clown attacks......

[jairelessedil]

*sigh* traded in my dwarf lionfish for something non aggresive, a copper banded butterfly and its been doing great, but now the large clown in the tank is attacking it and i am fearful it will kill/eat it, never saw this kinda of behavior from my clown. It doesn't bother the damsel or the cleaner shrimp. Any suggestions? i put the butterfly in a bag in the tank, prolly a bad move but not sure what else to do.
thanks

 

[shel]

You can try putting the clown in time out. A seperate plastic container in the same tank. You can try leaving him in their for a couple of days. Or move any lr in diffrent pattern. It will disrupt the familarity of the tank. It will give the new fishy a chance to find an area of its own while the clown re-establishes it self.
I heard of one person that put the mean fish in the sump for a few days. I would not do this. But I guess you have to what works for you.
Good luck!
Shel

 

[twoods71]

Clowns can be some mean little suckers. I did the rock moving deal and it worked for me.

 

[jacrmill]

never heard of time out for a fish. i dont think you can take the aggressive nature out of a fish, by giving him a time out. putting him in a sump might work, just because when you put him back in the main tank he has to re-establish his territory. what i would do would be to put the clown in a seperate tank give it a couple days, then move some rock around, and immediatly put in the clown. this way niether him nor the butterfly have any established territory. or if the time out doesnt work, you can try grounding them. just kidding, ive never heard of it, does it really work?
[ April 18, 2001: Message edited by: jacrmill ]

 

[shel]

I have done it with Fresh, never salt. Maybe the grounding would work a little better. LOL
The rock thing works for me.
Shel