chill out and not try to kill him. I have an occellaris clown that tends to be a bully to new fish. I’ve had him a long time and he’s very easy to catch. When I put new fish in the tank I just get him out for a day or two and let him cool his jets. fish don’t have much of a memory so when I put him back in the tank he’s the new guy on the block and much better behaved!

 

[MarinaP]

Put the female in a floating box with a lid inside the tank. Hang the box. Let her chill for a few days.

 

[davocean]

I've had a number of pairs over the years that did the initial badgering/submission, got along fine, and then a year or so later the female is right back at it after the male.
Each time this happened spawning came not much later, and I'm guessing the females just went through a weird shift as they matured like a hormonal swing or something is best way I can describe.
A possibility.
I agree, give her the time out, observe, try again after a few days maybe.
Excessive fin tearing to point of possible death is where I draw the line.

 

[CoralsAddiction]

I’ve had it happen once to a pair of true percs. Once the female started grabbing the smaller male by the tail it was all over...no coming back from it. Hopefully your outcome is different. Good luck.

 

[JRAD]

BTW- that is one really cool looking clownfish in that pic!

 

[Sarah24!]

Hello,

Wow she is totally having an affair Urgh lol. Maybe if you put in a purple or yellow tang as a marriage counselor the two will work out. Me personally I’d just live in the overflow lol.

Sorry it cracked me up, but female clowns are mean since they are a damsel. I would put a mirror in the spot where she hosts and just leave it there. I would measure the size and just get one of the cheap large plastic mirrors like for bathrooms, and just pop it out. Then I would use the blue glass tape so you don’t get sticky stuff every where. It possibly could keep her mind off of the other clown. You could also trap her and remove her or add another clown. I have seen that before, but your tank is so small in reality it may be too much. (I was kidding on adding the tang way too small for either). But when my did this I added blue green chromies, now I did seven and you have to do odd numbers. But maybe add three, because she wouldn’t know which one to chase. Plus some of them like mine if one gets chased auto school together. My female clown was very aggressive towards my bellus angel when I added her. It was a very good thing she was three times faster. But I was getting desperate and tried the chromies which actually worked for about two months then she would go after the bellus angel just not near as much or bad. She would see a chromie and then dart after it and they would gang up on her. What finally made my clown stop was she picked a fight with my larger Lt. Tang and wow that was a mistake. He chased her everywhere and tail slapped across the tank. After that she lol has really settled down and realizes she is not the boss of the tank.

 

[OneFish]

Alrighty then...

I trapped the lady and put her in a different tank for 3 days and as soon as I put her back in she went straight to the male and started acting aggressive again.

I am thinking about trying the mirror technique next... otherwise any other suggestions?

 

[CoralsAddiction]

Typically locking jaws and grabbing a mates tail are very bad signs.
Your female is clearly rejecting the male and not much you can do without potentially exposing the male to more aggression.

 

[Katrina71]

Our pair recently did the same thing after moving some things around in the tank. After a couple of days, she stopped biting. Yesterday the pair definitely were NOT fighting...