Clownfish Killed Mate

RhiD08

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Hi there!

Over this passed week, my larger clownfish, Amphitrite, has been picking on my smaller clownfish, Poseidon. Because of this, Poseidon started to hide within the coral and in a little cave in the tank. I kept an eye on him to make sure he wasn’t getting too beat up and researched a bit only to find that it’s quite normal and could be the female asserting her dominance so I let it play out. Yesterday, Poseidon’s fins were a little bit nipped at but nothing too bad, it happened before when I first got them and it healed pretty quickly. But today I came back from work to find Poseidon pretty beat up and laying on the sand bed between the rocks, completely missing his tail. I ran out and got a breeder box and placed him in it to separate him from Amphitrite and he was swimming around and seemed to be doing alright though he looked rough. I was just about to head to bed and have found him dead unfortunately. I’ve had these two ocellaris clowns for over a year and a half, I got them when they were pretty small and I’m absolutely gutted! :(

My question is why did this happen and is there anything that could have stopped this? Also, should I get another clownfish to pair with her or is it likely that she will kill that one too? If I do get another clownfish, how should I go about introducing them?

Thank you in advance for any help and advice!
 

CocoReef

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Sorry to hear about this. Had this happen when I got my first pair of clowns. Luckily I took the aggressor back to my lfs once things started to go too far. My once was oliver became olivia lol. You can try adding a new clown but Id be attentive in case Amphitrite gets too aggressive
 

CocoReef

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Hi there!

Over this passed week, my larger clownfish, Amphitrite, has been picking on my smaller clownfish, Poseidon. Because of this, Poseidon started to hide within the coral and in a little cave in the tank. I kept an eye on him to make sure he wasn’t getting too beat up and researched a bit only to find that it’s quite normal and could be the female asserting her dominance so I let it play out. Yesterday, Poseidon’s fins were a little bit nipped at but nothing too bad, it happened before when I first got them and it healed pretty quickly. But today I came back from work to find Poseidon pretty beat up and laying on the sand bed between the rocks, completely missing his tail. I ran out and got a breeder box and placed him in it to separate him from Amphitrite and he was swimming around and seemed to be doing alright though he looked rough. I was just about to head to bed and have found him dead unfortunately. I’ve had these two ocellaris clowns for over a year and a half, I got them when they were pretty small and I’m absolutely gutted! :(

My question is why did this happen and is there anything that could have stopped this? Also, should I get another clownfish to pair with her or is it likely that she will kill that one too? If I do get another clownfish, how should I go about introducing them?

Thank you in advance for any help and advice!
To introduce I would start the new clown in your breeder box to get the two used to each other and see how Amphitrite reacts.
 
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