Mated pair of clowns breaking up

[carrie1429]

I have two false percula clowns that I thought were a mated pair. I got them when they were real young and have had them for almost 5 months. In that time they would always hang out together and it is clear now which one is the female. They always got along great and did the mating dance thing a few times but now the female, (larger one) is being very mean. She has become very bossy and whenever the male comes out from the rock she violently attacks him until he hides. The male now looks very stressed, should I take one back to the LFS? And why all of a sudden does she attack him? Any input would be appreciated.

 

[col]

Hi Carrie
If you can find them read my last few posts under Bullying percs.
A similar thing has happened to my pair. Only after weeks of bullying the tables have turned and the bullied is now the bully.
Someone replied saying to remove one, but the next day they were fine, only for it all to start again.
I'm no expert, but I'm glad I didn't remove one of them.
How do you know which is female - is it bigger?

 

[bang guy]

Carrie -
I'm also not an expert. My understanding is that if the Female doesn't harass the male he will change over a several weeks and become Female.
It's the constant nagging that keeps him in his place.

 

[fishfanny79]

"It's the constant nagging that keeps him in his place."
Are you saying that a woman was caught nagging??? CAN'T BE TRUE...

 

[grayne]

My pair do the same thing from time to time. But in the end they always kiss and make up and then a couple days later are at each others throat again. It seems that over time the male has learned his place and just lets the female do what she wants (hmmm...) and it keep the bickering to a minimum.

 

[carrie1429]

Thanks for all your replies, I was about to take one of them back to the LFS. But whenever the female attacks him he always goes into hiding and he lays on his side like hes sick or something. I just thought she was stressing him out or somthing. He acts fine when he eats but then he just goes back to laying on his side, is this normal.

 

[grayne]

My clowns actually sleep that way at night. They have taken a huge colony of frilly mushrooms as their home and they sleep on them like they were a bed. I don't think this a sign of there being anything wrong. I would give them a little more time, as the female gets larger and larger the one who ends up the male will learn his place (the female - at least in my case - is quite a bit larger). One thing that used to cause big disputes between my clown couple was if there is a desireable spot i.e. small anemone, mushroom, etc. that they want to be in that is not big enough for the two of them - that seems to cause some discontent. Now that my clowns have moved into their big "mushroom residence" there is tons of room and they do not bother each other hardly at all.

 

[col]

Carrie
Lying on it's side ? Exactly the same as mine is doing. It must be the Clown season or something.
Someone advised to take mine out but I didn't and over the last few days they have started hanging round together and the bullying is getting less.