My clownfish are fighting!

[Bykagrl]

I bough these last weekend. They are a few months old, maybe 2? I purchased two for my mom, but her tank is still cycling so she's unable to take hers. I've noticed today that they are starting to fight each other. They will not come out of this corner of the tank either. They just let the food come to them. I'm feeding rods food. Should I separate them? When I purchased then there were at least 40 others. I'm not sure what to do. I don't want them to become stressed. They aren't eating that much either the food just blows around the tank. It's seems like the two larger ones are doing the most fighting. But the second largest is fighting everyone.

 

[Untamedrose]

They are fighting to figure out who get to be the girl... most cases they wont actually hurt hurt each other it's a dominance show mostly.

 

[melypr1985]

+1 I would separate them anyway. When we keep clowns in large quantities like that at an LFS it helps spread the aggression out among them all. When you have four like this it can take a bigger tole. Typically they wont cause much damage to each other, but the two most dominant may start causing more damage than normal. If you have some egg crate this will hopefully work to keep them apart, though if they are small enough they may be able to just swim right through the holes. There are other things you can do to separate them of course.

 

[Untamedrose]

wait? are two going to your mothers tank? when its finished?

 

[Bykagrl]

Thanks. Yes two of them will be leaving in about a month or so. I have a hang on breeder tank. I was thinking about putting hers in there. I have a 55 gallon but they just stay in the corner. They are the only fish in the tank. I have a starfish and a few snails. How would I get them out of the corner?

 

[melypr1985]

Thanks. Yes two of them will be leaving in about a month or so. I have a hang on breeder tank. I was thinking about putting hers in there. I have a 55 gallon but they just stay in the corner. They are the only fish in the tank. I have a starfish and a few snails. How would I get them out of the corner?

You can't get them out of the corner. Clownfish pick a spot to host and pretty much stay there. As they get more comfortable they might start venturing out but will return to their "spot" every time. The breeder tank will work, just keep it clean for them.

They may decide to try hosting a coral or nem if you add that to the tank, but the odds are pretty low. Dont get your hopes up about them hosting something cool. It happens, but not often enough to count on it.

 

[Wicked5oh]

It's my understanding that they are determining who will be the female.

I purchased a mated pair of maroons. And they hosted my pulsing Xenia with in a day.

 

[Webslinger]

Mine are hosted by a frogspawn. But they were hosted by a corner powerhead for 2 years till they found the frogspawn.

 

[Devon93274]

Clowns are beast fish. They can be extremely territorial, especially when one becomes established before another. They are very hardy. I had a full size maroon pick on a clown Identical to yours. I thought it was a goner, but surprisingly that little fish fought back every day lol