Perc biting anemone
- Thread starter viet-tin
- Start date
T
thomas712
Guest
This behavior has been noted from many aquarists and has not been explained. Some clowns tug and pull on tentacles, and on occasion will vigorously rip off tentacles or tentacle tips. Larger anemones can recover from this abuse more easily than small anemones. You may try feeding your clown more frequently to see if this reduces the incidence of biting. However if the clown continues to bite and the anemone is stressed, you may have to remove one or the other from the tank. You may also want to run some fresh carbon to help absorb any mucus or chemicals seeping from the wounds of the anemone.
Thomas
Thomas
viet-tin
Active Member
ill try feeding a little more but Im kinda feeding my fish alot already. I feed about 7 time a day but small portions alternating between flakes, mysis, cyclop-eeze, enriched brine and some other frozen foods. She seems to be taking a lot of anger out on the male as well. She bites him and bangs him around but seems like he doesnt mind at all. I removed the anemone for about a week due to my mh lights blowing out so they were anemone less for awhile and she went right back to biting. Hopeful my anemone survives this ordeal and thanks for your help Thomas
viet-tin
Active Member
What about her aggresivness towards her mate? He has bite marks all over his body missin patches here and there and his fins are torn. Will she kill him? She seems to do this more during the nights and chases him out of the anemone. She didnt do this when I removed the anemone but went right back to attacking him when i put the anemone back. Whats going on here?
viet-tin
Active Member
I should also mention that this female is also the newer clown to the tank. The small guy doesnt even bother to fight back or run he just tunrs and shakes while she bangs him around. They swim fine together and share the anemone fine during the day but at night is when all the abuse occurs. Im afraid if she keeps this up hes going to be dead. Should I remove one of them for awhie?
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thomas712
Guest
Ok here are my thoughts.
The female is biting the tips or tentacles off of the anemone and biting the other clownfish.
I think maybe she is defending the territory, that is the anemone, and the biting is going to heal if they are small and she backs off for a while, but may also lead to an infection in the anemone if this behavior keeps up and possibly killing it. Why she is biting her own territory is beyond me, but once you have something to defend your aggression levels go up. She is also biting the male clownfish and causing him damage, if this keeps up your going to have the same situation. Dead clownfish or at least an infection and possible disease if this keeps up as well. If he gets too damaged, then sooner or later the cleanup crew is going to start looking at him as if he were a meal, or soon to be meal.
I would get rid of that over aggressive female clownfish and send her packing back to the LFS.
The female is biting the tips or tentacles off of the anemone and biting the other clownfish.
I think maybe she is defending the territory, that is the anemone, and the biting is going to heal if they are small and she backs off for a while, but may also lead to an infection in the anemone if this behavior keeps up and possibly killing it. Why she is biting her own territory is beyond me, but once you have something to defend your aggression levels go up. She is also biting the male clownfish and causing him damage, if this keeps up your going to have the same situation. Dead clownfish or at least an infection and possible disease if this keeps up as well. If he gets too damaged, then sooner or later the cleanup crew is going to start looking at him as if he were a meal, or soon to be meal.
I would get rid of that over aggressive female clownfish and send her packing back to the LFS.
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thomas712
Guest
Well I didn't rule that out at all, but she is causing more harm than good. Its up to you, stick it out awhile longer and see what happens and take what comes along, or decide that enough is enough.
Thomas
Thomas
T
thomas712
Guest
At this point I would be careful about adding any other fish. If your male fish has a disease now you don't want to give it to any newcomers.
speg
Active Member
I noticed this behavior quite often when my clown was by itself and didnt have a mate. It seemed like whenever the anemone would deflate the clown almost got upset that it wasnt full and beautiful (good protection for the clown) and would bite/tug on some of the tentacles... my only guess would be that the clown was trying to make the anemone expand... but who knows! So far it hadnt bit off a tentacle... that would upset me. 
viet-tin
Active Member
I was thikning that too because my lta kinda curls up during the day so the tents look like coils and she bites them but shes fine when it fully expands at night which is when she chases him around. The biting seems to have stopped now its like she teases him knowing that hell submit to her...kinda weird