Aggression or Love?

kinetic · Nov 20, 2017

Backstory:
I introduced a group of clowns to my tank. The aggression was low, but as soon as I added an H. Magnifica, the largest of the smallest males started becoming very aggressive.

The clowns were:
Bonded pair of ocellaris (1.5" x 1.25")
5x 1" ocellaris

The bonded pair kept all the small clowns in check, but once the Magnifica was introduced, they all went into it. Unfortunately, the bonded pair kicked everyone out and claimed it for themselves. The bonded pair then no longer really cared about the small males. This lead to the largest of the small males aggressively attacking the others.

I removed the aggressive one, then the next largest took up the role of aggressor. And so on. Now I have 2 small males, and yes, I believe the smallest one (funnily) is now becoming aggressive. I isolated the one that was getting picked on this time.

The smallest one was always the one who wanted to most attention from the bonded pair. He always went up to them and did a dance, snuck into the magnifica whenever he could, and never gave up. The one I've now isolated gave up early, and would stay as far in the top corner of the tank as possible, trying to disappear into the background. These last two small guys got along well, until they were the last two small ones left. I was watching the smallest (mocha ocellaris) chase this one around non-stop. He would chase, but then do the dance, over and over. It wasn't exactly aggression, but I decided to isolate the one getting picked on (fancy white extreme ocellaris).

So the fancy white extreme is now in the isolation box. He gets to eat all the food he wants without getting chased, and seems to be fine. The mocha ocellaris WILL NOT LEAVE HIS SIDE. He has stayed next to the box for 3 days, never leaving his side. I can't tell if it's because he wants to kill the fancy white really badly as his sole purpose in life, or just really likes him.

I'm worried that if I release the fancy white, he's going to get destroyed. What do you think?

One idea was to put the mocha in the box too to see what would happen. The idea being, if the fighting was bad, I could just remove one easily and quickly (without a tank chase).

zagviper71 · Nov 20, 2017

Put another nem in the tank.. they are fighting for their territory.

kinetic · Nov 20, 2017

zagviper71 said:
Put another nem in the tank.. they are fighting for their territory.

How do you know for sure? These two aren't even in the nem in the first place. There's a few vacant nems already that the carmel one goes into. The fancy white extreme does not ever venture out of a corner of the tank. Ever.

Anyway, there's plenty of nems and they aren't fighting for it. It's not territory unless they want the whole tank. So what you're saying is this is pure aggression?

zagviper71 · Nov 20, 2017

Unless they are trying to establist the order

kinetic · Nov 20, 2017

zagviper71 said:
Unless they are trying to establist the order

Right. But my question is, is this aggression, or they actually miss each other?

I understand there's all sorts of aggression, but it's strange behavior I've never seen before. Just wanted to throw it out there to see if you think this is some kind of obsessive rage, or might they just really like each other (maybe even bonding as a pair?).

zagviper71 · Nov 20, 2017

Years ago my clarkii female would kick the crap out of the male.

kinetic · Nov 20, 2017

zagviper71 said:
Years ago my clarkii female would kick the crap out of the male.

I know. Just hoping someone can check the video to see if they know if this is bonding behavior or rage.

tthouston · Nov 22, 2017

I think that is more aggressive than a love... lol.. A year ago, my brother had around 9 aggressive clown fish in the small tank (I don't know what brand of clown fish?) with a few of other fish like Blue tang, Yellow tang and Sailfin tang. The biggest clown fish dominates the tank, but they can live together as well. My brother change to another bigger tank to let them more room to swim, but then the big clown fish start to be a killer. A couple weeks later, he is only one left in the big tank. My point is even they are living altogether for a long time in the tank, but when they move to another tank is a different story.
You can put as many as you want when they are small (depend on the brand of clown fish), but it is more risky if you introduce more clown fish when they are already big.

kinetic · Nov 23, 2017

Well, only way to find out. I put the mocha into the small isolation box with the fancy white extreme. This is after 4 days of the mocha absolutely NOT leaving the side of the box at all. And the last 2 days there was no more open mounted head butting. They might have just gotten tired.

For the first 10 minutes, they stuck together like they were paired up. Dancing for one another. That was a good sign. Almost like they paired up. Then I came back a bit later, and they were absolutely fighting. Chasing, open mouth head butting, probably trying to bite each other as well. I don't know if it was because of the small box, or they just hate each others guts. Not sure why it started off totally fine and then got into a brawl.

Anyway, I decided to keep the mocha in the isolation box and let the fancy white out. Poor guy was in jail for 4 days. But I think he might have actually liked it. Let's see how the mocha does in there. If he hates it, I'll swap them again and then decide what to do next...