Clownfish Pairing Help

[JohnV8r]

I have a 3.5" female maroon clown that I am trying to pair with a small 1" male maroon clown. I followed the directions on pairing from the archived post on pairing. Things seemed to go great for the first two hours. Both maroon clowns were swimming together and there was no disharmony at all. Next thing I know, my blue tang starts swimming with the female maroon clown and the female starts exhibiting some aggressive behavior toward the smaller male. The male was doing the submissive twitching, but the female has begun pecking at him a little bit. Nothing too terribly dramatic, but when the male is twitching the female hits him a couple of times and leaves. Now they are not swimming together (in part because my blue tang won't leave the maroon clown's side).

Should leave the small male in the tank at this point and see if they work it out? It's only been about 2.5-3 hours that they have both been in the tank together.

Thanks in advance.

 

[JohnV8r]

Well, I'm completely baffled as to what is going on now. The male maroon clown has moved to a large piece of rock toward the top of the tank. The female is swimming in the vicinity, but clearly is aware he is there. There is no chasing, no fighting, just comfortable indifference while the small male restricts himself to the top of the rock and up.

Obviously, I'm going to just let this play out at this point. Anyone have any experience with this behavior? Is it possible this all gets worked out in the days ahead?

Sorry the picture has reflections in it. I get a lot of indirect natural sunlight in the afternoon where the tank is (keeps the lighting bills down)

Thanks in advance for any help.

 

[JohnV8r]

I dosed my tank with Midol and look what happened. Mission accomplished!!!

 

[jbax]

the pairing of clownfish is alot of drama. it might give daytime tv a run for it's money. they like eachother, then they fight. then they get back together. then they fight and she kicks him out of the house for a while. sometimes he tries to sneak back in but it doesn't last long. after a little bit, she lets him come back home. then they have babies and then they BITE THE HAND THAT FEEDS. and live happly ever after.


P.S. as long as there is not to much damage, they are fine, just keep an eye on it.

 

[JohnV8r]

Definitely no damage. Today they seem pretty happy. The male is doing a lot of twitching and the female isn't hitting him anymore. Generally speaking, this wasn't too bad; just the one episode for about 30 minutes. I haven't had to remove anyone or do anything drastic.

Thanks for the input.

 

[aidan0217]

awesome...

 

[Tuton]

I've had a moroon and Occelaris pair up
Weirdest thing I have ever seen

 

[JohnV8r]

Here's an update and a question:

Generally speaking, things are going very well and there is no fighting between the two maroon clowns...with one exception. When I feed the fish and most of the food has been eaten, the large female clown gets a little chippy if the smaller male is out in the water column near her. He now has some tears in his caudal (tail) fin and in his left pectoral fin. 98% of the time, they get along fin. I'm inclined to leave them alone and let it play out.

My question is will the fins repair themselves as the male gets larger?

 

[Sport507]

the pairing of clownfish is alot of drama. it might give daytime tv a run for it's money. they like eachother, then they fight. then they get back together. then they fight and she kicks him out of the house for a while. sometimes he tries to sneak back in but it doesn't last long. after a little bit, she lets him come back home. then they have babies and then they BITE THE HAND THAT FEEDS. and live happly ever after.


P.S. as long as there is not to much damage, they are fine, just keep an eye on it.

LMAO.....This post is classic and right on the mark of how they pair up.