New agression from existing pair of B&W Oc- Help

[jefathome]

About a year ago I had a mature B&W Occilarus and I decided to introduce a juvenile captive bread mis-bar B&W Occilarus. Everything was fine, the two fish got along and there was no aggression. They would swim around toegether about half the time and apart the other half. They "slept" about 6in from each other in a 150g tank.

Then just last week, after 10mo of peaceful cohabitation the larger one is suddenly attacking the younger one. Fins are nipped and the larger will chase the smaller into a little "hole".

My initial thought is that the younger one is finally reaching maturity and the older one is harassing "it" so that SHE can ensure the smaller one turns male....
Thus I should monitor but not take any action yet.

Your thoughts?

 

[sesheru95]

I agree with you, I think the smaller one maybe is challenging the larger one for dominance but the larger one is obviously winning. Hopefully after a little of back and forth, the pair will calm down and most likely the larger one will be the female if it isn't already female. If you see excessive tearing and bad aggression I would try to separate them before the death of the smaller clown. Interesting though how they were good to each other for 10 months though. Good Luck and I hope your clowns pair up.

 

[rkelman]

I think they may finally be pairing. That being said they have been known to kill each other so be prepared for that.

 

[trueblackpercula]

Good luck as the female is putting the amaller fish male in his place. The problem is when the male dlees like that and the female is beating him up that bad is not good. They may not pair up so keep an eye on her as she may kill him.

 

[jefathome]

thanks for the feedback.

He definitely has some torn fins (almost all of them) but none are torn that bad... so they should heal up. He is also eating fine (like a little pig) so I'm not overly worried yet. I'll keep an eye on them though.