EpisodeMnH
Community Member
So first and foremost let me give full background and story. I have an Ocellaris Clownfish pair, one orange and one black, I have now had them together for over 2 years since babies, so there have been no new additions. In that time, it has been pretty clear that the leader so to speak is the orange one. There very clearly has been consistent dominant behavior. However, last week I noticed extra aggression, she would not leave him alone and kept chasing him and charging him. There were no nipped fins tho or actual damage, so I figured maybe it was mating behavior. Plus it ceased after that so I figured there was no issue. Fast forward to today, I leave for work today and everything is normal, I get back home 8 hours later and the black one is at the bottom of the tank wedged between the back wall and some rock. I immediately panicked since he looked like he was on his dying breaths. On top of this, the orange one was continuing to peck at him, even in this cowering state. I chased her away with a net and after me being in front of the tank for a while, the black one slowly got back to mostly normal behavior. He didn’t eat when I initially fed the tank, but about 15 minutes later when he was more calmed down, I sprinkled a tiny amount of flakes in and he did nibble at it that time.
Now I have a couple concerns that I need answered. Quite a couple of his fins are tattered so he was very clearly getting bullied today, but along with that, he now has spots on his body. It’s hard to accurately capture how they actually look in photos, but essentially, the spots shine/flicker when he swims, even kind of taking the appearance of microbubbles attached to his skin, which I think has also temporarily been happening at times as well, and they moreso look like damaged/upturned scales, but I would love if someone more experienced can tell me if this looks like ich, velvet, or Brooklynella, as I’ve never personally dealt with any of them. Also, I haven’t added any new fish in a long time, about a year at least, although I have added 10+ frags to the tank over the course of the past 2 or so weeks, all were dipped tho. I’m more inclined to believe that these are wounds instead of illness, especially since in an 8 hour span he went from completely normal to tattered fins and these spots:
Beyond that, I’m now wondering what I should do as far as the Clowns. Does the aggressor for sure need to be removed now? If I do separate the pair then unfortunately that means the bully will be the one I get rid of. Does mating behavior ever get THIS aggressive or is she attempting to kill at this point? What I don’t get is the time frame of it. As I said before, this is a pair that has been together for over 2 years now and this is just now happening. I’ve heard of this with Clowns that are newly introduced, not when they’re established tho. To give some further context as well, about a month or so ago, I rearranged my rockwork, including moving a huge Toadstool Leather that the orange aggressor chose as it’s host quite a while ago. It’s still being hosted by the Toadstool even after the move, so I don’t know if the relocation caused a newfound aggression and territorial behavior?? Also, a few days ago I completely upgraded my entire circulation system including the return pump and adding 2 Gyre 2Ks, I’ve been dialing it in and the flow may still be currently too strong. I don’t know if things like that have been known to affect behavior like this, but I’m just adding it for context since it is a change I’ve made to the tank very recently regardless.
Gigantic thanks in advance for anybody that can help me out.
Now I have a couple concerns that I need answered. Quite a couple of his fins are tattered so he was very clearly getting bullied today, but along with that, he now has spots on his body. It’s hard to accurately capture how they actually look in photos, but essentially, the spots shine/flicker when he swims, even kind of taking the appearance of microbubbles attached to his skin, which I think has also temporarily been happening at times as well, and they moreso look like damaged/upturned scales, but I would love if someone more experienced can tell me if this looks like ich, velvet, or Brooklynella, as I’ve never personally dealt with any of them. Also, I haven’t added any new fish in a long time, about a year at least, although I have added 10+ frags to the tank over the course of the past 2 or so weeks, all were dipped tho. I’m more inclined to believe that these are wounds instead of illness, especially since in an 8 hour span he went from completely normal to tattered fins and these spots:
Beyond that, I’m now wondering what I should do as far as the Clowns. Does the aggressor for sure need to be removed now? If I do separate the pair then unfortunately that means the bully will be the one I get rid of. Does mating behavior ever get THIS aggressive or is she attempting to kill at this point? What I don’t get is the time frame of it. As I said before, this is a pair that has been together for over 2 years now and this is just now happening. I’ve heard of this with Clowns that are newly introduced, not when they’re established tho. To give some further context as well, about a month or so ago, I rearranged my rockwork, including moving a huge Toadstool Leather that the orange aggressor chose as it’s host quite a while ago. It’s still being hosted by the Toadstool even after the move, so I don’t know if the relocation caused a newfound aggression and territorial behavior?? Also, a few days ago I completely upgraded my entire circulation system including the return pump and adding 2 Gyre 2Ks, I’ve been dialing it in and the flow may still be currently too strong. I don’t know if things like that have been known to affect behavior like this, but I’m just adding it for context since it is a change I’ve made to the tank very recently regardless.
Gigantic thanks in advance for anybody that can help me out.
