Clown fish problems!!!

[Arobbz]

So yesterday I got my 2 clown fish and they have been fighting here and there. I have woke up this morning and my 1 clown has gone like a pale orange with his bottom fins look chewed up he has took a battering. what do i do help me please?

 

[j.falk]

Separate them immediately.

 

[Drewbe147]

Definitely separate them. I assume they weren’t a mated pair and you are attempting to mate them? When I mated mine I got one larger than the other to minimize the aggression so there would be a clear dominant one. Smaller submitted almost instantly and have been thriving. Are yours close in size? Also what kind of clownfish are they? Some are more aggressive than others

 

[Arobbz]

Definitely separate them. I assume they weren't a mated pair and you are attempting to mate them? When I mated mine I got one larger than the other to minimize the aggression so there would be a clear dominant one. Smaller submitted almost instantly and have been thriving. Are yours close in size? Also what kind of clownfish are they? Some are more aggressive than others

ye they are virtually the same size and they are just common clown fish, they was In the same tank in the LFS with about 5 over clowns

 

[Joe0813]

They are probably both female

 

[Drewbe147]

Either both female or and strong fight for dominance to see who gets to become a female. When pairing clowns you should try to either buy a pre-mated pair or one larger than the other so the dominance fight will be short if any at all. Same size definitely means fighting til its sorted out. If theyre both female idk if one will switch back to male or if the “winner” will just kill the other. Are they juveniles?

 

[Joshua I.]

I would try to either take both back and get two new ones that are in the same tank at your LFS or just take one back and try to get a different fish

 

[Drewbe147]

You would be fine taking just one back. They don’t have to be from the same tank unless you wanted to take both back for a already mated pair. If you wanted to only take one back though make sure the new one you bring home is smaller than the one you keep. I would personally aim for a juvenile in case the current is already female. The juvenile would then submit with minimal issues. When I paired it was with 2 juveniles but picked my female by making sure she was roughly 1/2” or so bigger than the other juvenile. She chased him a few times to be sure he knew she was boss but then they were great. Im sure there’s alot of threads about pairing clowns if you want to google and read up more on it. Goodluck