HELP CLOWNFISH UNPAIRED?

Do you think they have unpaired?

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alahna.nine

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About 3 months ago me and my boyfriend bought a nano-saltwater tank (upgrading soon) with two ocellaris clownfish. We also bought a cleaner shrimp all from PetCo (there are no marine stores near us), and the tank was running perfect. All levels were good, our male Svedka was doing the submissive dance with Fireball. This kept up for about 2 1/2 months, then we noticed that Svedka grew to about the same size as Fireball and Fireball started fin nipping. Me and my boyfriend watch them quite frequently and have only seen them do the mouth fight once while they were eating, but now they don't fight often but they also don't go near each other. We had a bubbler that we didn't know was bad, so we took it out and bought a wave maker that we have run a couple times a day, this seemed to somewhat help with the aggression (although they loved the bubbler) Sometimes they swim next to each other most of the time nothing happens but fireball can sometimes get aggressive and bite Svedka. We separated them for a couple hours, rescaped and introduced them again and they did the submissive dance once, then went back to how they were. They aren't constantly going after each other, but they don't seem to be paired anymore. Lastly, we sometimes see them sleep in the same area without fighting. Im just very confused if this is something we should separate, or if they are paired but don't swim together. I'm just concerned that they are the same size.

Please don't attack me for anything, I am learning but being very careful. We are still in college but did spend money on a wave maker, protein skimmer, and everything they need. We test water frequently. But our fish are healthy, we just don't know what we can do about them "unpairing" if you do have advice on something we can be doing better however I will for sure appreciate the help!
 

fishguy242

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hi sounds like normal maturing behavior,one is becoming female,you are doing things right,watch closely ,chasing lil nipping ok,lip locking,fin grabbing ,act asap , :)
 

fishguy242

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You should do the meet and greet, meet the reef ;) :)
 

Hugh Mann

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+1 to check out the meet and greet, lots of great folks around here.

Definitely sounds like your clowns are just growing up and establishing the pecking order, the dominant one will transition into a female and continue to grow, while the males growth will slow down, if I recall my clownfish biology correctly.
 

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