aggressive clownfish

[osufan4life]

Ok so I bought 4 clownfish together (false perculas), the "marine fish specialist" told me they would be fine and eventually pair off. Well unfortunately one was considerably smaller than the other three and of course he was picked on by each of the other three fish. I went back to the store and another guy, the shift manager, told me he would switch out the smaller one for another clown of the same size as the other three. I remember being told not to introduce a new clownfish to an already established aquarium but took his word for it. He also said to move around my liverock to make it seem somewhat "unestablished" to the 3 clownfish which I had put in about a week ago. Of course, like I thought they now have a new victim to bully. Will this aggression stop and will the four eventually pair off and how long will this take? The three established clowns go at it with each other occasionally but not as bad as with the new one. He did come out of his corner he has been hiding in to get a bite or two of the sinking pellets I put in but then went back into hiding. If I have to take back the new one and another I will, ALL I WANT IS A PEACEFUL TANK!! PLEASE HELP!!

 

[dawman]

If you wanted a peaceful you should have only put two clowns in . I would bring back the third one .

 

[erino]

Yeah I call my F. P. Clown a pitbull, he will beat up ANY new fish, large or small that I add to the tank, So I remove him from the tank when I add ANY new fish, let them get settled in for an hour or so then put my pitbull clown back in, this has worked very well for me, I have had my clown now 5 years and I use this method everytime I add new guys and everything works out well.

 

[ice4ice]

Having 4 clowns to a tank has already shown you what will happen. Even though you now had 3 clowns attacking one of the four, it will be a matter of time once a SINGLE DOMINANT pair attack the third one. Only a single pair of clown to a tank is best.

 

[1journeyman]

If we are talking about your 40 gallon tank...
Clownfish are dasmels. They can get territorial and aggressive. This especially becomes true when a pair is established. In the wild they have the whole ocean to drive off unwanted intruders. In a small tank they attempt to drive off the others and can kill them.
If your local fish store didn't explain this to you then I would strongly advice doing all of your own research from now on and taking what they tell you with a huge grain of salt....