agressive clownfish

codyreef29

codyreef29

New member
My two clownfish are aggressive and won't leave my pajama cardinal fish alone.
what do you suggest as other fish I would rather lose my cardinals and replace with others.

what will hold it's own in the 55 gallon battle tank lol
 
Going to take a guess and say you have maroon clown fish or some sort? These are usually aggresive. Its also to remember clown fish are apart of the damsel family maybe you have heard of the devil damsel? haha if you want a peaceful aquarium i suggest a different set of clown fish maybe
 
As he said, clownfish are in the damsel family. If you have a mated pair, they can get even more aggressive if laying eggs. Maroons, clowns in the tomato complex, and clarkii complex have more of a tendency to be aggressive, but it can happen with any of them.
 
Wolverine said:
As he said, clownfish are in the damsel family. If you have a mated pair, they can get even more aggressive if laying eggs. Maroons, clowns in the tomato complex, and clarkii complex have more of a tendency to be aggressive, but it can happen with any of them.
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+1 I recently had to remove a really nice pair of Smith's fangblennies from my reef tank because my female nigripes wouldn't stop harassing them. Up to this point I'd never had any fish, even clarkiis or maroons, go after Meiacanthus blennies (which are venomous!), but the nigripes was determined to drive them out of her territory.

My LFS had another SA-bred nigripes, about the same age and size as my male, who made the fatal decision to attack an angelfish that turned out to be larger and even meaner. Nigripes aren't one of the more notoriously aggressive clowns, but in my limited experience they could definitely give Clark's, maroons, et al, a run for their money. I think my female is going to make sure that her home remains a single-species tank.
 
lol i have clarki's a bigger 2 inch female and a 1 1/4 male. they aren't killing the other fish but they keep them where they want em. i guess a single bigger angel will work. maybe they'll focus on it more than the others.
 
Haha, yeah, my female clown is a beast. :p She has so much personality, though. Your tank is too small for any of the full-sized angels, but you might could try a flame angel. They're pretty assertive. My female clarkii was a terror, but when I temporarily housed her with a flame angel she never messed with him.
 
Wolverine said:
As he said, clownfish are in the damsel family. If you have a mated pair, they can get even more aggressive if laying eggs. Maroons, clowns in the tomato complex, and clarkii complex have more of a tendency to be aggressive, but it can happen with any of them.
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What he said. They tend to want to control about 50 gallons of tank space once sexually mature and mating. They can harass to the point of intimidation.
 
snorvich said:
What he said. They tend to want to control about 50 gallons of tank space once sexually mature and mating. They can harass to the point of intimidation.
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Makes sense...my tank is a 50 cube. I imagine by the time mine begin mating, I'll need gloves to work in the tank!
 
velvetelvis said:
Makes sense...my tank is a 50 cube. I imagine by the time mine begin mating, I'll need gloves to work in the tank!
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Yes, you will. Clarkii's have teeth and my female (long ago) used to target the soft fleshy area between my thumb and index finger. She drew blood more than once.
 
GeorgeMonnatJr said:
Yep, my wife and I were diving near Okinawa last year, and one of the Dive Masters with a dive camera was PROVOKING the clowns so they would charge him for interesting photos. Crazy.
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Some of us diving purists would not be pleased with that behavior.
 
Sugar Magnolia said:
Yes, you will. Clarkii's have teeth and my female (long ago) used to target the soft fleshy area between my thumb and index finger. She drew blood more than once.
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Actually, the OP has clarkiis, mine are nigripes. I just got these fish and really like them; I've been babbling about them ever since. Sorry for the threadjack, codyreef! :o

It always amazes me how clowns know exactly where to aim when they attack. Back when she was working at a LFS (which has since closed), a friend of mine used to have to do maintenance on a tank that house a huge, violent maroon clownfish and a stand of fire coral. The maroon would tear into the employees (aiming for between the fingers, or the underside of the forearm), who would jerk backwards, straight into the fire coral. I think the owner used to make staff clean that tank for punishment. :p

snorvich said:
Yeah. Trying diving with them, they try to take your eyes out.
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I'd believe it. Was that in the Maldives? I've seen pictures of reefs from around there...looks beautiful.
 
I'm gonna try out a yellow angel they get to about 4.5 inches. Hes in my cart from liveaquaria order I'll make next month. Also going to see if i can get two yellow damsels from lfs today.
 
codyreef29 said:
I'm gonna try out a yellow angel they get to about 4.5 inches. Hes in my cart from liveaquaria order I'll make next month. Also going to see if i can get two yellow damsels from lfs today.
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I would strongly advise you to stick to just the angelfish and the clownfish. Clarkiis can get up to 5" or 6" long, and the angelfish is already nearly that big--that's pretty much going to top out your stocking capacity. Even more importantly, you don't want two sets of damselfish (the clownfish and the yellow damsels) battling it out in your tank. Things could get really ugly.
 
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