Clownfish getting beat up

[Mterry9239]

Hi everyone. So I have 4 clowns in total, 4 snowflake and 1 Gladiator, and have had them in same system for about a year now. Just recently I found my Gladiator breathing heavy and heavily beat up. So I observed for awhile. Everyone has been fine and even has went through a tank crash, tank actually popped the seals, and were in a 5 gallon bucket all together for about 36 hours. Every member in the system was attacking this poor guy beating him up. I checked for any signs of infection or anything to make him weak as we know mother nature takes course of action there. Nothing. I took him out for 10 days put him in hospital healed him and tried to reintroduce him. Same thing 30 minutes and my Clown once again beaten and almost ate by my diamond goby. Can anyone help me maybe figure this out or maybe find him a new home. I live in Wilkesboro NC.

 

[blaxsun]

4 clowns or 5 clowns? What about partitioning him off from the others with some egg crate or something to give him a chance to recover?

 

[Mterry9239]

4 in total only one different species.

 

[Mterry9239]

Dominate female hangs out by herself mostly and other 2 live in xenia coral that's taking over lol. The Gladiator was with the Dominate female then idk what happened. But for all my others including dwarf angel and diamond goby to be on the prowl for him is throwing me off. At first I thought they are getting bigger and challenging one another but that is not the case because the others are tearing him alive. So I have removed and put back in hospital.

 

[Mterry9239]

Is anyone in NC interested or anyone have something I could try or even an explanation

 

[DeniseAndy]

That combination will just not work. Sorry, they have it out for him and he will die unless you remove him. My guess is within a year, the others will find the dominant female and male and kill all others. I have seen it too much to even try anymore. Also, pretty sure snowflakes and gladiators are the same species. Different breeding lines.

In other words, get him out and put him in his own system. Prepare to move others too.

 

[vtecintegra]

Putting more than two clowns in a normal size tank is asking for trouble. They might get along when young, but then you see what happens. They can be very territorial.

I've noticed when a fish is injured or half dead, a mob mentally can happen where others will take a cheap shot trying to finish the fish off.