my pacific fire clowns visciously fighting

[kinglouie]

hi, ive had these two for about 8months. One is bigger which i always assumed was the female, 2" the other is 1.5". They have bickered now and then but never harmed eachother. But now the smaller has lost about 45% of its fins and is sitting in the corner of the tank, whilst the other looks slighlty beat up but swimming round normally. My params are steady, (check every other day)

1.024
pH 8.2
Temp 78
Amonia Nitrate Nitrite 0

and i haven't introduced anything new into the tank

thanks for reading

[WDLV]

Please separate them before he dies. I would relocate the female until he heals. He is already stressed and would benefit from some time alone in a familiar tank.
Also...
How big is the tank?
How many hiding places are there?

[kinglouie]

its a 29G, i took the female out last night and put her in a makeshift QT. I will leave her there for a few days. As hiding places go i would say there is quite a few, but none small enough to get away from the other clown.

cheers

[WDLV]

Got a full tank shot?

[kinglouie]

yes, but dont know how 2 upload it im afraid

[WDLV]

One way is to upload your photos to a service called Photobucket.com This will resize them automatically and provide the links for you. All you have to do then is click on the link and paste it into the add picture window.

[kinglouie]

Well this is the only tank shop i have, from when i was cycling my tank. Dont have my camera with me, so cant take a more recent 1. Since this was taken i have changes the powerheads and removed the box in the corner, i have put more live rock where the ovals are (since pic was taken).

IMG]http://i280.photobucket.com/albums/kk184/kinglouie4/tank.jpg[/IMG]

cheers

[dalilgriffith]

Some clown species can be highly agressive when pre-spawn and pairing occurs. What I have seen thus far is that the more agressive they are during this time, the closer they seem to grow in time.

Take a maroon pair. If you try to pair them, they usually fight to what seems a bitter death. But if they make it through it, they are the closest knit pair i've ever seen.

[elegance coral]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12449264#post12449264 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by kinglouie
Well this is the only tank shop i have, from when i was cycling my tank. Dont have my camera with me, so cant take a more recent 1. Since this was taken i have changes the powerheads and removed the box in the corner, i have put more live rock where the ovals are (since pic was taken).

IMG]http://i280.photobucket.com/albums/kk184/kinglouie4/tank.jpg[/IMG]

cheers

http://i280.photobucket.com/albums/kk184/kinglouie4/tank.jpg

[WDLV]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12450904#post12450904 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by dalilgriffith
Some clown species can be highly agressive when pre-spawn and pairing occurs. What I have seen thus far is that the more agressive they are during this time, the closer they seem to grow in time.

Take a maroon pair. If you try to pair them, they usually fight to what seems a bitter death. But if they make it through it, they are the closest knit pair i've ever seen.

I'd say you may have a winning post here. I think this hits the nail on the head. I'd still think it would be good to keep 'em separated 'till the male heals. Then when you re-introduce them to keep an eye on them. If they start battling it out too furiously, you can turn the lights out to curb the aggression. If that doesn't work, I'd find a new much smaller male.

[dalilgriffith]

Agreed, look at it this way! Did you like the first person you ever had a chance encounter with? No? What makes you think the clown will feel differently?
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12452172#post12452172 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by WDLV
I'd say you may have a winning post here. I think this hits the nail on the head. I'd still think it would be good to keep 'em separated 'till the male heals. Then when you re-introduce them to keep an eye on them. If they start battling it out too furiously, you can turn the lights out to curb the aggression. If that doesn't work, I'd find a new much smaller male.

[kinglouie]

They have been separated for a few days now and the male looks better, will give it a few more days and then put them together again. Should i place them both in the QT or the DT, bearing in mind the QT makes them easier to remove of need be, or will this stress them out more?

thanks for your help

[WDLV]

I would move things around a bit in the display and give the male a day or two to readjust and then add the female. That way she will be more concerned with re-establishing her territory than with the male's presence.
Good luck.

[Amazon4]

I have two tank raised true percs. They were together for about a year. Then they battled for a day or two then just as suddenly settled down. Only their mouths seem to take any damage (they would lock lips). So I did not have to go as far as separating them to accommodate healing.

At the time the female was only a little larger than the male. Since then she's had a major growth spurt. I imagine it was just to settle the dominance once and for all. But it was quite distressing to watch.

[kinglouie]

its been a week now, i removed them both from the DT and placed them in a QT, they didnt fight in there. i now have them both in the DT again, the smallest hides away from the other. i believe that the female has had a growth spurt, so hopefully its just a dominace thing that will settle down.

thanks for ur replies

[WDLV]

Glad to hear the aggression has subsided.

[Arati]

I had a similar experiance with my Clarki. I also noted that the female underwent a major growth spurt right after.

In my case the male was almost killed. The female was removed to a friends large frag tank. When the male healed I sent him to join her.
This new tank is a 100gallon sps frag tank with no other fish, and its awsome. As soon as the male was put in she attacked him again and again.
We captured and bagged her and left her to float around and be helpless for about 3 days (not the same bag for 3 days..). When she finally got out she was much nicer to him. Now they act like normal fish.
Who says you cant punish a fish?

[Aj Flip]

lets see what they look like