Mated pair for years, now the male is attacking the female

[Daimyo68]

Strange question... Mated pair of clowns, together for years in the same tank, same nems, lay eggs on a regular basis.

Out of nowhere, the male is attacking the female, and by attacking, I mean he has taken a bite out of her tail, aggressively chases her around the tank, and when he can, keeps her subdued under the nems.

Just a few minutes ago, they both are submitting to each other... makes absolutely no sense.

I have had clowns in the past, paired, laying eggs, etc, but have never seen this happen

Also, they never leave their nems, except for feeding. Tonight, they are all over the tank, back and forth to the nems

 

[ThRoewer]

Did you make any changes, especially to the light intensity and spectrum?

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[Daimyo68]

No changes at all. This reef has been running for years, and other than corals growing out, its the same.

They have owned the front right corner of the tank since they were added when the tank was setup.

 

[Jacevedo7486]

This behavior can occur when there is a full moon.

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[Arati]

I have seen this happen when a female stopped producing good nests and was well past her prime. I guess the male decide to take over and ended up that the " Male" never accepted a new mate after he killed her.

 

[hottuna]

I am having just the opposite occur in my tank. Bonded pair that was prepping for eggs . suddenly the female aggresively chases the male out of "her" anemone and takes bites out of his tail region...his submissive wagging does not stop the behavior...any ideas ?

 

[Jacevedo7486]

Any changes! Have they calm down yet? So you know I've had a recent similar issue with a pair the are proven layers, a pair of MochaVinci that are 4 yearsof age. It was day and night, for my pair they became hostile to each other fighting, and did serious damage to each other chewed fins snd tails. I spoke to a clownfish breeder and mention full moon, a laugh thought my clownish were changing to werewolf..lol several weeks all is normal both are no longer fighting but no spawning have occurred yet. Hoping to see them lay eggs again.

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