fighting percula clowns

[danny.paulus]

I have 2 misbar perculas, and the bigger (I'm assuming its a female) is constantly being aggressive towards the smaller one (male?) and chasing him around the tank and nipping his fins. I even caught her grabbing him by the tail fin. they have been together in a 20 gal for about 5 months or so. will this aggressiveness eventually end, or will it continue until the smaller one is beaten to death? Is there anything I can do to help? I appreciate any advice

 

[bairdimusprime]

This is part of the natural swing of things.
this behavior is the larger clown displaying dominance. ultimately it will stop. they should become a pair and with the right conditions you'll get eggs... every three weeks or so.. let nature do its thing unless it becomes too dangerous for the smaller clown
best of luck

 

[fagundespavinp3]

yeah I had this happen to me and the clown lasted less than 24 hrs before the little one was dead.

 

[danny.paulus]

Well the agression has really amped up the last month in a half, and the little clown is looking worse and worse every week

 

[SeahorseKeeper]

If the clown is looking worse (tattered fins, losing weight), I would separate them. Sometimes clowns will reject each other.

 

[Sully]

I just lost a WW clown that I had as part of a pair for almost 4 months. They were bought as juveniles and there was one that always showed dominance but the other did his little clown shimmy and they seemed to be coexisting just fine. Went to bed one night and they were hovering together after lights out under the return from my skimmer as usual. Got home from work the next day and POOF, the one was gone. Turned out to be an expensive loss as I hoped they would pair but I guess she wasn't interested in him.