Mean Clownfish

[president89]

Hi. One of my breeding pairs Black Ocellaris male died a few weeks ago. I wanted to pair up the female again so I bought her a picasso mate. She beat the hell out of him. At first I thought maybe the picasso was a female, and wasn't submitting, So I tossed it/her/she in my fuge. I then decided to take a fish that was tiny and thought to be a male in there - a fancy snowflake. She's kicking his butt. Do females who lose their mates prove difficult to accept a new mate? Am I making it more difficult by using a different color Ocellaris?
I even tried seperating with a lighting grid for a few days to see if she'd get used to him. No dice. She's trying to rip his fins off. The only thing I can think to do would be to grab a small black Ocellaris and try that. Any suggestions? I'm going to go save this fish.

 

[HowManyClowns]

Mean Clownfish

Put her in timeout (net breeder works) for 3 days, don't feed her at all. Leave the male in the tank. Put her back in. This works a good amount of the time because she is too weak to fight, is more focused on food and often they end up pairing.

 

[Tiberione]

Put her in timeout (net breeder works) for 3 days, don't feed her at all. Leave the male in the tank. Put her back in. This works a good amount of the time because she is too weak to fight, is more focused on food and often they end up pairing.

This is cruel.

 

[HowManyClowns]

Mean Clownfish

Hardly. Cruel is having multiple fish beaten and possibly killed while trying to pair her up. Most fish you buy have not been fed for 2-3 days before shipping to reduce ammonia. Do you suggest people start feeding fish prior to shipping so they don't get hungry?

 

[Tiberione]

Hardly. Cruel is having multiple fish beaten and possibly killed while trying to pair her up. Most fish you buy have not been fed for 2-3 days before shipping to reduce ammonia. Do you suggest people start feeding fish prior to shipping so they don't get hungry?

And if it doesn't work you've starved and put the fish into a tiny area for 3 days. Not a permanent thing I get that it just seems cruel to me.

 

[MBK]

Last time I moved my tank I put all my fish in a small aquarium with lots of rock. When I took them out my chocolate tang (who is really yellow and the dominant fish in the tank) was covered with bite marks from the clown fish. I thought he was going to die but he recovered and they get over it. My damsel fish tries to kill everything I put in the tank until they set up a pecking order. It seems cruel but they are really just protecting their own small space. Confined and hungry is minor to her constantly beating on the new fish.

 

[Tiberione]

I guess now that I see it in prospective it doesn't seem as bad. Hopefully it works if you go with this method

 

[president89]

I am going to try this. I was putting the new comer in the breeding net so that the female could see him. I'll try the other way around.

 

[HowManyClowns]

I am going to try this. I was putting the new comer in the breeding net so that the female could see him. I'll try the other way around.

Yup, I tried the same thing many times and it didn't work. Someone suggested I try the other way and it has been working more often than not. Good luck, keep us posted

 

[president89]

Went out and bought a couple new males, put the females in breeder boxes and we'll see what happens. Amazingly enough, the females are just looking at the males through the glass. Interesting. They aren't even attacking each other - female/female which are side

 

[president89]

Putting the female by themselves in the breeding box solved the problem. I introduced the females to the males 48 hours later, and no aggression. I'm monitoring closely.

 

[HowManyClowns]

Mean Clownfish

Great to hear . This concept works well with maroons which are often difficult to pair. I recently paired a lightning maroon with an ORA Picasso using this concept ;-)

 

[president89]

Great to hear . This concept works well with maroons which are often difficult to pair. I recently paired a lightning maroon with an ORA Picasso using this concept ;-)

That's going to make an interesting looking clown!