Clown becoming aggressive

[lhartz01]

Hello,

I've had two Black Saddleback clowns in a 90g tank for just about two years, got them as juveniles so they are just over 2 years old. They have stayed just about the same size as one another over the past two years. I would say they are about 3-4 inches.

They generally ignored each other for the past two years, would always be in the same area but didn't seem to care about the other one.

Nothing has changed in the tank recently. There are 10-15 RBTA's mostly on one side of the tank where the clowns would normally hang out.

Now, one of them has become very aggressive towards the other, to the point of keeping it pinned in a corner of the tank and charging it if it tries to come out.

Is the aggressive one turning female? Is 2 years the normal point where this would happen or should there have been a size change earlier on? Is there anything I can do to protect the one that's getting beat on?

Thanks very much for any insight!

 

[ASJenness]

Just coming along to see if theres an answer. I have a similar problem. I have one BTA and two clowns. One orange/white stripe and one maroon/white strip. They both lived peacefully until my maroon clown started hosting. Since then they have fought eachother for the BTA. They'll fight to the death if I don't take one out.

Right now my maroon clown is chilling in my sump after a brutal beatdown. I want them to live together or even become a mated pair but I don't know what to do.

 

[velvetelvis]

Just coming along to see if theres an answer. I have a similar problem. I have one BTA and two clowns. One orange/white stripe and one maroon/white strip. They both lived peacefully until my maroon clown started hosting. Since then they have fought eachother for the BTA. They'll fight to the death if I don't take one out.

Right now my maroon clown is chilling in my sump after a brutal beatdown. I want them to live together or even become a mated pair but I don't know what to do.

Two things:

(1) It sounds like you have two different species of clownfish: a maroon (Premnas biaculeatus), and an ocellaris (Amphiprion ocellaris) or percula (Amphiprion percula). You might want to decide which one you like better, re-home or trade in the other one, and get a juvenile of the remaining species to serve as a potential mate.

(2) Maroons are notoriously hard to pair off, even with their own species. It would probably be easier to trade in the maroon clown and try to find a juvenile to pair with your orange clownfish. On the other hand, maroons and BTAs are natural symbionts, so you may want to keep her instead. Either way, you'll probably have to separate them permanently.

 

[Wifi]

Hello,

I've had two Black Saddleback clowns in a 90g tank for just about two years, got them as juveniles so they are just over 2 years old. They have stayed just about the same size as one another over the past two years. I would say they are about 3-4 inches.

They generally ignored each other for the past two years, would always be in the same area but didn't seem to care about the other one.

Nothing has changed in the tank recently. There are 10-15 RBTA's mostly on one side of the tank where the clowns would normally hang out.

Now, one of them has become very aggressive towards the other, to the point of keeping it pinned in a corner of the tank and charging it if it tries to come out.

Is the aggressive one turning female? Is 2 years the normal point where this would happen or should there have been a size change earlier on? Is there anything I can do to protect the one that's getting beat on?

Thanks very much for any insight!

Most likely. The aggresive clown is showing her dominance and should start to get bigger than the other. Best to keep an eye on them. If the other one gets beat up to much might want to consider removing him. What your seeing is normal clownfish behavior.

 

[ASJenness]

Two things:

(1) It sounds like you have two different species of clownfish: a maroon (Premnas biaculeatus), and an ocellaris (Amphiprion ocellaris) or percula (Amphiprion percula). You might want to decide which one you like better, re-home or trade in the other one, and get a juvenile of the remaining species to serve as a potential mate.

(2) Maroons are notoriously hard to pair off, even with their own species. It would probably be easier to trade in the maroon clown and try to find a juvenile to pair with your orange clownfish. On the other hand, maroons and BTAs are natural symbionts, so you may want to keep her instead. Either way, you'll probably have to separate them permanently.

I've heard that they don't easily mate with different species. Thanks I've been thinking about getting rid of one of them. I hate to get rid of either of them. The orange clown has been with me from the start and the maroon clown looks better haha. I'll get my wife to decide for me.