Anyone had experience with their ocellaris being aggressive? They had been great until last week when I added a Fire dartfish to my tank and they will not leave it alone. I can already see where parts of his fins had been nipped at and I’m afraid he’s going to get stressed to death. Unfortunately I don’t have a lid on my sump of any kind or I would just QT him.
Clownfish a predator??
- Thread starter tmscott89
- Start date
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Clowns all have their own personalities, being a damsel fish they do have the ability to be punks.
Some ideas to help mitigate the aggression.
1.) what is the tank size? Smaller tanks greater the aggression chances.
2.) catch the firefish or clown place in an acclimation box let them work it out over the course of 2-5 days.
3.) feed more often, often interspecies aggression is food aggression.
Some ideas to help mitigate the aggression.
1.) what is the tank size? Smaller tanks greater the aggression chances.
2.) catch the firefish or clown place in an acclimation box let them work it out over the course of 2-5 days.
3.) feed more often, often interspecies aggression is food aggression.
BestMomEver
2500 Club Member
All clowns are a little aggressive. Some more so than others. Maroons would be at the “seriously nasty” end of the scale and Ocellaris would likely be toward the “I’m cool” end of the scale. But... every fish is different. Typically, when you add any fish to an already established tank, you run the risk of a little territorial bickering. I’ve found that putting fish in an acclimation box (inside the tank) usually works. The older fish get a chance to get used to the new one without being able to hurt it. Still, if your Firefish can hide well, they will likely leave him alone after a bit.
LiveWire
Master Electrician/Certified RODI Guru
I have a set of Ocellaris clowns that are very aggressive. More so than my Lightning Clowns. Mine got that way when I added a RBTA. Now I cant even put my hand in the tank without the female biting me so I have to take her out whenever I clean the tank. In my experience clowns can be very aggressive especially maroons. I believe once they have set up their territory they believe there is no room for additions. I have seen this a lot more in smaller Nano tanks than in larger systems.
Brett S
Valuable Member
My Ocellaris pair is very territorial. They live in a frogspawn coral and spend 98% of their time within a couple of inches of that coral. They ignore everyone else in the tank unless someone gets too close to their coral, then they will nip a little and chase them away. Doesn’t matter if it’s one of my tiny fire fish or one of my larger 7 and 8 inch tangs who are many times bigger than the clowns... no one is allowed near their coral.
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It’s a 90 gallon tank with a good amount of live rock for cover, and I feed daily so I doubt that’s the issue. I guess they just decided they didn’t like him. I have cardinals, damsels, tang, dwarf angel, they only go after the dArtfish
Once daily might not be enough for introducing such a docile fish. A temporary auto feeder can work wonders. Every few hours set so drops 2 or 3 small fish nls. I use tape to make the holes small enough.
mattzang
2500 Club Member
clowns are weird. mine were fine with anything and everything i put in after them, but my last fish i put in was a flame angel and the female clown decided she hated him for a couple of weeks. they worked it out in the end, but it was a rough intro for the flame. oddly enough she doesn't attack my hand.. yet
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