Clown Fish Stressed After New Damsel

[ccmn2000]

I have two clown fish that are 3 weeks old (in my tank) and I just added two yellow tail damsels. The first day and feeding seemed to go well (everyone ate). The next day the female clown fish seems to be stressed and not eating. She is attempting to lay on the sand a lot bed but the male seems to be trying to get her attention. At one point she did the submissive shake/jitter towards the male. (the opposite of normal)

The smaller damsel does hang out with the clown fish but the larger seems to have found an area to call its own. I have seen the larger damsel poke at the smaller damsel but not towards the clown fish.

My thought is to get a breeding net and put the larger damsel in to top corner of the take

Any thoughts or suggestions?
I would appropriate any advice.
The tank is a 45 bow, seems to be enough room for 4 small fish.

 

[Dkuhlmann]

While Clownfish are in fact part of the Damsel family the Damsels are one of the most aggressive fish you can put in any tank. A 45 gal is much to small for these fish due to their aggression. In larger tanks they seem to be much milder.

So this said the best thing you can do for your clowns is bring the Damsels back where you bought them.

 

[KirbyBTF]

Damselfish can be pretty aggressive, I'd just scoop it out and take it to your LFS. Or maybe theres something different going on with the clown, any pics of it?

 

[ccmn2000]

Thanks for the information. I have a webcam on the tank and am able to watch during the day. The larger damsel never goes over to the female clown. They never seem to interact.

The clown is still spending a lot of time laying in the same spot. The location an interesting pick because it is not far from the damsel, it is in the middle of the tank in the back. There are other locations that a farther away with less current. The location is low and she is able to rest her tail on the rocks.

She is breathing about 2 times per second and some times stop swimming completely. When she does swim other than the breathing it looks normal.

http://1drv.ms/1WDf94L
http://1drv.ms/1WDfd4D

 

[zooman72]

While certain damselfish can certainly be aggressive, adding the pair of yellowtails (I am assuming Chrysiptera parasema, one of the least aggressive damsels) to the aquarium that already housed the pair of clowns does not automatically equate to the damsels "stressing" the clowns via territorial aggression.

In fact, I would be concerned of infection (bacterial/ parasitical) in this case, as it does not appear that you quarantined them (or the clowns for that matter). A 45g aquarium is actually plenty of "room" for the fish in question, as long as it provides plenty of "markers" (i.e. live rock structure) for habitat, the animals are not too disparate in size, and they are introduced properly.

You can certainly isolate any "offending" fish (if you can catch them... ), but if the issue is illness, that will not save your clownfish...

 

[SNAKEMANVET]

I have yellow tail damsels in my 28 with a pair of snow onyx clowns for over 2 years now with no aggression at all.

 

[ccmn2000]

Before feeding time both clowns were up and swimming well. When the food came the female seemed not to eat again, although she chased food and the male. For 3 hours both clowns swam together in the back of the tank. The smaller male seemed very excited that the female was out and swimming, he was doing the submissive/jitter dance a lot even kicking up sand. At this time the female's breathing seemed to match the males.

I also crushed up some pellets and put that into the tank in hopes she would eat something even if it was small.

After 3 hours she seems to go back to the spot often but has not stayed there for long. The lights are off now.

I set up a small QT tank for the large damsel but could not catch it but was not so concerned seeing the female clown looking good. Tomorrow if the female has another bad day I will get the damsel and put it in the QT tank.

As someone mention I did not QT the damsels and they were from a different LFS from the clowns. I did drip acclimate but QT for a while I am sure is a big difference.

Thanks eveyone on for your thoughts and suggestions!

 

[ccmn2000]

Update

The female spent most of the night swimming with the male in the corner of the tank. The next day she did not eat (that I saw) but was more active and changing locations. Even being in the vicinity of the large damsels at one point. The large damsel did not act aggressive towards her.

Later in the day I noticed stringy white poop on the female. After research one theory is a parasite brought on by stress and the clown fish can fight it off in time.

I would say even though the eating is not normal she is not getting worse. She does not appear to be dying. I hope tomorrow bring more good signs, like eating.

Also the male seems less worried today, yesterday when the female was lying down not swimming the male was very near by her. Today the male ventures off on his one, his actions have made me feel better about the situation.

 

[Mark9]

You'd be better off getting rid of the damsels.
They don't make for a happy tank.

 

[zooman72]

You'd be better off getting rid of the damsels.
They don't make for a happy tank.

Sorry, but that is an exaggerated oversimplification - it is doubtful that the damsels are the issue here as I noted earlier...