Clown turned on it's mate after 3 years

[reefbat]

I have had a pair of false percs in my tank for 3 years with no issues at all. They have gotten along perfectly fine until about a week after adding a yellow tang to the tank so mabye the new addition caused the change in behavior. I happened to be working from home a few weeks ago and heard quite a bit of splashing from the tank behind me. I turned around only to see the male attacking the female pretty viciously. He had completely ripped off her anal fin, the majority of her tail fin and one of the dorsal fins, and had pretty good chunks out of both pectoral fins. I netted her out and put her in the sump where she's been for about 3 weeks now. The fins are all recovering nicely and she's looking much better overall but i'm not sure that I can put her back into the main tank without the male attacking her again. Any advice? My wife volunteered to take care of her in a classroom setting so I do have an option besides just trading back into the lfs.

 

[Daniel62]

I have heard that sometimes a male can turn into a female. even if they have been paired up for a while. If that is the case, you would probably do best to find a new home for your fish.

 

[vaporize]

It can happen, clowns are not too smart. I had a friend brought me a spawning pair of ocellaris once, he mistakenly keep them in separate bags while transporting it to me ~ 4hrs, after that, the female killed the male in a week.

They can be forgetful ... so keep watching them to avoid casualty

 

[Jamie1210]

i would get the original female a new mate. The male has also been kept by himself for 3 weeks now--just enough time to turn female as it is.