Mean Girl clown fish, will she ever be nice?

New&no clue · Feb 27, 2020

I have a 30 gallon with two snowflake clown fish. I got them when they were very tiny as a pair at my LFS. When I put them in my tank I immediately saw that one was slightly bigger than the other (although no one else could see the difference) and also more dominate so I assumed it was female and the other male. Since than (about a month) while both have gotten bigger, the female has grown noticeable larger than the male. The female also refuses to let the male be anywhere near her. The two spend all day on opposite sides of the tank. If he tries to come over to her side she chases him off, nips at him, pushes him... and he sadly goes back to his side. She is fine with the other fish in the tank, a teeny tiny green clown goby, and a YWG. I have a 75 gallon as well with a clown pair and those two are always together, however, those I got when they were much bigger. Having never had clown fish that were so young I didn't know if it was normal for them to take some time to pair?

maroun.c · Feb 27, 2020

I doubt you have 2 females or else the dominant one would have killed the other.
They might work it out when shes sexually mature to lay eggs or things could get worse and she might kill him. Observing them is key and taking him out if nstart seeing torn fins and more aggressive behavior.

fishguy242 · Feb 27, 2020

+1 enough said there maroun.c

New&no clue · Feb 27, 2020

What should I look for in escalated aggression? Currently it reminds me of an annoyed sister with her brother... mom of two kids here. The smaller one is never aggressive towards her and immediately moves away when she starts after him, so I've pretty convinced it a boy.

maroun.c · Feb 27, 2020

Yes I'd look for escalated aggression, submissive Male behavior of the Male or lack of in case hes trying to turn female .... guess time will tell. How long did u have them ?