Ocellaris Relationship issues

[Nuros]

Hello all,

I need some help with my ocelllaris ….. I have two of them in a 28gal. I got them 6 or 7 months ago, when they were quite small (I guess something like 1in).

Three months ago, one of them started to be like the king of the tank, pushing a little bit the other one away from the food ……. But nothing serious, they were almost always together, and the “weak” one was never hurt or anything like that.

The first few months both of them grew in a similar way. But in the last month, the dominant clown has kept smaller and darker in color ( is he the male??). The other one is now bigger and has a lighter orange color (is she the female??).

And here is the relationship problem: starting this Sunday (I guess celebrating the 4th of July) the female (bigger in size) decided to start make the small one life’s miserable. She keeps him away from food (all he does is showing submission), and poking him pretty much all the time. From Sunday till yesterday he was hiding and away from her. But since this morning he is literally in a corner below her. It has got to a point where he seems to have some bites in his fins ……. Now she is enjoying a deserved vacation in a “breeding trap”.

Nothing has changed. I started the tank back in October/November. Those two ocelllaris are the only fishes in the tank. All I have so far are a few zoas and a xenia (well, and some algae)). The last addition was a rock with some zoas like a month ago. And the parameters have been the same for the last 4 or 5 months.

Does anybody know what has happened to her (the big one) ??? Is it that they are now adults and can’t stand each other ?? Is she tired of his behavior ?? Is there a solution for this situation ?? Can I act as relationship counselor and fix the issues ??

What can I do ??

Thanks !!

[Carriegiesler]

I had a similar issue with my two clowns. Look up the thread My clown looks like it lost the UFC fight.
I too put one ( the small male) in a breeder like container within the display tank. This will insure the others saftey in not getting beat up to much. I left the one clown in the breeder for a week almost two weeks. During this time my female started swimming and staying around the breeder box and the little guy would shimmy to her on the other side of the box. When I did eventully release him she swam right up to her and they have been together ever since.

One question: How often are you feeding them? As feeding them very little over the course of a several days has been suggested could be leading to some aggressivness.
I was only feeding once every couple of days when the fighting was occuring. Now I feed a very small amount twice a day.

I am by no means am suggesting this will work, but it worked for me. I Hope you have a happy ending like I did.

[birddog486]

I can't answer your question but I had a black and white pair together for almost a year. One day they started acting like your pair and 2 days later the male was dead from the female beating him up.

Hopefully you'll have better luck.

[MadOTC]

I had a similar situation with a pair of clowns about a year ago. I ended up removing the smaller one from the tank for about a month because there was no doubt if it kept up he wasn't going to live much longer. After he had the month to somewhat recover and start eating better, I moved him back to my main tank. Since that day the 2 of them are always together and they haven't had any issues since.

[Nuros]

The only update I have is that he is a lot more active and eating more.

Carrie, I read your thread and it seems that I have the same issue, but they have been together for so long …. I guess they just become adults.

I’ll keep them separated for a week. He is not that bad, just a few bites in the fins but no serious injury.


One question: How often are you feeding them? As feeding them very little over the course of a several days has been suggested could be leading to some aggressivness.

I feed them twice a day, so I am more in the side of overfeeding …. But I’ll keep it like that until the issue is solved. Anyway, It doesn't look like a problem with the food, it's more that she want to keep him subdued. Although the food was right in front of him, he wasn't even moving.

birddog486, I will let them try to date again in a week or so, but based on what happened to you, I’ll make sure there is always someone watching them !

MadOTC, hopefully they will do the same ......

Just one more question, when you had to choose one of them to go into the breeder (or out of the tank), why did you choose the male ? is it bc he was injured ? In my case he is ok, and since there are no other fishes, I chose to put her in the breeder.

Thanks !

[MadOTC]

I took out the one that was injured because I had other fish in the tank and I didn't want him to have to compete for food in his condition.

[Nemo's_Cacharro]

The smaller clown is the male, and the larger is the female. Pretty much what your seeing is the female dominating the male. She wants him to submit and as long as he does she should cut it out soon enough. Some aggression is normal though, and she will continue to peck at him every once in a while for the rest of their lives. I let nature run its course with my clowns. Basically the male will either submit to the female and she will accept him as her mate, or she will kill him. You should keep the clown in the breeder for a few days and then reintroduce him into the tank whenever its dark. Good luck, I hope they make it!

[Nuros]

Unfortunately it was not enough ....... She went too far.

I put her in the breeder, but it was too late. He stayed on the sand for a few hours (during the night) and the morning after he was gone .....

I was surprised on how fast everything went. She had been pecking him for a couple of days, but the last day, it was amazing, he basically could not move from the corner (that's why I moved her to the breeder). Everything happened in just 8-10 hours ......

[AC-WEB]

I'm sorry to hear that. I guess there is always a chance of that happening with clownfishes. Hopefully it will not discourage you from buying another clown in the future. They are such marvelous fish.