Perc Clowns going ballistic

airandsea

airandsea

Member
Hey guys and gals, as you know I am a newb. I have a question about my two percula clowns. They are both about 2" but on is a little bit bigger than the other. Anyways, for the last couple weeks I have noticed that the bigger one has been doing the "fidgety" thing. The closest thing I can describe it to is a seizure. That obviously isn't what it is but a very quick movement for a second or two. He/she will "stand" straight up and do it or roll on its side and kick up the sand. Today I noticed that they both are doing it. The larger one has been zooming through the tank and then darting right at the smaller one. Seems like the bigger one is nipping a little bit at the smaller one. The smaller one has been staying in the same spot of the tank and is staying low towards the sand. The smaller one has a few small nips on the rear top fin and the anal fin. Could this be some sort of courtship thing??? Just curious on your thoughts. I will try to get some video of itand show you soon. Thanks for your help!!!!
 
jints

jints

Member
Normal behavior. The one who is looking like hes going through an electric shock is displaying submissiveness. Basically thats the one who will turn male. The larger will be female and the dominant one. Or it might be the other way around I forget. But it is normal.
 
airandsea

airandsea

Member
Originally Posted by Jints
http:///forum/post/2666691
Normal behavior. The one who is looking like hes going through an electric shock is displaying submissiveness. Basically thats the one who will turn male. The larger will be female and the dominant one. Or it might be the other way around I forget. But it is normal.
Well, I was gone for a little over an hour and the smaller one now has quite a few good nips to the peck fins and the dorsal has been nipped at pretty extensively. I am just a bit nervous. The large one is doing most of the electric shock thing but that is the one who is being aggressive.
 
jints

jints

Member
Well then it looks like that one is trying to establish dominance. The pecking is part of it but keep an eye on them. You dont want the pecking so bad that it puts the peckee in danger. Sometimes....but not all the time they can get very aggressive to the point of killing the weaker one but ive only seen that in large schools and small tanks....such as *****. I think yours will be fine but you never know. Until one becomes submissive then the pecking will continue but I dont know for how long. I bought my percs in my lfs that had them togeher for 2 months so I bought the pair. They dont peck each other but one does do the electric shock to the other. Maybe the pecking was over with in the 2 months they were there. They go everywhere together and sleep together. I hope the same happens to your pair.

BTW are you in the USAF?
 
airandsea

airandsea

Member
Alright, to me this is getting bad. I have had these two clowns for the past two months. This just started happening today. They were always swimming together and everything was peaceful. I have also attached a couple of pics. I am about to take the big clown and put it in the QT if this gets much worse
. Oh, and the aggressive is the doing the "electric shock" thing. The small clown is breathing pretty hard!! Please check out the pics and let me know what you think. I am downloading a video of this on youtube right now and I will post the link as soon as it downloads!!!



 
scotts

scotts

Active Member
Well sorry if I am telling you things that you already know, all clowns are born male. Then when you have two clowns in a tank, when the get to puberty they will do a dominance dance and the more aggressive one will grow larger and turn into the female. Obviously the smaller one will be the male. THis can get pretty mean and pretty rough. However when it is all over they will be the best of friends and stay together all the time. My clowns had a rough time and eventually had a break up and stayed on separate sides of the tank for about 2 months before they made up.
It looks like they are doing the dominance dance. I mean the one is picking on the other, but does not seem to be really attacking it. I would let them go at least for the rest of the day.
HTH
Scott
 
airandsea

airandsea

Member
Originally Posted by Scotts
http:///forum/post/2666970
Well sorry if I am telling you things that you already know, all clowns are born male. Then when you have two clowns in a tank, when the get to puberty they will do a dominance dance and the more aggressive one will grow larger and turn into the female. Obviously the smaller one will be the male. THis can get pretty mean and pretty rough. However when it is all over they will be the best of friends and stay together all the time. My clowns had a rough time and eventually had a break up and stayed on separate sides of the tank for about 2 months before they made up.
It looks like they are doing the dominance dance. I mean the one is picking on the other, but does not seem to be really attacking it. I would let them go at least for the rest of the day.
HTH
Scott
Thank you. I know that they were males at first but I didn't realize that they had this dominance dance. The big one is back in the tank. I will just wait it out. I just hope that the large one doesn't kill the smaller one. The small one seems to be in bad shape. Here are a few more pics I just took. This is really hard to watch.


 
airandsea

airandsea

Member
So any other ideas or do you all agree with Scotts??? If so, great. Thanks again and thanks for the reply Scotts!!!
 
osuaquarist

osuaquarist

Member
I hate to say it but I had two clowns that went through the same thing. they were fine for about 2 months and then the aggression came out. Everyone said to ride it out but my bigger one killed my small one =(
 
airandsea

airandsea

Member
Originally Posted by OSUaquarist
http:///forum/post/2667064
I hate to say it but I had two clowns that went through the same thing. they were fine for about 2 months and then the aggression came out. Everyone said to ride it out but my bigger one killed my small one =(
Really....I am almost to the point of removing the big one. So everybody thinks that I should leave them both in there? The big one is not letting up at all and the small one is just getting beat up!!! I am going to leave for a while and decide what I am going to do when I come back.
It's always nice to get advise from a fellow buckeye!! O-H!!!
 
airandsea

airandsea

Member
Update.....Last night, when I turned off the lights the large one totally left the small one alone. Right when I turned the lights on this morning, the pouncing began. The large one is getting more aggressive. Now it is actually biting and holding onto the small ones fins until it can shake it self away.
Hey Scotts, How long did yours do this for?????
 
scotts

scotts

Active Member
How things today? I have to admit that looking at those later pictures you posted, it is looking pretty beat up. You know a little brackground info would help. How long have you had them and how big were they when you got them?
Here is what I am thinking. Depending on how old and big they were when you bought them, you might have 2 females, or at least on their way to being females. So yeah then they will fight to the death. (there is only one queen bee right?) You might have to pick your favorite one, see if you can return the other and buy a small clown. I mean a physically small clown. That way you will be ensured that the one you keep will be the female and the new one will be the male.
HTH
Scott
 
airandsea

airandsea

Member
Originally Posted by Scotts
http:///forum/post/2667453
You know a little brackground info would help. How long have you had them and how big were they when you got them?
I did give background info yesterday. I have had them for about two months. The larger one is a little over 2" and the smaller one is a little smaller than 2". You can definitely tell a size difference. The larger one is also and more filled out. This just started happening yesterday.
 
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