aggressive ocellaris

K

kamalehi

New member
hello everyone, i have an unusual problem. I have a pair of ocellaris clowns for about 2 years now. the female is about 2x size of the male, ad is extremely dominant. I'vebeen worried about their aggression for awhile now- a couple of months ago i bought a royal gramma which lasted about 5 minutes in the tank- the gramma went into a hole- the male clown went on one side and the female on the next- and they chased him out and the female bit the gramma's stomach off. then tonight i bought a firefish, and both of them grabbed him and shook it like a shark does when he eats-theres a chunk out of him (although he is /was alive the cleaner shrimp probably ate him by now.=( )they both stay together almost all the time- they have a special rock which they have guarded since they've entered the tank those 2 years ago. they are constantly cleaning it and i think they may want to spawn- is that why they are so aggressive?most ocellaris are supposed to be "peaceful and community/reef fish".not these too-they are more aggressive than many maroon clowns i see at work- they used to be fine but as they differentiated who was gonna be who (male female) they've gotten aggressive and no one seems to know why. can somone shed some light on my clown predicament?
thanks!
 
they might just be an evil pair, sometimes clowns get aggresive when there in pairs, they could be getting ready to spawn tho, how bigs ur tank?
 
They will get very aggressive once they begin laying eggs. Females especially. I had to remove a pair of ocellaris that I had for over 5 yrs because I could not add a new fish to my reef.
 
hmm they havent began laying eggs yet, maybe because theres more fish present? theyve been cleaning one flat rock for a past few months and i havent seen any eggs. i wonder what they're doing?
 
Well, the clownfish is in the same family as damsels and can be fiercely territorial with or without spawning.

That being said, one way to check aggression for adding new fish is to remove the clowns for a short time, re-arrange your rock, put the new fish in and give him a time and introduce your clowns back to the tank. This way the clowns are the new kids on the block and have to re-establish their own territory.
 
well, the only problem with that is that i had them in a 26g bowfront for about a year and some, and now they are in a 60tall, new rocks and everything.the old tank had the same rock which they were cleaning& sleeping by, and i put it in the new tank- as soon as i put them in , they swam directly to that rock and have still been guarding and cleaning it. lol they seem to be aggressive to firefish, grammas and pygmy angels the most for some reason- they leave basically everything else alone .. hmmm
 
also once percs start spawning they veiw other fish as a threat and will chase them off. if you have a small aquarium it should be just the two of them. if your aquarium is larger the pair will establish a host and a nesting sight and they will heavily guard it. if you plan on breeding them the key is a stress free enviroment includung artificial or real anemones, good water quality, good water circulation, protein skimmer, areation, improve diet, and shut lights on and off at a constant schedule. their diet should be a big variety. remember clownfish are omnivores meaning they eat meat and veggies. So feed them dried shrimp, frozen brinre shrimp, live shrimp, lettuce, seafood. I reccomend when feeding them meat stick to sea food. when feeding them lettuce, parsely, or kale. blanch it or boil it to aid their digestion. a wide variety of food will initiate spawning also essential for the health og the eggs and fry. only feed flakes when you have to. besides get out of that freshwater habit of feeding your fish flakes.
 
hmm well i have all of those thing.. i feed them usually 3 times a day w/ small meals- first formula reef flake in the morning- early afternoon about 1/4 cube of daphnia mixed w/ cyclopeeze soaked in selcon, and night i feed daphnia,cyclopeeze/rotifers and mysis all soaked in selcon. the only vegetable matter they get would probably be algae in the tank- do you think i should feed more? like seaweed/nori? oh also i do soak their food with garlic extract too. i do not have any anemones right now, i had many and they never seemed to go in any of them except a purple based green bubble i had but it died by powerhead =( they did seem to host it, but only brushing in it a few times and then going back to their rock. lol my lights are also on a constant schedule, 24 hour sysem /halide/actinic/moonlight.
 
I wouldn't run a 24 hour system if I were you. Photosynthetic organisms need a period of time where its perfectly dark to make energy.
 
55semireef-- so your saying no to moonlights?? i believe i have read in quite a few books that moonlights help stimulate the natural cycle and is beneficial..
 
im not sure if lighting was a problem- in the 26 they never had 24hr lighing- only now they have it- but i started taking off the moonlights so the tank its completely dark. no difference in them, just the same old routine, they aren't as aggressive now,, maybe they dont like firefish? lol
 
I was doing a search and stumbled across this thread and just had to chime in.

Some years ago, I had an Oce. Clown in my 90 gallon. I have never had a more aggresive fish in my years of reefkeeping. This guy (or girl) would attack just about every other fish in the tank that came anywhere near "his rock". He killed a flame angel, among other beautiful and expensive fish. He bit me more times than I can remember. Putting my hand in the tank was an experience in and of itself (although it had the added benefit of keeping me from messing around too much in my tank!).

After weeks of trying to catch him (since I refused to dismantle my rock because of a clown) I finally caught the bugger (caught him sleeping!) and took him back to the LFS (I felt terrible about dumping him off on someone else, but I had no other tank to house him and dumping him into Biscayne Bay was a no-no, although tempting...)

I think what this taught me is that while there are certainly fish who are aggressive by nature, even fish considered "peaceful" have the potential to turn out to be territorial and hence aggressive. Sometimes it's just the luck of the draw as to which one you get.

I still like clowns, and want to add a mated pair with an RBTA to the 92 corner I am currently setting up. I'll be sure to cross my fingers when I buy the pair...
 
Oh yes, they are a member of the damsel family and can be very agressive. the general rule of thumb is Ocellaris is the post peacful of the clowns and tankbred tend to the the best versus wildcaught.

But with anything else, each fish has it's own personality and you may get a mouse or jaws..
 
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