My GS Maroon Clown is a Wimp!

[av8rtrb]

My tank is a 15g with 20lbs of Figi live rock and 1" sand bottom. It took about 3 weeks to finish the cycle. After that (about 5 weeks ago) I put in the CUC and first fish. I wanted to put in the shyer ones to begin with so the first to go in were a yellow watchman goby and a cherub angel, both about 1.5". About 2 weeks later I introduced a 2" GSM clown (I realize that the tank is really too small for a maroon but this tank will only be used for a few months until I can set up a 50g in late spring or early summer). From the beginning the cherub angel has harrassed the clown. After reading that maroon clowns are such bullys this was really a surprise to me. The clown is eating well and seems to be otherwise healthy but the lower parts of his front fins are frayed where the cherub has nipped at him. Should I expect this behavior to go away?

 

[jt_milstead]

Those Angels are known to be devil spawns.....Your clown is a juvenile, wait til it matures.

 

[Johanv]

My cherub angel is always trying to pick a fight with my pair of occ clowns!

 

[av8rtrb]

Well at least I have the comfort of knowing mine isn't the only one.

 

[av8rtrb]

The problem has been resolved, but not in a happy way. I woke up this morning to find the cherub angel dead on the bottom of the tank. Water parameters are all good, and last night he looked healthy and ate well, no signs of injury or disease and acting normally. Only thing new was that I added a frogspawn coral to the tank yesterday, but I never read of a frogspawn killing a fish. The clown and yellow watchman goby are both fine. It's a mystery.:sad2:

 

[EllieSuz]

I would think about whether the tank is too small not just for the Maroon, but whether it's too small for that many fish at all. I think you have a serious overload at this point. A couple of issues apply to this situation. First, being restricted to such a small space enhances the aggressive nature of a fish. Put that angel and clown in a 180 gallon tank and they'd find their own territory and not bother one another. Secondly, you just plain have too many fish in 15 gallons. Since you are down to two fish, I would leave it at that and hope they both thrive. Personally, I think two is still too many. Do you have a sump? The added volume of a sump would help, especially if you keep some additional rock in it. We never recommend buying a fish for a future tank.

 

[av8rtrb]

No, no sump. I thought about adding one, but as I'll have the 50g up and running by summer I decided not to. At any rate I have no plans to add any other fish until I have the bigger tank running.