Clowns Fighting

[cjpitt80]

Hi,
I have a pair of ocellaris clowns that have been in my tank about 2 months or so. For the past 2 weeks one has been "bullying" the other. He chases the other around the tank most of the time but never seems to do any real damage. It doesn't look like he is actually fin nipping, just bullying. The bullied fish doesn't really seem scared of the other, just constantly swims away, and he eats ok. They are the same size and were purchased at the same time and survived fine together in a 10gal QT. Is this normal as they grow? Will it get better/worse? I read I somewhere I should have gotten a pair of different sizes, but these were the last 2 my LFS had and they weren't fighting then.
Thanks

 

[davocean]

They are just sorting out who will become the dominant female most likely, the chased one should twitch in submission.
Eventually the female will grow faster and larger than the male and you will see a noticeable size difference.

 

[cjpitt80]

They are just sorting out who will become the dominant female most likely, the chased one should twitch in submission.
Eventually the female will grow faster and larger than the male and you will see a noticeable size difference.

Ok thanks. Figured it was something like that, but they were calm and peaceful up until they weren't. I think I'm going to have to switch their names now LOL

 

[hkgar]

Perfectly normal. It will take a week or two and all will be back to normal. Then they may decide to mate.

 

[davocean]

Ok thanks. Figured it was something like that, but they were calm and peaceful up until they weren't. I think I'm going to have to switch their names now LOL

If you had 2 females, they'd be fighting right away.
They are probably just going through the process of maturing and the more dominant is stepping up now.

Often you'll see this happen again some later when the female has reached the point where she's ready to begin spawning.

 

[hkgar]

Just like any married couple. Fight and make up. Silly clowns

 

[davocean]

Just like any married couple. Fight and make up. Silly clowns

W/ possible hormone type swings!

A few females I've had look just confused angry and fussy at their worst just before their first spawn, and then after that it seems smooth sailing for both and inseparable.

My present pair only lightly hashed out on intro, and barely paid attention to each other for months, and then fought so much I actually feared maybe too similar in size and maybe both went female, but I just observed and held out, and bam, eggs came and so did peace.

But at one point I was looking at other males online and trying to decide which of my clowns I was gonna pull...

 

[Rover88]

I've had my pair for over a year, there is very clearly a female and a male, and every so often she still goes on a tear and chases him around and nips him.

Its normal, as others have said. It might not stop either, though there really shouldn't be much damage.

 

[davocean]

I've had my pair for over a year, there is very clearly a female and a male, and every so often she still goes on a tear and chases him around and nips him.

Its normal, as others have said. It might not stop either, though there really shouldn't be much damage.

If they have not spawned yet, there's a good chance they will mellow when they do

 

[cjpitt80]

Update

Update

So the past week and the chasing seems to have died down by about 50%. I can also definitely see a noticeable size difference between the two