Clown Fish Acting "Funny"

[kernyboy]

So I have a pair of clown fish. Recently one has been picking on the other( The larger of the two). The smaller one does this weird "jiggle dance" after attacked. This morning when i went to the tank. The bigger fish was swimming around in the open, while the smaller one was hiding under some rock with some weird "white stringy" thing hanging from what I assume is his butt. He was moving...but not alot.

He looked kinda tired looking. And a hermit crab was kinda harassing him. Is he dying? whats the deal here?

 

[patsfan1130]

Your clowns do not appear to be "paired". how long have they both been tank mates? It is not uncommon for females to "tolerate" males. that is....not kill them but make their life a living hell. the "jiggle dance" you refer to is the little guys way of saying to the dominant female...."your the boss". It is submissive behavior. If he looks tired you can bet it's because she has been relentlessly chasing him around. as for the white stringy stuff...I cannot comment without a pic. you need to keep an eye on him and may possibly need to remove him if she will not accept his existance in her space.

 

[IslandCrow]

What type of clownfish do you have? My suggestion would be to immediately move one to a new tank or otherwise separate them. The more "docile" clownfish (like percula, skunk clowns or ocellaris) will usually just torment another clownfish, but cause no real harm in the short term. More aggressive clownfish (like Maroon, Tomato or Cinnamon) are more likely to do physical harm. If it's a Maroon clownfish, it will more than likely kill the smaller clownfish.

There are some specific methods to pairing clownfish, and you need to follow them. The Clownfish Forum has some information in one of the stickies, but we'll need to know what type of clownfish they are to help further.

As patsfan said (his info is spot on by the way), keep a very close eye on the smaller clownfish once he's separated from the larger one. He's obviously sustained some trauma, but assuming he recovers from that, he'll be very susceptible to infection and/or disease. I'd have some antibiotics on hand just in case.

 

[kernyboy]

theyre just your run of the mil percula clowns