Clownfish Divorce

[mdbronco]

Hi,

I have a mid-size Davinci Clown that I've had for about a year who was one of the first tank inhabitants. About two weeks later, I got a much smaller Black Ice. Up until a few days ago, (so for almost a year) they got along well. No bickering, shadowing each other, and only co-hosting a Cespitularia.

Now, the once much smaller Black Ice, is kicking the daylights out of the bigger Davinci. So much so that the Davinci has lost a lot of color, is breathing incredibly fast, and lays wedged into a rock trying to avoid the Black Ice. Fins are torn are "she" looks really bad.

A few days ago I put her into a QT to let her rest and she rebounded. I then added the Black Ice into the QT and the pestering wasn't as bad but was still there. I then reintroduced the larger Davinci in the main tank, and a day later re-added the BI. My thought was to break up a territorial issue.

At any rate, it hasn't helped and I have moved the Davinci back into the QT. The only thing I can think of, other than getting rid of one, is to get a fish jail and put the BI into it and let the Davinci rule the roost in the DT for a while. Will this even work or should I just cut my losses and get rid of one? My thought is the Davinci, simply because I love the BI's coloring. Or should I not be dumb and remove the aggressor?

The thing is that the Davinci does absolutely nothing in terms of fighting back. Just swims away and does whatever it can to escape. So I'm wondering that if they are both female, why isn't she at least standing her own? Is it possible that the BI, although used to be much smaller, simply became the dominant one and is now also female?

Thanks!

 

[KrisReef]

Keep the one you like.
How big is the DT? Seems as if the Black Ice doesn't think it is big enough for both of them.
Don't wait to see who wins. Give the fish to someone who has a situation that will allow it to live in peace.

 

[mdbronco]

I like both but I hear you. DT is a 55 gallon. I was hoping to have 2 clownfish but should I just be happy with 1 and move on?

 

[Lukas75]

One of them has to go. Which one is of course up to you.

 

[mdbronco]

Can I ask - should I then attempt to find another one and pair it up or let the remaining one have a life of solitude?

 

[Lukas75]

You can try. Be sure whichever one you want to try to pair up the other fish is small enough to be a male.

 

[pirate2876]

I had this happen with some clowns once in my display. I removed them both to the frag tank and they resolved their issues amicably.

 

[EmilyXLC]

I've removed the aggressor before and re-homed them. Luckily the bullied one was able to make a full comeback.

 

[mdbronco]

Thanks. The bullied one seemed to be in rough shape after reintroducing 24 hours earlier, with torn fins, loss of color etc. But now that I have her in the QT, she's calmed down. I've already reached out to my LFS to see if they would take one. Total bummer as my son loved them and they seemed to be cool for almost a year...

 

[MTBake]

Good advice above.

You can try adding a new smaller clown with the one you want to keep. One of those clear acclimation boxes that hang inside the tank might help them get used to eachother.

 

[Peace River]

Thanks. The bullied one seemed to be in rough shape after reintroducing 24 hours earlier, with torn fins, loss of color etc. But now that I have her in the QT, she's calmed down. I've already reached out to my LFS to see if they would take one. Total bummer as my son loved them and they seemed to be cool for almost a year...

The easy solution is to get another tank - one for each! :D jk

Seriously though, the aggression and hierarchy issues with clowns are part of their magic and mystery.

I agree with the recommendations to rehome one. If you leave the smaller one in a tank alone it will likely transition to a female (not necessarily a bad thing). It would be reasonable to introduce a small juvenile with either fish. Good luck!

 

[mdbronco]

Thanks! I will keep the Black Ice and re-home the other. I guess it could have been worse and ended in a death, so that's a positive. I will try and find a very, very small mate and follow-up this thread with an update.

 

[Lukas75]

The easy solution is to get another tank - one for each! :D jk

Seriously though, the aggression and hierarchy issues with clowns are part of their magic and mystery.

I agree with the recommendations to rehome one. If you leave the smaller one in a tank alone it will likely transition to a female (not necessarily a bad thing). It would be reasonable to introduce a small juvenile with either fish. Good luck!

Joking? Why? If this were my home I'd have two tanks. J/K I had to merge tanks to lower the number I had active to a more manageable state and had to rehome my pink skunk. I gave him to a school tank in the area. It was the pink skunk or the GSM and my wife loves the GSM.

 

[Dom]

You may want to try the placing both in the QT and placing a divider in it. This would allow them to see each other but not hurt each other. After a while, they may become trained to think that they see each other but can't get to each other. Leave it this way for a few months and then pull the divider from the tank to see how the respond.

 

[OrionN]

These specially breed clowns have a real problem with pairing. There must be some mixed blood in your clowns up the line.
What happen is when your fish mature and start to pair up, they don't have their signal straight like pure bred fish. For each species there is a slight different in dominance and submissive behavior. They got their signal crossed so they keep on beating up each other.
When I breed clownfish, I often have problem with pairing these designer clowns. Sometime it is relatively easy, other time they almost kill each other, especially with cross species pairing.

 

[OrionN]

You may want to try the placing both in the QT and placing a divider in it. This would allow them to see each other but not hurt each other. After a while, they may become trained to think that they see each other but can't get to each other. Leave it this way for a few months and then pull the divider from the tank to see how the respond.

This won't work, nor various methods of keeping them seeing each other, because they are used to seeing each other. They grew up together. You either have to split them, or else keep them together and hope for the best, but know that you may loose one of them.

 

[Dom]

These specially breed clowns have a real problem with pairing. There must be some mixed blood in your clowns up the line.
What happen is when your fish mature and start to pair up, they don't have their signal straight like pure bred fish. For each species there is a slight different in dominance and submissive behavior. They got their signal crossed so they keep on beating up each other.
When I breed clownfish, I often have problem with pairing these designer clowns. Sometime it is relatively easy, other time they almost kill each other, especially with cross species pairing.

This is interesting. I'd like to read more. Can you provide the source of this information?

 

[Dom]

This won't work, nor various methods of keeping them seeing each other, because they are used to seeing each other. They grew up together. You either have to split them, or else keep them together and hope for the best, but know that you may loose one of them.

Perhaps, but the retraining comes in learning that they can't get to each other. Once they learn that they can't get to each other, they will give up trying. This is when you pull the divider.

I think this is a good approach. The injured fish has a chance to heal during this time, and that should be the first priority.

 

[OrionN]

Fish are not people. They don't really think. They don't try and/or give up trying. They don't try to get along and give up trying once they find out they can't.
As they mature, they will instinctively try to dominate and fight. The looser have behavior signals for submissiveness when he know that he lost to her. The case here is what when the looser put up the white flag, the winner does not recognized it as such so there is no truce and the fight goes on in the winner's mind. Therefore she keep on beating him up.
These are animal's instinctive behavior not rational thought process like human.

 

[Gareth elliott]

I hear if you move a tv monitor near the tank and play episodes of dr. Katz the fish lose interest in fighting each other and start trying only fighting middle aged men. So anyone in this group should not put their hand in the water after this.

. Here a picture of an otter eating a piranha.

good advice from previous posters :)