Clownfish Killed my...

[jnegvesky]

OKAY. So at the marine store we bought the tank with a clownfish already in it, so a few days later we went back and asked the shop keeper what was a good fish to put in with my clownfish. It's an occillerous? I'm not sure how you spell it but I hope you know what I mean, anyway, so she showed us a Harp Tail Blenny which was awesome. I asked if it could live in harmony with that specific kind of clownfish and he said they could. We bought him but two days later while I was drifting off to sleep I heard a weird sound in my tank. I turned on the lights to find my blenny swimming upside down and beaten up! Is this normal and the guy lie to me? I'm so confused.

 

[btldreef]

Not completely uncommon. The LFS guy didn't necessarily steer you wrong. Most of the time blennies and clowns get along just fine. You just happen to have an extremely aggressive female clown on your hands. They can become very territorial. Since the clown was already in this tank when you bought it, there's really no way of knowing how long it's been in the tank establishing territory all by itself.
My advice: get rid of that clown! If it can kill a harp tail blenny, which is a fanged blenny and should have been able to put up a decent fight, it's going to kill most any other fish you put with it.

 

[jnegvesky]

:O :O :O Wow, so it sounds like mine is really aggressive. I'm gonna give her away cause I much rather have a few fish living in harmony than one evil fish.

 

[btldreef]

It's not uncommon for a solitary female to become very aggressive. Mine killed her mate after being paired for 4 years and successfully breeding for 3. She's bit me and drawn blood more than on e when my hand went too close to her anemone (territory). Luckily I have her in a 180, and she choose to make her territory in one back corner so I don't need to be near it, and get big, that often. In smaller tanks, it's a bigger issue. When I had her in my 40G, I got butting constantly. My husband and I had to tag team her. One of us would have to chase her around with a net to keep her from biting the other.

 

[fallensynner]

Wow this is the first I have heard of an ocellaris killing another fish they are so peaceful, I guess if it's been established and female in her setup territory then it makes sence that the beautiful thing about saltwater aquariums you can always learn stuff it's awesome
I would say do the same take out the clown and replace it and try and make sure ther all around the same size small I'm presuming

 

[jesusb]

sound weird because ocellaris are not so aggressive.
how did you acclimate the blenny?
did you just let the water float and then put him in?
and did you also dumped the water in?
if so the quick changes probably killed him.
sorry for your loss.
did you see the clown harrasing the blenny after you put him in?
how are your parameters?

 

[jesusb]

i meant "the bag float"
lol typo

 

[bang guy]

Clownfish can be especially aggressive to fish that swim inside the area they have claimed as "theirs". They will typically ignore any fish outside of this area. A. Ocellaris are usually not perceived as aggressive because the area they usually claim is fairly small, typically about one square foot or so, and the other fish can easily avoid "trespassing". Something like a Maroon Clownfish might claim 4 - 6 square feet of area and so appear to be more aggressive.
What size tank did you buy?