female decided it's going to kill male - please help

ReefKeeperRob

New member
I bought 2 black and white ocellaris clowns about 2 months ago and everything has been fine. now the female constantly chases the male around the tank biting his fins. Every once in a while the female will do this seizure thing for a second or two as well. I figured they were just figuring out who's gonna be the female etc... but it's more than that. The bigger one is going to kill the smaller one, he's already missing a good portion of his fins.

The smaller one can't catch a break for 5 seconds, he's not gonna make it too long like this.

What the heck is going on?
 
Put the little guy in a perspex breeder container for a few days, just anything to separate the two but still maintain visual contact. Let him out to see if the fighting still continues and if not back into the container. Eventually it should stop, if it doesn't then its time to let the female fly solo for awhile
 
Actually get the female into the container and give the male the tank. This way she doesnt just get more teritorial while he is out of her way.

IMO 5 days in the penalty box for her!
 
When the female shakes, she is asking him if he submit or not. If he doesn't summit, not shakes back, then she will bite and chase him. What you really want is to get him to give up. I would either leave them be or else put him in a container and leave her out. This way, she will become more dominant, and he will summit to her.
IMO 5 days in the penalty box for him for being hard headed
 
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