HELP! Female clownfish is killing male!

[OceanReefLover]

in my 14 gallon bio cube that I have had for over 3 years, with the ocellaris clowns who have lived together for 3 years in peace. However lately they have been severely attacking eachother. The female has bitten off almost all of the males back take and a lot of his fins. It is really bad and she will even grab onto him and start dragging him around. I originally thought she was pregnant or trying to mate, however I find it odd that whoever I turn the light off they start fighting and the second I turn it on, they stop. All water paremegers and stuff is fine. The females stomach appears to be bigger and earlier she had this long brown tube sticking out of her that eventually came out, not sure what that was.... anyways my theory is that she is pregnant and therefore extremely territorial, so when I turn the lights to a lower setting she doesn’t recognize the male and attacks. It’s just gotten so bad I’m worried he will be killed by her. Please any and al advice or insight!!! Thanks so much! I also attached a pic of how badly she has been biting his tale.

 

[spoonspider]

The long brown tube was fish poop! I actually dealt with this same problem, my female really went after my male. I found him on the sand bed heavily breathing with a shredded dorsal fin, and thankfully had another tank without any clowns or aggressive fish I put him into. He healed up just fine and became a she a few months after!
I unfortunately couldn’t find any solutions back then other than separating the two.
Some people recommend putting a picture of a bigger fish on their glass, and claim it helps to calm aggression. This is especially popular when trying to stop tang on tang aggression. It might work with your clowns, so it’s worth a shot, but if the little guy starts looking too beat up, it’ll be in his best interest to be removed.

 

[OceanReefLover]

The long brown tube was fish poop! I actually dealt with this same problem, my female really went after my male. I found him on the sand bed heavily breathing with a shredded dorsal fin, and thankfully had another tank without any clowns or aggressive fish I put him into. He healed up just fine and became a she a few months after!
I unfortunately couldn’t find any solutions back then other than separating the two.
Some people recommend putting a picture of a bigger fish on their glass, and claim it helps to calm aggression. This is especially popular when trying to stop tang on tang aggression. It might work with your clowns, so it’s worth a shot, but if the little guy starts looking too beat up, it’ll be in his best interest to be removed.

Ok I can maybe try to get a picture up, but the problem is that I don’t have another tank to remove and separate them. Also they are fine as long as the light is on. It’s just when the light is out that this happens, so I guess that’s good. I just don’t know what I would do if I can’t really separate them, I just don’t want to watch her attack him and maybe even kill him eventually but there doesn’t seem to be much I can do

 

[Peace River]

I am sorry to hear about your fish. Unfortunately the aggression is part of the wiring of clownfish and, while we don't always know why it happens, it sounds like the female is ready to mate and is currently overly aggressive in her attempts to make that happen. With the amount of damage that has happened to the male the immediate focus should be on separating them, treating his wounds, and allowing him to heal. His wounds may not be terminal at this point but he is at risk for infection - clownfish are resilient and can come back from this. Good luck with however you decide to move forward.

 

[OceanReefLover]

I am sorry to hear about your fish. Unfortunately the aggression is part of the wiring of clownfish and, while we don't always know why it happens, it sounds like the female is ready to mate and is currently overly aggressive in her attempts to make that happen. With the amount of damage that has happened to the male the immediate focus should be on separating them, treating his wounds, and allowing him to heal. His wounds may not be terminal at this point but he is at risk for infection - clownfish are resilient and can come back from this. Good luck with however you decide to move forward.

Ok well I guess it’s good that it’s kind of normal.. sometimes the male appears to be submitting and other times runs away. I’m just not sure what to do. Do you have any ideas on how I could somehow separate them? I don’t have another tank. The only thing I could think to do is put him in a one gallon bowl or something, but I could really only do that for like half a day. If anyone has any other suggestions on what to do, let me know!

 

[TriggersAmuck]

Ok well I guess it’s good that it’s kind of normal.. sometimes the male appears to be submitting and other times runs away. I’m just not sure what to do. Do you have any ideas on how I could somehow separate them? I don’t have another tank. The only thing I could think to do is put him in a one gallon bowl or something, but I could really only do that for like half a day. If anyone has any other suggestions on what to do, let me know!

I was putting a pair of fire clowns (previously unknown to each other) into my 14 gallon tank and so bought this in-tank breeder ahead of time in case issues came up:

https://www.petco.com/shop/en/petco...s/imagitarium-isolation-and-breeder-fish-tank

Fortunately I have only used it when introducing a few tiny gobies and pygmy wrasse into the tank to make sure they were adapted and eating before making them have to deal with the clowns and royal gramma. (It worked).

The breeder uses displaced air chambers to float on the surface and generally stays put when pulled up against the glass (assuming it is rimless). The inner separators are removable to give you one space utilizing the entire chamber. Hope this helps.

 

[Peace River]

I would recommend that you research quarantine tanks or hospital tanks. It doesn't need to be fancy - a five or ten gallon tank with a air pump and sponge filter (and possibly a small heater) along with some type of medicine for treatment. An acclimation box can be a reasonable solution for separation, but makes any type of treatment more of a challenge. Good luck!

 

[Skynyrd Fish]

Sounds like you may need to get a QT. You need a tank, heater and hang on filter. 10 gal will work. Check craigslist for used. Should be about $80 new.

 

[TriggersAmuck]

Sounds like you may need to get a QT. You need a tank, heater and hang on filter. 10 gal will work. Check craigslist for used. Should be about $80 new.

Probably good to look for some Fritzyme Turbo 900 starter bacteria (refrigerated) to kick start this quarantine tank. That is the only one that I have found has done anything for me (ammonia-wise).

 

[OceanReefLover]

update: the male now has a corner of the tank behind a rock and every 30 seconds the female swims over there and they just go face to face and look at eachother. Not attacking just going right up to eachother, so at least they aren’t fighting. If they start fighting again I’m most likely going to try to get one of those clear boxes to float in the tank that u would put the male in and hopefully that would help them out.

 

[TriggersAmuck]

Hearing your story is making me very nervous regards my pair of Fire Clowns, as I managed to introduce them initially without any issues (which can be problematic for the Tomato-like species of clowns, more so than perculas and occs). But knowing that the facts on the ground can change in a heartbeat got me revisiting my emergency plan in case the larger clown decides to go postal. I bred Maroons in a 40g tank and upwards before, but 14 gallons (same as yours) simply doesn't provide a lot of escape space for the victim.

 

[Berlibee]

I am sorry to hear about your fish. Unfortunately the aggression is part of the wiring of clownfish and, while we don't always know why it happens, it sounds like the female is ready to mate and is currently overly aggressive in her attempts to make that happen. With the amount of damage that has happened to the male the immediate focus should be on separating them, treating his wounds, and allowing him to heal. His wounds may not be terminal at this point but he is at risk for infection - clownfish are resilient and can come back from this. Good luck with however you decide to move forward.

I'd sign under each word in this message. We had a similar situation and there is not much to do. I'd get a box like this for male:



Good luck, they just need time. They can get friends again or she can kill him. It's really a lottery sometimes even with logn time breeding pairs.

 

[LadyMac]

If he doesn’t need medication, and you want to keep him in the tank perhaps this would do?

Large Aquarium Fish Tank Breeder Breeding Net Baby Fry Newborn Box Hatchery US | eBay

Find great deals for Large Aquarium Fish Tank Breeder Breeding Net Baby Fry Newborn Box Hatchery US. Shop with confidence on eBay!

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[Fudsey]

If they are big enough not to fit through, you could get some eggcrate at Home Depot or Lowes and divide the tank.

 

[Jeeperz]

I'd separate them, qt the male in a 5 or 10 and at least use some sea chem stress guard to help ward off infection. Make sure to use the appropriate starter bacteria like biospira or similar.

 

[Dom]

I'd sign under each word in this message. We had a similar situation and there is not much to do. I'd get a box like this for male:



Good luck, they just need time. They can get friends again or she can kill him. It's really a lottery sometimes even with logn time breeding pairs.

Like this idea! Isolate the male for protection without a QT.

 

[Berlibee]

Just when selecting a box, choose one transparent, it's essential. This is how we pair difficult females. If they are in something like the one posted here with mesh walls, the females won't see him very much. It's crucial that she can see him every day around and his signs of submitting, shaking, etc. in case she's charging on him when he's in the box.

 

[OceanReefLover]

sad update: I was able to separate him but he was just so badly hurt by the female, and I honestly can’t believe this because they have been so great together for 3 YEARS. But he is just laying down in his quarantine box I was able to get into the tank, breathing heavily, pale, and unfortunately appears to be in the verge of death. This is just really sad for me considering these have been my only fish for 3 years, it’s just really sad and I’m not sure what I’m gonna do now. I guess I’ll figure it out but I just wish I was able to do something sooner

 

[Jeeperz]

Sorry to hear that. Sometimes nature is cruel, even when it's in a glass box.

 

[Terri Caton]

Hormones. Ugh! My recommendation is to leave her the only clown in the tank. If you want a second fish get something different.

Clowns are not nice Nemos like people think.