How much clownfish aggression is too much?

[dach]

Intervening is sometimes just delaying the inevitable. They aren't dogs. It's instinct and what they do. It's kinda like trying to stop Salmon from swimming upstream.
I'd provide hiding places and cover the tank and let them sort it out. Worst case scenario get them a marriage counselor.

Lol yeah i was thinking bring one back and hope to get a more mellow one or something vs the breeder box being temporary, not tryna have one die and be out 100 bucks

 

[dach]

In all honesty to me he doesn't look that bad. Mine would tear each other up and then the female grew and kicked the male's butt up and down that tank. He lived in a 4" square area behind a flow pump for like two months. Came out to grab a food pellet when she wasn't looking and got his butt kicked for doing it. Now they are perfect couple. She tells him what to do and he does it. Case closed

I can only hope the same happens in my tank lol, I’ve seen signs of it but they’re going thru a bullying phase lol

 

[dach]

Well I thought my two clowns were the most peaceful thing but once they started breeding they were so aggressive and attacked everything. I wanted to say your tank is beautiful though.

Thank you!

 

[flyfisher2]

I know to some it sounds cruel but we ain't fish. I'm not sure if it's okay to post a paragraph from this book here so I won't do it but this isn't just made up stuff. It's the way it is. Nemo's mom,Coral, was abusive to Marlin.He needed to call the cops for Domestic Violence but he didn't cuz she would kick his butt some more!

 

[dach]

yeah i get it, I’m all for letting it ride (I’m pretty fond of the pair and want them to figure it out) just as long as they both live lol

 

[Reef.]

yeah i get it, I’m all for letting it ride (I’m pretty fond of the pair and want them to figure it out) just as long as they both live lol

I agree with you, keeping them alive is your main priority here…letting them fight it out is an option but so was swimming to a new territory for Nemo if things got too tough!

 

[Goaway]

yeah i get it, I’m all for letting it ride (I’m pretty fond of the pair and want them to figure it out) just as long as they both live lol

If it makes you feel better, I have 3 clownfish. and my smallest one puts a stomping on my largest one. She wont mess with him. And she tries. When my little one grows up, I may have to make a nano tank for him/her

 

[Goaway]

You think they’re both female at under 2 inches each? And they still do the shaking at each other, just the chasing is excessive. For reference, i got them a month ago now and when i first got them the black storm still looked mocha. The chasing started about a week or so ago.

day1 in tank:

and yes, they can be both changing to female. They would know this. You can't see it until max size as females are larger.

 

[flyfisher2]

All clowns are born male. If you buy larger adolescents it is possible to have two females which will duel to the death. This is why it's always recommended to buy a larger (female) and a small (male).The likely hood of obtaining a pair is higher doing so. Some people buy two equally sized larger fish and all they've done is create a fight to the death for two fish with no place to run to.

 

[jaganshi066]

If it makes you feel better, I have 3 clownfish. and my smallest one puts a stomping on my largest one. She wont mess with him. And she tries. When my little one grows up, I may have to make a nano tank for him/her

I had three too and they all got along but 3 or 4 months later my two that were originally in there started attacking every fish, probably cause they were breeding. They would chase the third one really badly and every other fish that came near them so I just gave them to the fish store

 

[Goaway]

I had three too and they all got along but 3 or 4 months later my two that were originally in there started attacking every fish, probably cause they were breeding. They would chase the third one really badly and every other fish that came near them so I just gave them to the fish store

I know it can happen
I just now need to prepare for it. If the go into breeding mode, I may have to relocate the pair. I don't want more injured fish. I just hope it doesn't happen

 

[flyfisher2]

I know it can happen
I just now need to prepare for it. If the go into breeding mode, I may have to relocate the pair. I don't want more injured fish. I just hope it doesn't happen

I hope my mortgage payment doesn't come due the first of the month.

 

[Goaway]

I hope my mortgage payment doesn't come due the first of the month.

Don't get me started~!

 

[Birdbrains?]

would that advice still be good for the OP with their 20g tank though?

Imo the tank size is not a problem. I keep a larger pair (polymnus) in a smaller tank and they love it. Ofc. they had that period with the dominant relentlessly chasing the subdominant but they figured it out, and learned to get along famously.

yeah I’m just wondering when i would need to actually step in, i know that sometimes the pairs don’t work out and the female will kill the male, so if that’s gonna happen, I’d rather intervene

Fish are, very angry creatures.

When the smaller one seems to get tired or tattered, giving it a break to recover is a good idea. It is just chasing and it does cause the smaller fish both exhaustion and bruises. While in nature the weaker fish could swim away when it needed a break, in our aquariums the stress of not being able to get away, can kill it. When a fish feels stress, its body is affected for 12 hours afterwards.
Being unable to swim away and catch a break, is what kills a lot of clowns in the bully-stage of clownfish courtship.

They beat themselves silly. Sometimes to the death or til one jumps out. Then they bond or the president calls a truce and everybody's good like my tank.

+ one to this. Fish lack humane instincts, so for human observers, they seem to act very cruel but it is just the way fish act.

When a fish is actually trying to kill another fish, they do stuff like nip at the fins until there is only stumps left. The clownfish courtship bully-stage is just a big stress factor for the future male of the pair, and fish can easily die from stress.

what do you think of the picture of the orange clown on page 1? Is that torn up badly or just moderately? He’s still eating and everything, just being bullied to no tomorrow lol

Imo it's moderate. Enough to give the fish a break but not enough to consider returning the fish to the LFS.

In all honesty to me he doesn't look that bad. Mine would tear each other up and then the female grew and kicked the male's butt up and down that tank. He lived in a 4" square area behind a flow pump for like two months. Came out to grab a food pellet when she wasn't looking and got his butt kicked for doing it. Now they are perfect couple. She tells him what to do and he does it. Case closed

That is a great explanation of how the development goes.

The stronger fish will bully the weaker one to trigger the hormone developments. And when the future female have had time to go through growth bursts while the future male is stunted, they start to develop the adult clownfish relationship. From what I have read, it takes 2 years for clownfish to reach sexual maturity, so what we see in our tanks when we introduce juvie clowns, can be seen more or less like teenagers fighting over who is going to be the boss in the relationship.

Being humans, it is upsetting to see the inhumane behaviour of fish but it is how their relationships are supposed to develop. It is a stage that passes and OPs setup seems to just need a little more time until the clowns settle down.

 

[dach]

Hi all,

Thanks again for all the positivity and great tips! I think it finally happened... there was a quick battle... but then it seems that the black storm did a special little victory wiggle. The last 3 days the orange storm is no longer running and seems to just be hanging out. I’m hoping they have made it official, the black storm is the female.

The orange storms fins are still shredded but hopeful since the nipping is much less and he isn’t being chased all day, they will grow back.

Here is a video of the two being fairly friendly.

Video

Once again thanks for all the advice, you have all been amazing.

 

[Goaway]

Beautiful tank! They are just acting like a normal couple of clowns now.

 

[Reef.]

Well done on holding out, I would have struggled!

They definitely look in pairing mode now.