Clownfish Bonding

bigpa · Feb 18, 2020

I bought an anemone about a week and a half ago, I then added 2 clowns (purchased from same store but were in different tanks) put them in the tank together. They figured out the anemone in about 2 days and now the larger looks to be keeping the smaller out. Will this just take some time for them to bond and not fight? Right now they stay on opposite sides of the tank (one in the anemone and the other in the other corner behind a rock). Any suggestions?

Sosuke · Feb 18, 2020

bigpa said:
I bought an anemone about a week and a half ago, I then added 2 clowns (purchased from same store but were in different tanks) put them in the tank together. They figured out the anemone in about 2 days and now the larger looks to be keeping the smaller out. Will this just take some time for them to bond and not fight? Right now they stay on opposite sides of the tank (one in the anemone and the other in the other corner behind a rock). Any suggestions?

Yea its normal they have to work out who will be dominant. Are they the same size? My pair fought over a tiny anemone for weeks so I just got them a giant fake one :p

sarcophytonIndy · Feb 18, 2020

Sounds pretty typical. The bonding process can take weeks/months, but should happen eventually as long as they are still juvenile clowns.

bigpa · Feb 18, 2020

Ponyo said:
Yea its normal they have to work out who will be dominant. Are they the same size? My pair fought over a tiny anemone for weeks so I just got them a giant fake one :p

One is larger and was the dominant in the other tank I believe but the smaller one was alone. There is a clear size difference and the bigger one runs that anemone.

bigpa · Feb 18, 2020

sarcophytonIndy said:
Sounds pretty typical. The bonding process can take weeks/months, but should happen eventually as long as they are still juvenile clowns.

They look fairly young given how big they usually grow.