Issue pairing clowns

[Octopud]

Hello r2r,

I've got two ocellaris clowns in my wb20. The clown I believe to be a female and another clown were added back in January. Unfortunately, what I believe to be the male of the pair didn't make it - some kind of undiagnosed internal issue. After this, I purchased a juvenile clown online and went through the full recommended quarantine procedure with it. After quarantine, I put the juvenile clown into my DT, first in a breeder box for a week, then released with observation being sure to separate them when aggression was getting severe.

It's been 3 weeks since they were first introduced, and the smaller clown is starting to look even more tattered and beat up. All of his visible fins are split. I've noticed my original female clown shuddering and rubbing up against the new one but aggression is still getting very high at times. I'm worried about leaving them unattended again and I'm not sure what else I can try.

I've tried separating and reintroducing them to each other several times via breeder box - I haven't tried removing the female and reintroducing them to the tank entirely, though that was my next step. Any other recommendations or insights? Hoping I don't have to rehome him - I've grown attached to the little guy :(

Thanks for the help

 

[cdemoss01]

Interesting. It may not be meant to be, nature will take its role etc.

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

If the larger one won't let you add another fish to the tank, then its time to go. Either back to the store or just give it away, a free clown will be gone within hours.

 

[Tahoe61]

Definitely remove the female for a time out in the breeder box and change up the scape if able. If that doesn't work you may have to switch out a clown.
Clowns are aggressive but when one fish is showing physical injuries it's time for a serious intervention.
For reasons only the clownfish know a female may reject and kill another clown.