New clowns acting funny

saltlife97 · May 2, 2021

My new storm clowns are looking healthy but my last one died I think from stress so I bought another and my one from before was chasing him around ... so I think that’s how the last one died , so now I took the aggressive one out and into my QT tank for 3 days hoping the other would settle into the tank and become comfortable but now I’ve put the other aggressive one back in and my clown is swimming quickly in one spot with his head up and I’m not sure what to do. Don’t want to have to buy another ....

jmichaelh7 · May 2, 2021

why keep the aggressive one ?

Smirkish · May 2, 2021

Is it swimming in one spot whenever the aggressive clown approaches it? Is it still being chased?

saltlife97 · May 2, 2021

Smirkish said:
Is it swimming in one spot whenever the aggressive clown approaches it?

Not really when the other fish swims close by he just swims away but it doesn’t seem to be bothered by it but I also noticed his fins have a few bight marks

saltlife97 · May 2, 2021

saltlife97 said:
Not really when the other fish swims close by he just swims away but it doesn’t seem to be bothered by it but I also noticed his fins have a few bight marks

I don’t know if there from previously thoght

saltlife97 · May 2, 2021

jmichaelh7 said:
why keep the aggressive one ?

Should I try and bring it back for a swap

saltlife97 · May 2, 2021

Smirkish said:
Is it swimming in one spot whenever the aggressive clown approaches it? Is it still being chased?

And I don’t see any chasing other than the odd little bit of playing

Smirkish · May 2, 2021

I have four clowns in my tank. The largest one isn’t aggressive, but all of the boys do this from time to time. Clownfish will “dance” to indicate submission to the larger fish. Think pecking order. Chasing is normal when you introduce a new clown, especially if the new one is close in size to the one you already have. They can be quite territorial too.

Smirkish · May 2, 2021

saltlife97 said:
And I don’t see any chasing other than the odd little bit of playing

If it isn’t being chased anymore I would say that you have probably just succeeded in having the original clown accept the new one... My Percula and Buckshot did the same thing, though fortunately it wasn’t as bad as this sounds. Keep an eye on them. I think your fish are fine, now.

Smirkish · May 2, 2021

Also, unless you saw the aggressive clown chasing and harassing the other clown that died (unlikely if you bought them already paired), it probably didn’t die from that. I would look for another culprit, though it certainly could have been other stressors.

JulioReefer · May 2, 2021

They're clownfish. They're going to scuffle to some extent, always when they are newly paired. If they aren't tearing each others fins off or chasing constantly, think you might be better off just letting them try to work it out between them.

If the clown really did kill the other, than that's an issue, but if its a new fish and you didn't see it happen, that might not be the case

saltlife97 · May 2, 2021

Okay i will leave it for a bit to see what happens tomorrow

jmichaelh7 · May 3, 2021

I’ve had a clown bully another clown to death. I won’t let it happen again.

that’s up to you. Like mentioned.. I’d watch and observe behaviors

saltlife97 · May 5, 2021

jmichaelh7 said:
I’ve had a clown bully another clown to death. I won’t let it happen again.

that’s up to you. Like mentioned.. I’d watch and observe behaviors

This is the clown , seems a little more used to the tank but I can see nips in his fins , gonna watch them but I have not seen them showing any aggression to eachother since putting them back into the tank together

jmichaelh7 · May 5, 2021

saltlife97 said:
This is the clown , seems a little more used to the tank but I can see nips in his fins , gonna watch them but I have not seen them showing any aggression to eachother since putting them back into the tank together

If you plan to get rid of it let me know