Clownfish not twitching properly

[brandonj978]

Hi all, I have had two ocellaris clownfish in a 15 gallon for about a year with no other fish. One (i'm assuming) is female and one male. Since they've been added into my tank they've gotten along very well. Occasional love taps but nothing out of the ordinary i'd say for clownfish. Recently however, my male has been kind of "banished" to the caves and corners of my tank, too afraid to explore the tank as they've usually done due to a slight increase of aggression from the female. And I do mean slight, no torn fins, biting, etc. Just mock charges without even any contact. Now this is the frustrating part: my male clownfish refuses to do the submission dance for the female. My female will twitch at him as if to show him what he needs to do but he just wont. It's like he's so close to doing it (turning on his side, swimming rapidly) when the female charges him, but no distinctive twitching. I've seen my male properly twitch before but now its like he just forgot how or refuses to do so. My question is: will this eventually sort itself out or can I expect my male clownfish to forever be banished to the dark corners of my tank, lol.

 

[SlugSnorter]

you sure it didn't become female for whatever reason? how much smaller is it than the other? also the submission can take a few days to it might (most likely situation) just be taking abit

 

[LiveFreeAndReef]

They should work it out, clowns are weird (and fun)

 

[brandonj978]

you sure it didn't become female for whatever reason? how much smaller is it than the other? also the submission can take a few days to it might just be taking abit

I would think its incredibly unlikely that it would become a female. It's about 30-40% smaller in mass and doesn't display any female like behaviors like fighting back or locking mouths. I'm going to ride it out, but the clowns have been together for a year and i've seen my male properly submit before. So i'm kind of at a loss as to why he suddenly decided to stop

 

[LiveFreeAndReef]

If it was an issue of having 2 females in the tank, you'd likely only have one female in the tank hahaha Maybe he's playing hard to get?

 

[SlugSnorter]

I would think its incredibly unlikely that it would become a female. It's about 30-40% smaller in mass and doesn't display any female like behaviors like fighting back or locking mouths. I'm going to ride it out, but the clowns have been together for a year and i've seen my male properly submit before. So i'm kind of at a loss as to why he suddenly decided to stop

another form discussion on this

" Well, I'm no expert, but this is what I found out by accident. I have a pair of Snowflake Clowns that were nice to each other for about 6 months. Then the Female (Bigger) started nipping, getting territorial, and chasing the Male around. The Male twitched to show submissiveness, but still got beat up. Well, I put them in a breeder net to make changes in the rock work to change up the territories. The weird thing is that they became nice to each other in the breeder net. I observed them to be kind of afraid of my scraper and watched them as they huddled together for security. So I left them in the breeder net for a while and would routinely scare them to watch them huddle up for safety with each other. I left them in there for a while... like around three to four weeks. I fed them in there and did my water changes with them in there; and guess what; they bonded to each other and to the breeder net strangely enough. It fixed the quarreling and now if I want to catch them for what ever reason, I just put the breeder net in there and come morning they will both be inside.

I know that it sounds crazy, but It's true.... ;-)"

if they aren't fighting, maybe female laid eggs and male is staying in the "home" do they have a nem?

or male is just being weird because clown weirdness