Hey everyone,
So I have a pair of Spotcinctus clownfish that I've had for at least 4 years if not 5. They have been with me from a 28 gal to a 55 and In august, they were moved across the country into a 300-gallon. this entire time they've never even attempted to breed despite being massive clownfish easily over 4 inches if not 5. Still, they have always displayed normal hierarchy dominance behaviors. I've always thought it was weird that they never even tried but being designer clownfish I figured it was possible they were siblings and some instinctual aversion was happening. The male clown has always seemed more into breeding behavior but the female never reciprocated. Despite this, they always got along great and would spend most of their time together.
So this past Monday night I started a lights-out period for my tank to deal with some cyano. When I turned the lights back on I noticed immediately that the female was in rough shape. Lost scales, torn fins, the works. After some observation, I realized that it was the male clownfish doing the attacking. and it wasn't even just nipping he was clamping onto her gills and holding on. After seeing all this happen, it seems to me as though the male clown is trying to fight for dominance right? When I looked objectively, it does seem like the male has grown a lot recently and it is now similar in size to the female. The weird thing though (I'll attach a video but beware it's like 2 mins long. the male is the one on the left at the beginning of the video) is that I've seen both of them display submissive behaviors during these fights. The large female doesn't seem to be fighting at all and is completely submissive
It seems obvious that the answer is separation (luckily I'm setting up a nice planted refugium underneath so I can put her down there and she should be pretty happy. I'm just curious if anyone has ever heard of such a long-term pair suddenly having issues like this. The male was gigantic by male standards, by any other clownfish pair standards, he'd easily be a female.
Thanks everyone!
So I have a pair of Spotcinctus clownfish that I've had for at least 4 years if not 5. They have been with me from a 28 gal to a 55 and In august, they were moved across the country into a 300-gallon. this entire time they've never even attempted to breed despite being massive clownfish easily over 4 inches if not 5. Still, they have always displayed normal hierarchy dominance behaviors. I've always thought it was weird that they never even tried but being designer clownfish I figured it was possible they were siblings and some instinctual aversion was happening. The male clown has always seemed more into breeding behavior but the female never reciprocated. Despite this, they always got along great and would spend most of their time together.
So this past Monday night I started a lights-out period for my tank to deal with some cyano. When I turned the lights back on I noticed immediately that the female was in rough shape. Lost scales, torn fins, the works. After some observation, I realized that it was the male clownfish doing the attacking. and it wasn't even just nipping he was clamping onto her gills and holding on. After seeing all this happen, it seems to me as though the male clown is trying to fight for dominance right? When I looked objectively, it does seem like the male has grown a lot recently and it is now similar in size to the female. The weird thing though (I'll attach a video but beware it's like 2 mins long. the male is the one on the left at the beginning of the video) is that I've seen both of them display submissive behaviors during these fights. The large female doesn't seem to be fighting at all and is completely submissive
It seems obvious that the answer is separation (luckily I'm setting up a nice planted refugium underneath so I can put her down there and she should be pretty happy. I'm just curious if anyone has ever heard of such a long-term pair suddenly having issues like this. The male was gigantic by male standards, by any other clownfish pair standards, he'd easily be a female.
Thanks everyone!
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