? about my new true perculas behavior

[Craig Lambert]

I received a pair of medium sized true perculas today from liveaquaria. After slow acclimation I released them into the tank. One of the clowns is slightly larger than the other, which from what I've read is a good thing. They appear very healthy, have nice coloration, and began swimming together at one side of the tank immediatly. They were getting along great from what I could tell, but after about an hour and a half they got into a brawl. It was really something...lots of biting and holding on to tail fins, pec fins etc. Is this normal, or am I going to need to separate these two for awhile? I hope they're just working things out, but I don't want to see one murder the other. Normal behavior???

 

[JHardman]

You did not receive a "pair". You received two fish that are now pairing. I would say if it keeps up for more than a day, then yes they are not going to pair. A. percula tend to pair quick and nasty, like what you discribe.

 

[Craig Lambert]

I did not mean pair, in the sense that they were already paired, I should have said "two".

Anyway..The fighting ceased rather quickly, and they have been getting along fine. I have seen the smaller one occassionally position his body sideways and do the quick shaking...almost convulsive type of thing. This means he is being submissive to the female correct? (or soon to be female?)

 

[clord]

do you have any pictures?

 

[JHardman]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7017192#post7017192 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Craig Lambert
This means he is being submissive to the female correct? (or soon to be female?)

All is good then... no worries.

 

[Craig Lambert]

Thank You JHardman.

They are pretty interesting in that they do not have the same coloration. One is a pale orange, and the other bright. They were collected in New Guinea. The lighter one is also misbarred. (At least I think that is what you would call it as a breeder). One of its sides has an additional black horizontal bar that passes through the white mid-section.

clord, I do not have any pics as my wife is away with the camera. I will try to post some this weekend.

 

[black9ice]

If you stand back and watch them for a bit, the "Female" should be trying to grab the dorsal fin of the "male". He then should submit and turn in a almost vertical manner, head up or down. Then begin to quiver as he is being shocked.

They will do this often. If that is what you are seeing you may be on the right track. They can take months to "bond", don't worry. If you catch them sleeping together often in those "sweet" spots then you should be on the right track with them.

I scored a pair in a pet shop, they were sitting there waiting for me to purchase them. One is light the other a deeper orange. I asked how long they were together and was told 3 weeks. I have never seen mine fight, but she does push him around gracefully. I was lucky to find that in a shop, kicker was they were not sold as a pair, but were.

Good luck!

 

[zorics]

how big are they?
when the bigger clown is about to turn female, she'd tend to be more aggressive and pick on the smaller one.

 

[Craig Lambert]

They are medium sized. 1.5" +/- . It was interesting how they slept. One up against a small indentation in a large piece of rock veritcally pointing down, the other about 6" away low in a corner of the tank, verical and facing up.

 

[Cuervo420]

all of what you described is very normal for mated (or pairing) clowns. after 4 years, my little girl still beats the living hell outta the little guy....poor guy. the things we men do for sex