Clownfish bullying

jaehyeokeom

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Hello, my name is Jake. I am new to this hobby.

First I started with a 15 gallon fowlr tank with two clownfish.
One is regular orange occy(smaller) and another is black occy(bigger).
Since the first month, the black occy started bullying the other, so I decided to add another bigger orange occy(seems to be a female bc it was with another smaller clownfish in a tank at lfs when I bought her) to my tank. I thought having more clowns would help for aggression to spread between two clowns instead of just one getting bullied all the time.

But that didnt go as expected. The new orange occy and black occy together started bullying the smaller orange occy. They would beat him in the corner, and prevented him from getting any food whenever I fed them.

Then I thought a bigger tank might solve the whole problem, so bought a 55 gallon tank and put the victim clownfish in it FIRST just to get him used to a new tank before everyone else.
Meanwhile, in a 15 gallon tank, the black occy (an *******) now started bullying the bigger orange occy, so I had to move the bigger orange occy to 55 gallon system.
Two orange occys were fine with each other, and I think they paired up(swimming, chilling and sleeping together)

I eventually moved the last black occy to a 55 gallon tank, hoping that her aggression settles. Now the black occy chase the other two clowns, puts them in the corner and bullies them. Poor smaller orange occy has his fin nipped off as well as his tail.

So my question is, what will solve this aggression problem other than getting rid of the black occy? Will adding more clownfish help and making it a harem tank solve?
 

vtecintegra

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My opinion. Two clowns to a tank, and that's only if they bond and form a pair. They are very territorial. Immediately remove anyone that's being abused by others. Adding more is just going to multiply the problem. Only time I saw that work was when BRS took a huge number that were from the same clutch that were juveniles, and put them in with a ton of anemones. It was something like 20 to 30, but they weren't mature adults. You've got to keep it in perspective. A pair of clowns in the wild could have thousands of gallons, and will have an anemone for their habitat. 55 gallons is a drop in the ocean so to speak for a territorial clown. That's how they are genetically programmed.

Someone made a joke about three clowns one time. You're going to end up with a murder victim, a suspect, and a witness to the crime.
 

reefz

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ive never had luck with mixing two different colored occelaris clowns as a pair. I know it can happen, but i think they don’t like looking at eachother when one’s different. This makes them angry lol. I’d only keep a pair of place or orange. Good luck
 

aggrofish

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ive never had luck with mixing two different colored occelaris clowns as a pair. I know it can happen, but i think they don’t like looking at eachother when one’s different. This makes them angry lol. I’d only keep a pair of place or orange. Good luck
I’ve mixed several occelaris. I currently have a female black ice and a black storm male. This is the 3rd male to the same female. I’ve had the female a long time. Got sick before and I had to QT. Left the male in the display and it got beat up by a six line. Another jumped into the back of an AIO.

but to OP: keep the pair and sell, trade, give away the 3rd wheel
 
OP
OP
J

jaehyeokeom

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My opinion. Two clowns to a tank, and that's only if they bond and form a pair. They are very territorial. Immediately remove anyone that's being abused by others. Adding more is just going to multiply the problem. Only time I saw that work was when BRS took a huge number that were from the same clutch that were juveniles, and put them in with a ton of anemones. It was something like 20 to 30, but they weren't mature adults. You've got to keep it in perspective. A pair of clowns in the wild could have thousands of gallons, and will have an anemone for their habitat. 55 gallons is a drop in the ocean so to speak for a territorial clown. That's how they are genetically programmed.

Someone made a joke about three clowns one time. You're going to end up with a murder victim, a suspect, and a witness to the crime.
LOOOL nice joke
 

reefz

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I’ve mixed several occelaris. I currently have a female black ice and a black storm male. This is the 3rd male to the same female. I’ve had the female a long time. Got sick before and I had to QT. Left the male in the display and it got beat up by a six line. Another jumped into the back of an AIO.

but to OP: keep the pair and sell, trade, give away the 3rd wheel
it’s very much possible and people have been mixing clowns forever. But, in my experience, one always kills the other!
 

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