Clownfish hurtIng each other

Jennyw · May 23, 2019

I'm new to this, and worried

I got my baby clowns in January. They were about an inch long then, now they're maybe 1 1/2 inches long.

Today they are fighting and damaging fins. They've always mostly gotten along.

Yesterday they were being weird too- one wouldn't stop biting my trumpet Coral.

Should I intervene? I tried turning off the lights to distract them, it worked for about 6 seconds. They didn't even notice food in the tank (also trying to distract)

redfishbluefish · May 23, 2019

If they are both 1 1/2 inches, there is a chance you have two females....and yes, they will fight to the death. Let's have others see this.... #reefsquad

SDK · May 23, 2019

At one inch they would still be juveniles without a fixed sex yet. They are fighting for dominance to see who becomes the female. They should be OK, but you need to keep an eye on them and separate if one is getting too damaged. How big is your tank?

Buying clowns at two different sizes is a better strategy. It's counterintuitive and less convenient sometimes, but the bigger the size difference the better. The smaller clown will quickly accept the obvious and submit. If you have to permanently separate this pair, sell or trade one off, and purchase a significantly smaller clown to pair up with the one you keep.

Having said all that, hopefully this pair works things out...

Jennyw · May 23, 2019

I'm just surprised it's now, not 6 months ago they are arguing.

I should have given a few more details. We originally got 2 babies the same size. One didn't make it even 12 hours. We got a replacement that was SLIGHTLY bigger than the existing one, but it took a while to get because the lfs was out of clowns for a month

Jennyw · May 23, 2019

It's a 32 biocube. They're the only fish in there

BestMomEver · May 23, 2019

I had the exact same thing. One of my clowns had to be rescued as he was torn to shreds. I plucked him out and dropped him in my husband’s nano. He lived there by himself until I took my tanks down. They were returned together to the LFS and are living peacefully. The one I removed is now smaller.... the little man!

Mine were in a Biocube 32 as well.

SDK · May 23, 2019

Jennyw said:
I'm just surprised it's now, not 6 months ago they are arguing.

I should have given a few more details. We originally got 2 babies the same size. One didn't make it even 12 hours. We got a replacement that was SLIGHTLY bigger than the existing one, but it took a while to get because the lfs was out of clowns for a month

Six months later makes perfect sense. They don't usually start fighting until one or both start getting large enough to sexually maturing. That they didn't start fighting right away is a good sign (along with the small size) that they were both still "juveniles" when they were put together.

They will sort it out, or they wont. Not much you can really do other than monitor. Asking your tank size again too. It will be helpful if they are not in a tiny nano aquarium. They may go through a period of a few weeks, to a few months where having some space to get away from each other will be helpful.

Edit- Just saw your reply on the Biocube

Do you have an acclimation box or something handy to separate them? It's good to have one on hand. If it turns really bad, the loser might not survive waiting on Amazon Prime...