Emergency!!!!

[AquariumDani]

I've had my pair of Onyx Clownfish for 2 weeks now (today marks the 2-week mark). I woke up and THEY'RE FIGHTING. WHY?! The smaller one is being aggressive and the bigger one is just still kinda chillin but defending itself. No blood is drawn.

For the past 2 weeks, they have been so peaceful to each other, "sleep" together, place together, the small one follows the big one around.

Why is this happening?
What do I do?

 

[shred5]

I've had my pair of Onyx Clownfish for 2 weeks now (today marks the 2-week mark). I woke up and THEY'RE FIGHTING. WHY?! The smaller one is being aggressive and the bigger one is just still kinda chillin but defending itself. No blood is drawn.

For the past 2 weeks, they have been so peaceful to each other, "sleep" together, place together, the small one follows the big one around.

Why is this happening?
What do I do?

There pairing up.. They are fighting over who gets to be female..
Normal.. Usually starts out ruff and then gets less as one starts to submit.
In most cases the larger of the two will win.
Once adults the female will occasionally still beat up on the male in most cases letting him know who is boss and who eats first.

 

[mch1984]

They are just trying to determine dominance. If it gets out of control you'll have to do something, but it sounds pretty normal at the moment. Once they decide who is the boss it will calm down, but never be gone. Once one transitions into being a female then she will always pick on the male a little but nothing out of hand.

 

[AquariumDani]

I a

There pairing up.. They are fighting over who gets to be female..
Normal..

I assumed the bigger one was already the female. "She" was so large in comparison to the smaller one.

 

[PDR]

How big are they?

 

[Geebs19]

Good advice from above!

 

[shred5]

I a

I assumed the bigger one was already the female. "She" was so large in comparison to the smaller one.

I was still editing my post. I added to it.

If you bought them together they were probably both juveniles and have no sex.

If you bought them as adults you could have issues and have two females but I doubt you did that...

 

[AquariumDani]

How big are they?

This is them when I got them 2 weeks ago, they're not much bigger now.

 

[mch1984]

Both look like juvenile to me, i'm sure they are just trying to get the pecking order established.

 

[AquariumDani]

Both look like juvenile to me, i'm sure they are just trying to get the pecking order established.

When I left my apartment and just went back to take a photo, they weren't fighting anymore. That's good, right?

 

[SashimiTurtle]

This is them when I got them 2 weeks ago, they're not much bigger now.

Those look to be juveniles. Around an inch and a half maybe. My female is super chill(until you put a coral beauty angel in the tank, long story) and has never attacked me or any of the fish in the tank with her currently. Shes almost 4" long and super chunky. Her mate is around 3" long and they are always together. Not really any aggression between them as the male knows his place.

Once they pair up and the dominant one turns female and the submissive male, the agression should stop, or at least go way down. If you start to see torn fins and missing scales, then I would do something about it.

 

[SDK]

It's the aquarium version of teen dating. Sometimes complete with lip locking ;)

 

[shred5]

When I left my apartment and just went back to take a photo, they weren't fighting anymore. That's good, right?

It can go one for a while.. I got two Wyoming whites that have been fighting for almost 6 months.
They sleep together at night and during the day the one going to be female keeps the one up in the corner and at feeding time she forces him down...
Sometimes a pair wont happen but it is rare.. I have kept hundreds of pairs and only had this happen once.
I suspect the male had some defect and the female knew it. She needs a good male for the eggs.
Sometimes feeding more can help.
The one that is going to be female wants more nutrition so it can grow faster and bigger.
Later on it will be because the female needs the nutrition to develop eggs..

 

[mch1984]

It's the aquarium version of teen dating. Sometimes complete with lip locking ;)

best answer yet.

 

[AquariumDani]

Clowns are doing better. they haven’t been fighting, they’re swimming together and hosting the corner of the tank all over again as if nothing happened this morning. children

 

[mch1984]

Glad to hear it calmed down some for the moment.