Clown Pair Aggression

[candeewolf]

A week ago I purchased a pair of small maroons and put them in my 55 hex reef. They had been together in a tank at the LFS for about a month, so I was confident that they were ok with each other. The female is about 1-1/2" and the male about 1". Once I let them out into the tank, they both started to survey their new area, but my male found my large (7-8") BTA first and immediately started hosting it. He did this for a couple hours before I went to bed, while the female was still oblivious to its existence. The next morning I found her to be the one hosting, with the male swimming off to the side, far away from her, with beat up fins (pieces missing, but not too major). I surmise that they got in a fight over who got the anemone and she won. Since that time his fins have slowly been regenerating, but she still chases him from time to time when he gets a little close to her...sometimes even when he's not.

Through searching the forums and the archives, I have found several people with this same problem of their once docile female becoming incredibly aggressive with the introduction of an anemone, and in all of the instances, people from RC said it was normal and that it was nothing to worry about. However, I still have some questions that seem to be unanswered.

Does this mean that sooner or later she will accept him and let him into the anemone or at least near her?
Anyone have an estimate how long that can take?
Should I be worried about the male being stressed out to the point of death?
Is this more common in maroons?
What signs should I look out for that would tell me whether I need to separate them if this behavior is normal?

Thanks

 

[Zaita]

Re: Clown Pair Aggression

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13373456#post13373456 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by candeewolf
Does this mean that sooner or later she will accept him and let him into the anemone or at least near her?

Yes.

Anyone have an estimate how long that can take?

Who knows with women. Could be a day, could be a month. I'd say less than a month is a fair estimate. However, she will always retain control of the anemone and often kick him out for hours or days at a time.

Should I be worried about the male being stressed out to the point of death?

No

Is this more common in maroons?

No. All clowns do this, the male finds the host. The female decides she likes it, kicks the male out. Days/Weeks later she'll let him visit it occasionally.

Our Occ have 2 anemones, the females owns the large one which the male is allowed to visit sometimes, but only certain areas of it. He has his own little anem (which he can just fit in) that she has no interest in.

What signs should I look out for that would tell me whether I need to separate them if this behavior is normal?

If the fighting is absolutely constant, and she is trying to tear him apart. If he is doing his little submission shimmy when she charges him, it's usually going to be ok.

Thanks

No worries.

 

[candeewolf]

My main worry at the moment is that he is not doing his submissive dance (shaking), but rather just swimming away when she charges him. Also there's lots of rockwork, caves, and other possible hosts (torch and frogspawn), but he doesn't show any interest in them.

He eats very very well (more aggressive than her, mainly because she's so protective of the anemone). Maybe I should get another anemone for him...lol

 

[Zaita]

Another (smaller) anemone for him will prob help slightly, but she is always going to dominate him. This is how she maintains her control and ensures he doesn't try to challenge her to be the female.

I'd give them a few weeks and it'll likely settle down, sure he'll still get the odd slap around the ears from her. But it'll be just a love tap more than anything