When do you consider a fish a bully?

[rad]

I have a B&W clown that I just purchased and hes just a tiny little guy so I figured he would get along with my green clown goby since they're about the same size but they dont. Hes a jerk. The first day I got him (the B&W) my clown goby was out sitting on the rocks which was odd because he lives in the candycanes and hardly ever comes out. I took it as a good sign and figured they were friends. Then over the next couple days I keep seeing signs of abuse from the clown to both my cleaner shrimp and the goby. Neither of them are scarred, no tattered fins at all and both still exhibit normal behavior but it seems as though the clown attacks them when ever they come near, which isnt very often but it still concerns me. I bought a feather duster and he seems to want to host that so that may be one thing that could be making him more aggressive. But then again when I turned on my lights today my fire shrimp was all over the tube of the duster and nothing happened to him. Id just hate to come home to a floater

and just want to know if I should take the little

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out or not. Id really like to keep him because hes completely healthy and eats like a champ but I dont want any harm to come to any of my other fish. Thoughts?

 

[reefkprz]

give it a week or two he's establishing her territory. (<-in the clownfish world thats not an oxymoron) my tomatoes pound the hell out of anything new and stiull chase of and harrass my other fish (even the ones that were there first) them and my blenny go at it the worst. I often see blenny bites on the side of the female who is trying to chase him out of his favorite leather.

 

[rad]

thanks for the great news. looks like I have lots of fight club watching to look forward to. I just hope I can follow the first rule... Its a shame that 'his territory' is the exact center of the tank where a bunch of corals and action are. did you ever think about taking any of your fish out? I would get at least a little worried about chunks missing or scratches. Heres a pic of the little devil. I kind of like his yellow face and fins but there decieveing.

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[reefkprz]

I considered removing the clowns almost immediatly the first week was pretty hard to watch, you'd be amazed at the amount of damage a ticked off blenny can do to another fish.
instead I rearranged the tank this cut back a little on the aggression, just the establishing territory stuff rather than all out war. my clowns have also chosen the very center of the tank.

 

[rad]

hmmmmm. interesting, I forgot about moving the rock around. I may be giving that a shot if things dont improve. Thats definitely a better solution than trading him back. thanks. Like I said before I just dont want any dead fish but your posts have made me feel better about the classification of ass kickings my fish have been recieving. Im probally, on a scale of one to ten, no more than a three so we shall see. :happyfish

 

[rbaldino]

Since gobies are about the wimpiest fish around, it doesn't surprise me that the clown is bugging him. A lot of people tend to forget that clowns can be aggressive, in some cases more so than damsels. I wouldn't worry about it too much, though. The clown is new and probably just flexing his muscles a bit. Once he's certain the goby knows who the boss is he'll probably settle down.

 

[rad]

thanks for the input. I know clowns can be aggressive, thats why I liked the idea of getting such a small one. He is a little

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though, he's always pulling on the cleaner shrimps whiskers and beating it up. beaner the cleaner is definately scared of the clown. but the goby (ninja) dispite his immense wussyness has held his own. Sure he gets whopped every now and then but he dosnt seem to mind. If the clown does kill ninja I will have to strangle it, with my bare hands. I learned a technique from studying the karate kid movies.

 

[ooooooohhpeter]

i have a bicolor dottyback that has killed 2 fishes a tiger goby and a firefish and an emereald crab and a snail . been really thinking of taking it out but its so daym quick. one day haha.