Clowns bonding....

Troylee · Dec 30, 2011

How do you tell if a pair will bond or not??? My clowns have a wierd behavior... Like one day a week they swim together in funky motions and the female goes in her home while the male sleeps outside against it... Then the rest of the week the female will bully and bite the male then he sleeps in the opposite corner of the tank hosting the water line...:( how do you know when it's gonna work or not?? I only have the 2 clowns a big female and tiny male... She just keeps bullying the little guy then one day there partners... Is this normal or not a good sign?? There from the Same broodstock I believe and 8 months old now... Tia.

MarvinsReef · Dec 30, 2011

they're probably still in the courting stage. sometimes it takes longer, but as long as there's no worrisome bite marks (open wounds), I think they'll figure it out sooner or later. hopefully soon. :)

Aquaph8 · Dec 30, 2011

Mine did the same thing. I felt sorry for the little guy, he kept getting kicked out of the house and then teased. Now they live together and lay eggs all the time and she still smacks him around even though he does all the work taking care of the eggs. Its hard being a male clownfish, the female definitely wears the stripes.

Troylee · Dec 30, 2011

I think if I added some fish it might help... There is only 2 clowns and a fire fish haha... Nothing to scare them lol..

JOSE CASAS · Dec 30, 2011

Just because one is smaller doesnt mean that it is a male. They start off as droids and then the more dominant ones become females and the rest are forced to become males. Until the less dominant one gives in they wont pair and will act funny. Like some one mentioned as long as they are not really hurting each other there is hope the smaller one will be forced to give in. hth

Just Clownin Around · Jan 1, 2012

www.ReefersCove.com said:
Just because one is smaller doesnt mean that it is a male. They start off as droids and then the more dominant ones become females and the rest are forced to become males. Until the less dominant one gives in they wont pair and will act funny. Like some one mentioned as long as they are not really hurting each other there is hope the smaller one will be forced to give in. hth

If the 2 fish have been together since day 1 the larger is the female. No if and or butts about it. The dominant one is the female which is the larger one