Clownfish babies fighting... normal?

Mike N · Jul 13, 2020

Got 5 baby clownfish about 3 weeks old, two pairs are fighting quite a lot lately.
I'm assuming this is pretty normal and nothing to worry about, but would like reassurance.
Only have five out of the 12 that I caught, so I don't want to lose any. I'll definitely separate them if need be.

ichthyogeek · Jul 14, 2020

Probably nothing to worry about except a hierarchy forming. You might have two pairs forming and establishing who's who.

Mike N · Jul 14, 2020

ichthyogeek said:
Probably nothing to worry about except a hierarchy forming. You might have two pairs forming and establishing who's who.

Thanks, I was hoping that was the case.
I'm suddenly less worried about losing one or two since we caught roughly 60-70 new hatches last night ;Woot

ThRoewer · Jul 18, 2020

Completely normal. As soon as they settle they start to fight. How bad it gets depends on the species and the density of juveniles.

Mike N · Jul 18, 2020

ThRoewer said:
Completely normal. As soon as they settle they start to fight. How bad it gets depends on the species and the density of juveniles.

Yeah, seems to be the normal garden-variety fighting. I overreacted because it was my first time getting clownfish through meta lol
All 5 are still alive and well. They share the same PVC elbow at night.

ThRoewer · Jul 18, 2020

Mike N said:
Yeah, seems to be the normal garden-variety fighting. I overreacted because it was my first time getting clownfish through meta lol
All 5 are still alive and well. They share the same PVC elbow at night.

Just 5? That explains the aggression.

If you have a hundred it will get better: