How long should I keep my fish sumped?

[Maddlesrain]

I recently was gifted a small (less than 3 inch) lightning maroon clownfish to replace my large female's (over 5 inch) late partner. They were paired for at least 5 years prior to his death.

The issue was that she was absolutely kicking the new guy's butt in the display tank. I was able to catch both of them and put them into the sump (at least a 10 gallon chamber) to find love. In the sump, she is very docile towards him. They have been in there together for about three days now, and I'm wondering how long I should keep the two of them down there? He does the courtship "dance" by nudging gently into her and shaking, and she'll occasionally nudge him back. I have only ever seen her reciprocate the shaking back to him once, but realize it's mainly the males that do this.

Unfortunately, I am unable to rearrange the rock structure because I cemented the main structure when setting up the tank—and anything else has established corals that make adjustments very difficult.


I'm hoping the honeymoon in the sump helps them bond, but I'd like to eliminate the possibility of her terrorizing him the moment they hit the display as much as possible!

Thank you for any advice.

 

[Rolliad]

I mean, there are people that have fish permanently in their sump. As long as it's big enough for the fish, it shouldn't matter.

 

[Rolliad]

Also, I have two damsels in my sump for similar reasons, except they were trying to kill the other fish not each other. They happily live in the sump now. I feed them at the same time as the display and even put a light down there on the same schedule as the display, and a couple of huge Mexican turbo snails as well so they have some snail friends. They've been down there 2 months and seem happy as ever.

 

[edsbeaker]

I don’t know if there is a definite timeline. The fact that they are getting along in the sump is promising. Maybe leave them there for a full week and hopefully by then the female will have forgotten she had a territory in the DT, and will stop beating him up when you move them back.

 

[Maddlesrain]

I mean, there are people that have fish permanently in their sump. As long as it's big enough for the fish, it shouldn't matter.

I'm more concerned with how long it will likely take for her to forget about the territory she was defending in the display tank. I don't want to keep them in the sump longer than necessary because I want to enjoy them / let them enjoy the anemone they have waiting for them.

 

[Maddlesrain]

I don’t know if there is a definite timeline. The fact that they are getting along in the sump is promising. Maybe leave them there for a full week and hopefully by then the female will have forgotten she had a territory in the DT, and will stop beating him up when you move them back.

I'm thinking a week right now as well. I'm trying to be patient and give them time (it's difficult! Haha) without prolonging it unnecessarily.

 

[edsbeaker]

I'm thinking a week right now as well. I'm trying to be patient and give them time (it's difficult! Haha) without prolonging it unnecessarily.

I totally get it. The thought of them being down there in your sump seems so mean! (It’s really not)
They will forgive you…someday. :rolling-on-the-floor-laughing:

 

[Rolliad]

Yah, at least a week, maybe two, depending on how they get along.

I sit with my damsels about 15 minutes a day and interact with them so that they have that in their life too.

 

[Rolliad]

I totally get it. The thought of them being down there in your sump seems so mean! (It’s really not)
They will forgive you…someday. :rolling-on-the-floor-laughing:

Haha my damsels prefer the sump at this point. They live in the live rock down there and consider it their home. They absolutely refuse to be moved back to the display so im just like fine, you're sump fish now. Lol!

 

[Maddlesrain]

Update: I ended up putting the pair back into the tank the day after Christmas since I had a couple days where I'd be home to keep an eye on them. So far, so good! They're both sleeping in their new carpet anemone at night, and generally hanging out together without the female trying to kill the male. Yay!