clownfish dominance?

[andrewsky]

my black and white ocellaris are still chasing each other. it seems like the male is still not giving up. he is much smaller then the other one so im pretty sure hes the male. but its been going on for a month and a half. now he hides under my toadstool. but i just notice that it looks like theres some parts of his back and dorsal fin missing almost like the female is picking at him more aggressively. how much longer will this go on? and should i be extremely concerned to have to take the male or female out and put it in my little 5 gallon for a week or no? will this stop eventually?

[Cahooligan]

my clowns harrassed eachother constantly for a long time until they paired up. i really dont know, but i would guess they will be fine in some time.

[saltymight]

I would separate the male if he starts to look worse. or if during feeding time he is not getting food. this way if he is getting beat up during feeding he wont have the energy to recover. did you buy them together. if so from a LFS or online. were they in the same tank with other. I think the way it works is a male can become a female. but they female can not turn back. so if you have two females you SOL. but it is normal for some abuse does the male so any submission at all?

[andrewsky]

i got them from and LFS. they were swimming together and not attacking each other but they looked as if they were paired together. they were in the same tank. the male does show some submission because the female will sometimes back off of him. he does try to sneak some food into his mouth but then the female chases him back to where show wants him to be which is in a corner of the tank but he does get some food. so if he does look worse should i take him out? and if so how long?

[saltymight]

either take him out or try and keep him in the tank and cut out a section or egg crate or something so he can at least stay with her but not get attacked. probably a week so he can get his energy and strength back

[andrewsky]

ok i will do so

[SwampyBill]

I'm concerned that he's getting progressively more chewed up. You might put him in a hang-on nursery which will give him time to start to heal, get food, & they'll be able to see each other but she won't be able to attack. Try this for a week & see what she does. When she starts to ignore him & the cage, put him back in the tank & monitor their behavior. If it gets worse, I'd consider bringing one of them back to LFS for exchange. Good luck!

[SwampyBill]

You might feed him Dr. G's anti-bacterial medicated food to help with the fin damage. It's worked great on my coral beauty when he tries to bother others in my tank & they let him know to knock it off. & the food is ok with inverts & corals in tank too.