Four clownfish, biggest three very aggressive to smallest

[joeybemate]

I have a 250L tank with four clownfish, and then a bunch of others in my cleanup crew. The biggest three clownfish have been constantly aggressive to the smallest one - at first I thought it was just typical dominance/submissive behaviour but it has been going on for over a month now, and the level of aggression is very high.

I bought the tank off a guy in January already set up - the two largest fish were bought as a pair around 2 years ago, and the smallest were bought as a pair around 5/6 months ago. The two largest had already been established as a male/female couple, and the smallest seemed to be hanging around each other when I bought the tank but it was uncertain as to whether gender had already been established.

Now, of the smallest two, one has grown a fair bit larger than the other and is hanging around the largest two, who constantly bully the smallest. The smallest one doesn't even try to fight back, he just swims very quickly away and occasionally does the seisure-submission thing, but mostly swims away with the others chasing him. I am worried that the smallest one may not be a he and is instead a she, and now that I have the tank and the other small one has split off from the pair she is being bullied - could this be possible? I would have thought that 250L would be enough for them to leave each other alone but this is not the case. Why do you guys think it is being bullied and how can I help? The small guy is looking very tattered - its anal fin has been ripped to shreds, and its caudal fin has a couple chunks taken out of it, and the fish in general is looking quite gaunt. I feed the fish one cube of brine shrimp daily, which I would have thought is more than enough to not have food as the problem causing aggression but maybe it isn't?

Another question - I have a flowerpot coral that the largest fish were hosting constantly, which I read is not too good for flowerpots and mine wasn't even putting out its 'flowers' most of the time, instead staying closed up. I made a cage out of plastic mesh and put it around the flowerpot in the hope that the fish would leave it alone and move onto the bubble-tipped anemone in my tank, but they have not and any time that I remove the cage they instantly come back to hosting the flowerpot. I've had the cage for around a month now and have tried to remove it a couple times to no avail. What do you think I should do? I've attached a picture of my tank and I will post a video of the aggression in a bit.

My parameters are: KH: 10.2/3.6, Mg: 1200, Ca: 385, NO3: 5, PO4: 0.25: PH: 8.2, Ammonia and Nitrites are 0

 

[joeybemate]

Here is the video of the clownfish being aggressive: https://youtu.be/xB1G4h1DKp8

 

[bat21]

You should not have more than 2 clownfish in a tank that small. Find new homes for 2 of them. Put the battered one in a quarantine tank so it doesn't get killed. Do more research before buying fish.

 

[Protoavis]

Essentially what the above user said, remove two of them. Clown fish are aggressive and will often fight until only two are left (ie after the fourth one is dead two of them will turn on the third one).

 

[hotelbravo]

i agree. way to small of a tank for more than one pair of clowns. and if they do not stop trying to use the flowerpot as a host i would return the flowerpot. id hate to have to look at that plastic in the tank and without it they will eventually kill it.

 

[joeybemate]

My tank is 66 gallons - what would the minimum tank size be for four clownfish?
And why is it too small?

 

[Treasure Coast]

Clowns are very territorial to their own species. I have a 150 gallon and only keep 1-pair. They will get along fine with any other fish but clowns. So, not sure what size you would need to keep them happy together.

 

[snorvich]

My tank is 66 gallons - what would the minimum tank size be for four clownfish?
And why is it too small?

My WAG on tank size for more than a pair is six feet long but that might not work.

 

[bat21]

You can usually find out if a certain purchase will work in your tank by googling it. But if you can't find an answer, make a thread on these boards, either in "New to the Hobby" or "Reef Fishes" and simply ask the question: Can I add X to a X gallon tank which currently has X, X, and X? If you did that in this case, every answer you got would have been along the lines of "No, they will murder eachother, only keep one pair of clowns."

And when you ask questions like this, go with the majority. If you want to do something and 9 people say it won't work, but one guy says, "Oh I tried that and it's great." Go with the 9 people, because the 10th was just an exception.

 

[joeybemate]

Thanks everyone for the replies - very helpful! I apologize for my ignorance and will definitely do more research in future before trying different combinations. I have taken both of the smallest clownfish out and am selling them as a pair.

 

[bat21]

Thanks everyone for the replies - very helpful! I apologize for my ignorance and will definitely do more research in future before trying different combinations. I have taken both of the smallest clownfish out and am selling them as a pair.

Actually, that may not have been the best decision. You should keep a big one and a small one. There's a better chance of them bonding since the smaller one is probably still a male. The two larger ones could both already be females and will not get along with eachother.

Females are the dominant sex. Once a clown turns female, they can't change back to male.

I don't know for sure what sex your clowns are. But typically when buying a pair, you want one to be clearly bigger than the other so that it's clear who will dominate and turn female. If they are the same size, they will fight for dominance.

If a pair was already together and bonded, you should keep those 2, if you can tell them apart.

 

[joeybemate]

Yes I am aware of everything you have just told me. I have read quite a few articles and threads on clownfish so I'm not completely ignorant but I just never thought to ask the question about four clownfish being in a tank together. The largest two were an already bonded pair when I got the tank (I got the tank second hand with the four clownfish already in it) and the two smaller ones seemed to be a pair as they were hanging out together, but they were both probably still juveniles