help with one clownfish picking on the other.

[dogmajones]

I bought 2 clownfish about 7 months ago, one was bigger then the other. I was hoping they would easily transition into the male/female roles, for the last month or so the bugger of the two keeps picking on the smaller one, faces him, and basically forces him to the waters surface, then the larger one does what looks to be a submissive wiggle, it was very random, but today i come home to find my sammler clownfish hiding/hosting with my hammer coral, and the larger one with a torn back fin, and missing scales on the one side. The larger one kept trying to pick on the smaller one, and he just went deeper into the hammer coral. I went to feed the fish and the female won't let him eat, chases him whenever he comes near the food, now the pumps are back on the smaller one is back in the hammer coral. I am hoping they are close to figuring out dominance, how long should I wait on this before making the tough call of removing one?

 

[dogmajones]

a small edit. I was just watching them closely. the larger of the 2 clowns as I said has scrapes and a torn fin, now I know why. the larger one had the smaller one pinned at the waters surface, and following it around, when got into a corner the smaller clownfish turned on the bigger clownfish and bit it on it's side and was holding on pretty hard. They seperated and the larger one didn't attack, just bullying. I am wondering if I have 2 females somehow, but it's odd they only started this behaivor a month or so ago, and today it is bad. I will add a pic showing their size difference.

 

[jraker]

looks like they are 2 different types of clowns. that might be part of it.


how big is the tank?

 

[rogerarias]

I've heard thru the grapevine that two different ones fight but again I have two different ones. I just made sure to pick one smaller than my first.

 

[Giants13]

my yellow tang was being aggressive so i took a picture of him cut it out and taped it on the tank (a couple pics), he was occupied on the tangs taped to the tank. Make sure to put some where he hangs out if u do try this.

 

[dogmajones]

things took a change for the worse after posting the fighting intensified, so I figured I either had 2 females or the smaller of the 2 was just too dominant in his own right to submit, but luckily my father has a tank with a younger male wyoming white clown, so I took a chance and moved the larger one to his aqaurium, they immediately swam together and no signs of aggression, then I went to a local LFS and picked up a very small frostbite clown, after adding him to my aquarium my clownfish immediately swam up to the little guy and they seemed to bond right away, even slept together their first night, so I am hoping the 2 new couples are now happy and will be free from incident

 

[fredfish13]

good luck. i have 2 pairs of clowns in 2 different tanks. had 3 of the clowns for almost 4 years. both pairs were great with each other for about a year then started fighting very bad. moved the aggressive pair from a biocube to the 65 and moved the other pair to the biocube. the female was kicking the male's a**. now that pair is bonded and laying eggs every other week. unfortunately, the other female killed the male in the biocube this past spring. i placed a small one in there a couple months ago and she wasn't very receptive with him. put her in another tank for a few weeks and just put her back in a few days ago. they seem to be getting along fine. they swim around together. hoping they bond. Again good luck.

 

[chevmaro]

I have the same problem with 2 of my clowns. Purchased at the same time, from the same tank at the store. After getting them home they started fighting. Its been 3 months, hoping things change.