Maroon Clown MURDERED!!

[bms]

well i came home from work today and i noticed one of my maroon clowns (who was healthy as an ox last night) was swimming very weird. he seemed to have lost his sense of up and down and was swimming upside down, on his side, and then would bob up and down with his head toward the sand, swimming down then floating up then swimming down again. i bought two maroon clowns a month ago (at the same time from the same tank; one was a little bigger than the other but both were and are pretty small--about an inch or so) and they wouldnt leave each others side. then today when i noticed this peculiar behavior, the "sickly" maroon was blown by a powerhead across the tank only to be viciously attacked by the other maroon. he was relentless, striking him maybe 15-20 times even when he was floating on the surface helpless. the other and very healthy maroon has never acted this way toward him and now he wanted him DEAD! is there something that could have killed him or could he have had some kind of sickness the other fish picked up on and so he cast him out? or do you think this is a case of cold blooded murder?
p.s. water parameters are as follows:
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 15
pH: 8.2
salinity: 1.022
p.s.s. When i examined him closely, he had no white spots or tears on his fin or really any sort of damage/abuse BUT he did look like he had an abnormally large abdomen like it was swollen or something and looked liked a lighter color than the rest of his body. even compared to the larger and still living healthy maroon.

 

[abeandlulu]

I would not quote me on this but I was under the impression that maroon clowns can get every agressive toward each other unless they were a true mated pair. They should only be kept one per tank. What size tank do you have. Sorry I could not be more help. Maybe someone else can help you better.

 

[nick76]

How long were the two maroons together? Possibly the one was frightened from the other erratic behavior and chose to strike before struck itself was attacked.

 

[windlasher]

Originally Posted by bms
http:///forum/post/3130214
well i came home from work today and i noticed one of my maroon clowns (who was healthy as an ox last night) was swimming very weird. he seemed to have lost his sense of up and down and was swimming upside down, on his side, and then would bob up and down with his head toward the sand, swimming down then floating up then swimming down again. i bought two maroon clowns a month ago (at the same time from the same tank; one was a little bigger than the other but both were and are pretty small--about an inch or so) and they wouldnt leave each others side. then today when i noticed this peculiar behavior, the "sickly" maroon was blown by a powerhead across the tank only to be viciously attacked by the other maroon. he was relentless, striking him maybe 15-20 times even when he was floating on the surface helpless. the other and very healthy maroon has never acted this way toward him and now he wanted him DEAD! is there something that could have killed him or could he have had some kind of sickness the other fish picked up on and so he cast him out? or do you think this is a case of cold blooded murder?
p.s. water parameters are as follows:
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 15
pH: 8.2
salinity: 1.022
p.s.s. When i examined him closely, he had no white spots or tears on his fin or really any sort of damage/abuse BUT he did look like he had an abnormally large abdomen like it was swollen or something and looked liked a lighter color than the rest of his body. even compared to the larger and still living healthy maroon.
maroons are evil. i tried to introduce a new smaller one once. it did not go well.

 

[bms]

the tank is a 60 gallon. the clowns were together in THIS tank for over a month with no conflicts but were in the same tank together with about 6 or 7 other maroon clowns at the LFS for a couple weeks. it was so weird because they would NOT leave each others side until this awkward behavior of the one clown. yes i have read that they can be the meanest fish in the tank, but they were so small (about an inch or less) and everything thing else is bigger so i figured they wouldnt bother anyone. well i was right, they have never done anything to ANY of the other fish. just this one incident of the healthy maroon killing the other one. i agree though that the healthy one picked up on the behavior of the other one didnt want him around to sicken anyone else. any other thoughts/ideas?

 

[bms]

maybe he hit that point in his little fish life that he is gonna be the lone clown. or maybe he got comfortable in his new home and had some crazy fish hormone change and decided that he did need the other one gone and wanted his own territory. its just weird that they would go from being best little buddies always staying on onside of the tank together swimming in unison to having a duel to the death.