Clown experts needed

[Wannabe29]

Hi, all. I have a situation with my my occelaris clown. It was the first fish added to my 40 br. I didn't want to do it but my loves them and, since it was the only fish I was sure I wanted at the time, I got it. Plus, we had spent a few weeks looking at a tank full of rocks and were tired of that stuation.

So, after the clown, I slowly added two engineer gobies, one firefish, one yellow watchman goby, one royal gramma and, lastly, one yellow banded possum wrasse.

Now, the situation. The possum wrasse seems to have been the last straw for the clown. It would not leave the wrasse alone from the get-go. It bullied the little guy to the point where it almost lost all of its caudal fin and would not come out, except to feed. Even then, it would scan the tank to see where the clown was before sneaking out to grab some food and then hide again.

So, I took the clown out and put it in the sump. It has been in the sump for over a month. My question is, can I reintroduce this clown into my DT or is it a lost cause? Should I just trade it for something and get a new one?

Thanks for any advice.

Oh, I guess I should add that none of the other fish were ever bullied. Just the wrasse.

 

[coreyg]

Staying in the rocks and hiding is normal for a possum wrasse they are shy by nature. As far as the clown, I not sure they are usually peaceful.

 

[Wannabe29]

I know the possum wrasse is supposed to be shy. However, I watched the clown hunt it down with a vengeance on several occasions. It would sprint after it from the other side of the tank until the wrasse found a spot in the rockworck where the clown couldn't reach it. It would also actively look around the tank for it and try to route it out from its hiding spot if it didn't see it out in the water column. It was really aggressive behavior on the part of the clown that didn't begin until the day (almost the moment) that the wrasse was added.

Now that the clown's been out, the wrasse has been extremely active in the tank. It actually rarely hides. None of the other fish bother it, really. My cardinal fish (whom I forgot to include in the original post) might charge at it every now and then. The gramma might open its mouth at it, but that's it.

My question though is, can the clown be reintroduced after over a month of being out of the DT? Will it have forgotten it's original territory and behave like a new fish added to the tank or will it simply revert to its old bully self?

 

[BigCountry74]

Only one way to find out.


In my experience my fish always seem to go back to their old selves, when I move them, QT them, move rock work around etc.

I am guessing the clown will do the same. These fish are hardwired pretty good.

 

[Wannabe29]

Blah! I'll have to wait for this weekend to try it out and see. Don't want to do it when I'm working only to come home to a battered, or even dead, wrasse. If it doesn't work out, at least I can trade it for a frag or something. We'll just have to see.

 

[hypnoj]

It's an occe.. Trade that sucker out and get another one or a different type of clown. One mean fish can cause so much trouble in a tank. Why risk it for an occe? Trade it!

 

[jbax]

i wouldn't say all clownfish are aggressive. some are more or less aggressive then others. they are very territorial though. my reg O's don't like any hands anywhere in the 120g and don't like any fish within 12 to 15 inches of their nesting site. (although the mandarin and hippo tang are allowed closer then the others.) but in my 54g corner tank my s'mores/black ice rarely leave there spot. their territory is the size of a 2.5g pico and they don't care who or what enters it. they only come out for food then swim back to their area. they show little to no aggression.

so with a 40g breeder it is a roll of the dice of what level of aggression or size of territory the clownfish will have. even if you trade in your current clown for another clown. you may end up in the same position down the road. i would do what you planned this weekend and see if it leaves your wrasse alone. you might get lucky

 

[salmonsreef]

ninty nine point nine the clown wont change it has established its territory and they are relentess its there make up sounds like the rest of the fish you enjoy in your tank are fine since the clown moved down stairs i"d keep it that way and save your self some hassel trade off the clown.

 

[Wannabe29]

Yeah, I'm leaning towards trading it. I'll try my little experiment this weekend to see how it goes. Might even reaquascape since I've been on the fence about my current scape for a while. We'll see.

It's just wierd with this clown. Every other fish it was fine with. It would just doddle along on its side of the tank in perfect peace. It only hung around above my rock anemone on the right side of the tank, right around the right return. It was very chummy with the cardinal fish. They would be together all the time, even making occasional body contact. No fighting at all. I introduce the wrasse and he beats it up like a red-headed stepchild. And only that fish.

 

[rssjsb]

Sometimes that just happens that an individual fish has it in for another individual fish. I'm sure it makes sense to the fish, but it's frustrating and hard to predict. My occelaris have always been pretty peaceful unless the female was guarding eggs, but I've read plenty of contrary comments on here.

I agree with what others have said that giving the clown a time-out or changing the rocks around may be a temporary fix. If you want to try again, I would leave the clown in the sump until the possum has had a chance to recover and get some confidence. Luckily, clowns are pretty easy to catch in case it doesn't work out.

If you want to try a different species of clown, you might look at pink or orange skunks. They're supposed to be pretty mellow I think.