Fighting Gold Stripe Babies 27 days old?

[andyman159]

I picked up some gold stripe maroon clowns from someone a week ago. they were born on March 19, so now they are almost a month old and moving into their 3rd stripe. Sunday they started fighting, which I figured was a dominance deal. But now it's Tuesday and within 5 minutes after I turn the light on, they're fighting. For the hour until I leave for work they're fighting, and when I get home it's still going on. Is this normal behavior for these guys or should the fighting have subsided by now? they won't even stop to eat when food is put in the tank. they get fed 3 times a day and were eating off the bottom in between prior to the brawls.

It's a 10 gal tank with a very small stack of rubble rock and an acrylic box i made that houses the filter intake and heater. I put some 1 1/2" PVC in the tank this morning to see if maybe they just need to host something, but any other input will help. thanks.

 

[kimsie]

How many are there? I know in my clownfishes book (about breeding) it says you have to reallly pack GSM babies in so that there is so many that the fighting is spread around a lot. Yes it's normal -but that doesn't mean they're not going to hurt each other. Have you read Joyce Wilkenson's Clownfishes book?

 

[andyman159]

No I have not read that book. Just heard of it yesterday actually. This is the first time I've done this. There's only 2 in the tank. So there's plenty of room to separate themselves. They just won't.

 

[GSMguy]

are they the same size?


if you have two maroons that are the same size in a tank they will fight, try getting one that is larger than the ones you have now.

are you close to the breeder?

 

[kimsie]

OH! when you said you got them that young - I just assumed that you had more than 2... Most people will not sell GSM's that young.

However - you should be ok - they're probably just working out who will be the female. However - you should know that with GSM if neither of them will bow to the other - it can end in death...

Are they starting to look pretty haggered? Can you describe their fighting? Maybe you're mistaking 'fighting' for dominance showing? GSM - think that could be a possibility?

 

[thosefishguys]

Maroons are notorious for fighting continuously, sometimes until the other is dead.
Look for one of them to start submitting to the other (the submissive one will sometimes turn on its side and shake a bit.) If that happens, the dominant will usually stop fighting, and they will probably work it out between themselves.
If, however, neither one submits, I would seperate the two.

J.

 

[andyman159]

One of the 2 will stop fighting back then the other persists. It's mainly one that starts it every time. Neither looks tattered yet. I'll keep an eye on them and separate if needed. As far as getting them that young, the breeder had to go out of town and offered them up because they had nobody to take care of them while she was gone. So I figured I'd try my hand at it.