Love Triangle

[Jbyrd71]

Greetings R2R,

I purchased two young ocellaris clownfish, one died a short time after.

I went to my LFS to purchase another and they had a black & white and an orange & white clownfish which they said were “paired”.

I was a little skeptical initially about having 3 clownfish in the same tank but was assured that it was no issue so made the purchase and went on my way.

Upon introducing my new clowns to the tank the new orange and white went directly for my RBTA followed closely by the black & white. Of this “pair” the orange & white is significantly larger and quite obviously the dominant.

It wasn’t long before my existing clown became curious of the new duo and began to try and investigate them more closely. I say tried because the new pair would not let him near them or the BTA.

After some time the existing clownfish seemed to win the pair over and they all appeared to live in harmony. The existing clownfish even started to reside in the BTA with the pair.

Then one day I observed one of the “pair”, the black & white, was on the opposite end of the tank and the two orange & white were frolicking in the BTA. Now the two oranges stick together like glue and harass the black and white one. They try to prevent it from feeding and last night were very aggressively chasing him around the tank.

Is this normal? Can anyone tell me what has happened? Any insight is appreciated.

 

[sfin52]

you have aggression by the two clowns in the end they will kill that one. I would rehome it move to another tank .

 

[ngoodermuth]

Shift of hierarchy... black and white is now the odd man out. How big is your tank? Does he have plenty of room to "get away" when they chase him? If not, may need to rehome one...

If you'd rather keep the black and white you probably could, if you removed one of the orange. They would instinctively pair back up, after a little display of dominance from the remaining orange to make sure he still knows his place...