Maroon Clown Deathmatch

stealth hippo

stealth hippo

Member
Test your might!
I have 2 Maroon clownfish in my 55g tank. I've had them for about 3 months now and at first they were kind of aggressive while deciding who was dominant. Well I woke up today and the smaller male is near death. He is at the top all torn up gasping for water. The other one continues to attack him the most i can do is defend him! I've already tried to catch the aggressive one, fat chance of that happening.
Any chance they will mellow out or is the little one about to get finished. If it is possible, should i get the little one to heal up and return them both or is he gunna learn his lesson?
I feel like my other fish are the audience and my flounder is the ref. and I can picture him with a mortal kombat voice. haha.
Will it end?
Thanks,
Eric
 
kpclown

kpclown

Member
How were the clowns introduced, were they put in the tank at the same time? What is the size and age difference between the two? I have seen people put a seperator in the tank using eggcrate. They make holes large enough for the male to go through but not big enough for the female. This allows the submissive fish a place to go to get away from the attacker. After a few weeks she will allow him into the nest at night, she will generally attack him during the day still. After a few more weeks he will be fully submissive and she will allow him into the nest all the time. Try turning the lights off and see if you can get him into a hospital tank ASAP.
 
small triggers

small triggers

Active Member
i would remove him,,, if they have been together for 3 months without this issue this severly than something has happened that she doesnt want him in the tank... she will probably kill him eventually... The biggest shocker is it has taken her this long to decide she didnt want him? it makes me wonder if he got hurt somehow by someone else???
 
stealth hippo

stealth hippo

Member
The clowns were added at the same time. Both were aggressive at first but calmed down after a week or so. I bought them from the LFS and they said that somebody traded them in, there was originally 4 of them, one got beaten up badly and the employee took him home to recover and the other biggest one i left, I took the two smaller healthy ones. Age difference I am unsure of but size is pretty significant. The female is much larger in body mass but not much so in length. That seperator idea is ingenious. I went out and purchased at screen divider for the tank to allow the male to recover. Most likely i am going to trade in the female to allow the male the whole tank. then when he is healthy trade him in for 2 smaller, non-aggressive breed of clownfish...
Thanks for the help everyone... very unfortunate that i have to take this route, they're gorgeous fish but just unsuitable.
Any recommendations on more peaceful species when kept in pairs? And about how long does it take for a clown to recover, looks mostly like cosmetic damage, just fins and stuff.
Thanks,
Eric
 
bang guy

bang guy

Moderator
Originally Posted by Stealth Hippo
http:///forum/post/3183645
The clowns were added at the same time. Both were aggressive at first but calmed down after a week or so. I bought them from the LFS and they said that somebody traded them in, there was originally 4 of them, one got beaten up badly and the employee took him home to recover and the other biggest one i left, I took the two smaller healthy ones. Age difference I am unsure of but size is pretty significant. The female is much larger in body mass but not much so in length. That seperator idea is ingenious. I went out and purchased at screen divider for the tank to allow the male to recover. Most likely i am going to trade in the female to allow the male the whole tank. then when he is healthy trade him in for 2 smaller, non-aggressive breed of clownfish...
Thanks for the help everyone... very unfortunate that i have to take this route, they're gorgeous fish but just unsuitable.
Any recommendations on more peaceful species when kept in pairs? And about how long does it take for a clown to recover, looks mostly like cosmetic damage, just fins and stuff.
Thanks,
Eric
A healthy Clownfish can regrow tips of fins and split spines in 24 - 48 hours.
Tank Bred Ocellaris are commonly available and nearly always bond when introduced as a pair of juveniles.
 
stealth hippo

stealth hippo

Member
Awesome! Much shorter then what I was expecting. Great i'll look into availability around here. Thanks for the help. Probably not a bad thing that I went out and bought the divider, appears to come in handy in desperate times.
Thanks everyone,
Eric
 
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