clowns fighting

gonewild34

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one of my breeding pairs of clowns are head butting the mate they keep doing this is this normal
 

KLR

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That is a video of my SA Misbar Onyx and Grade B Picasso when I first introduced the misbar to the tank (almost 2 years after the picasso).
They did this for 2 weeks and now they are a happy pair.

If you do not see any torn off scales, multiple torn fins, bite marks, or similar signs of being harassed on either of the fish I would not stress over it.

However, make sure you are checking on them daily, as things could quickly escalate from head butting to a fight to death, because it is nature and not everything is known,hahaha.

This is all in my experience though, so take from it what you want to.

Good luck!
 
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gonewild34

gonewild34

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that is exactly what they are doing they have been paired for over 2 years so i dont know why they are starting now thankx for the info
 

Alpha Aquaculture

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That is a video of my SA Misbar Onyx and Grade B Picasso when I first introduced the misbar to the tank (almost 2 years after the picasso).
They did this for 2 weeks and now they are a happy pair.

If you do not see any torn off scales, multiple torn fins, bite marks, or similar signs of being harassed on either of the fish I would not stress over it.

However, make sure you are checking on them daily, as things could quickly escalate from head butting to a fight to death, because it is nature and not everything is known,hahaha.

This is all in my experience though, so take from it what you want to.

Good luck!

Kelby hit the nail right on the head. One thing I might add is that all clownfish are born gender neutral or male. Over time one clownfish in a pair becomes more dominant and aggressive and female. This is the pairing process for clownfish. In my experience about 20-30% of the time they may fight to the death if placed in a small tank, the larger the tank the better chance for success generally. This usually means the female kills the male but I have seen a very small males rip apart a much larger female. As Kelby said, look for fins that are bit up. Sometimes 12-24 hours from no problem to near death and removal being a must. Just keep an eye on them ;)
 

KLR

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Oh, interesting. I am not sure why they would start doing that randomly. Have you changed your scape(if there are rocks in their tank) or the location of their host animal or "nest" area if they do not have a host?
Maybe a clownfish breeder will jump in with more information on the subject in this situation.
 

Alpha Aquaculture

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that is exactly what they are doing they have been paired for over 2 years so i dont know why they are starting now thankx for the info

I have found that over time as a pair matures together they go through phases. After some time the female will begin to insist that the male does the behavior that she wants. A female will all of a sudden become aggressive and force the male to stay in one spot. Its her effort to breed and train the male to stay where she wants him to stay (where she wants to lay the eggs). Although many other factors can contribute. For example if the female sees another male she might decide she doesn't like her male anymore and try and kill him.
 
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gonewild34

gonewild34

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nothing has changed but its the smaller clown head butting the larger female she doesnt really do anything just flips her tail then he spots for acouple of mins then does it agin
 

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