Help! My Black and White clownfish started harassing my true percula. WHY

[MarineGirl411]

This may sound dumb, but ever since I've had my fish, they have gotten along great. Never fought or anything. They are the ones in my avatar. All of a sudden this past week my black and white clownfish started harassing my true percula very bad. =( Chases him around, then starts shaking as if to show off or show dominance. Will they eventually get along again? From what I've been hearing the black and white Ocellaris is changing into the female. Please let me know. The Black and White Ocellars is in the refugium. I just felt so bad for my True Percula. How long can I expect the b/w one to pick on the other? Just don't want him picking on him to death. TY

 

[joker577]

Shaking, Seizure, dancing, all the same...one of them is declaring dominance over the other...the one that's shaking is going to stay the male and the one that it's shaking to will become the female

 

[Coraldynamics]

Sounds like they are fighting for dominance as you guessed. The shaking is a submissive movement. The Ocellaris seems to be telling the Percula "if you do this I will leave you alone" If you had the percula before the ocellaris there is a chance that it was already female and the ocellaris may be challenging her for that position. Bad news... Only one female to a tank (of that size anyway). Separating them might be helping them not get picked on, but over time you WILL end up with two females if they are alone in their respective tanks.

How long have you had the fish? Was one purchased well before the other? Could also just be a species thing going on since they are different species of clowns after all. (Assuming the Percula really is a percula)

 

[MarineGirl411]

Hi,
The black one is doing the shaking and picking on the True Percula. The True Percula is being very submissive and swimming away. It will end up sleeping on the other side of the fish tank away from the other one. Should I leave them in there with each other? I was just afraid the B/w one was going to kill my Percula. Also, is the larger fish always the male? I thought the larger fish was always the female? Sorry, I am just learning about this. Thank you so much for your help. =)

 

[MarineGirl411]

Percula is a true Percula. LFS I got them from is an RC mod. I don't think he'd mislead me there. The True Percula was in the tank first but was only in there 1 week alone.

 

[Coraldynamics]

Excellent, that means you got the perc from a relaible source. I was not trying to state that you were misled in any way. Being new to clowns, some folks call them all "perc" so just being sure.

Now then, was the percula alone in the former owners tank? Just trying to determine if you may have a problem arising. The female will become the largest of the two, but she may not start off that way. If she is meaner than the bigger one when they are put together, then she can put on a growth spurt to help her dominance.

Once they are paired, the largest will be the female in the species of clowns we are talking about here.

So now you need to determine if you have the start of two females, or a silly clown that has not learned how to give up yet. Running away is not a sign of submission, it is simply getting out of the way for now. The shaking is a submissive gesture. I have seen females during pairing that "Show" their prosective mate what to do so they will let up....