carbonfever
New Member
Ok, I am new here so hello and any advice or tips are welcome. I have a 30 gallon FOWLR tank. Anyways, the tank has been running strong for a year now (April 2014) and when I started the tank I have had my clownfish for 6 months prior to the 30 gallon (I got rid of my 10 gallon it was in and upgraded to a 30 gallon). So a little over a year and a half. I have a yellow tang also in my tank (yes I know they need at least 60g of room but he seems comfortable).
*sorry for all the descriptions, just trying to give you guys the history.
So last Sunday I added a black snowflake Ocellaris and a regular orange and white snowflake Ocellaris. So I now have my yellow tang, and the 3 clownfish. One being the one I've had almost 2 years. After I acclimated the two snowflake clowns and added them all three clowns were happily swimming together. Well after 2hrs or so my original clown and black snowflake were twitching or shimmering at one another. Then they started to get physical and at two instances the locked jaws. The black snowflake even held on to my original clowns side fin for 5 secs or so. Anyways, this went on for 5 min maybe. After that they all three were swimming together and at times all three were separated. Also at times my original clown and black snowflake swam together. I might add that the black snowflake and my original clown are fairly close to the same size. The other clown snowflake is a baby. He is the third wheel. He sometimes swims with the black one and sometimes my original clown. I have been watching them closely for the last few days since I've added them. Monday and Tuesday seemed well. No fin nipping or such going on. Now today I noticed my original clown swimming up to the black snowflake and doing the shimmering off and on constantly for 5-10 minutes. Maybe twice my black snowflake turned on its side and did a couple of fast twitch shimmers but nothing like my original clown was doing. The behavior and character of my black snowflake seems aggressive. Meaning at times when he is swimming he jerks and swims exaggerated. I also notice today that the little snowflake clown was next to the black snowflake and did the shimmer thing.
Soooo...with all my rambling and long description I need to know what's going on? I know that all clowns are born gender neutral and once a clown is female she can't become male. I'm hoping it isn't worst case scenario and I have two females in the tank? Is my original clown still gender neutral even though it has been solo for a year or so? Is it a dominance behavior going on here? I'd like to know because the store I bought them from says I can bring back the fish for a refund but I really really like the two fish I chose.
Respectfully,
Jeff
*sorry for all the descriptions, just trying to give you guys the history.
So last Sunday I added a black snowflake Ocellaris and a regular orange and white snowflake Ocellaris. So I now have my yellow tang, and the 3 clownfish. One being the one I've had almost 2 years. After I acclimated the two snowflake clowns and added them all three clowns were happily swimming together. Well after 2hrs or so my original clown and black snowflake were twitching or shimmering at one another. Then they started to get physical and at two instances the locked jaws. The black snowflake even held on to my original clowns side fin for 5 secs or so. Anyways, this went on for 5 min maybe. After that they all three were swimming together and at times all three were separated. Also at times my original clown and black snowflake swam together. I might add that the black snowflake and my original clown are fairly close to the same size. The other clown snowflake is a baby. He is the third wheel. He sometimes swims with the black one and sometimes my original clown. I have been watching them closely for the last few days since I've added them. Monday and Tuesday seemed well. No fin nipping or such going on. Now today I noticed my original clown swimming up to the black snowflake and doing the shimmering off and on constantly for 5-10 minutes. Maybe twice my black snowflake turned on its side and did a couple of fast twitch shimmers but nothing like my original clown was doing. The behavior and character of my black snowflake seems aggressive. Meaning at times when he is swimming he jerks and swims exaggerated. I also notice today that the little snowflake clown was next to the black snowflake and did the shimmer thing.
Soooo...with all my rambling and long description I need to know what's going on? I know that all clowns are born gender neutral and once a clown is female she can't become male. I'm hoping it isn't worst case scenario and I have two females in the tank? Is my original clown still gender neutral even though it has been solo for a year or so? Is it a dominance behavior going on here? I'd like to know because the store I bought them from says I can bring back the fish for a refund but I really really like the two fish I chose.
Respectfully,
Jeff
