new ocellaris pair beating each other, help

[reeefraf]

Monday night I picked up 2 Ocellaris clown "semi picasso" tank raised. Great lookign firsh that had been at the fish store for 2-3 weeks in a 29 gallon tank with a few other fish.

The are boths similiar in size around 2 inches, one is a little bigger than the other. Since I placed then in my 30 gallon reef tank, they have been staying in one corner and swimming together. They are eating and seem to be adjusting ok.

Tonight, they have been fighting for hours, and one is definately a little beaten up. he is floating somewhat on his side near the top resting on my mag-float. the other is fine and still jumps toward him if he ventures off the magfloat.

From what I have been told this is normal behavior, is there anythign i can do to help? is this normal pairing up activity or is the one just trying to kill the other? Thanks

 

[myxsptlk]

Yes it's normal, my black and white pair do this. The male is forced to stay in his corner and does float on his side when he gets attacked. He's allowed out during feeding times and days when she's in a good mood but other than that he's pretty much where he is. The aggression has died down but not completely, I suspect it may get better if the clowns start hosting/being hosted. My black and white pair don't host anything, but my orange pair does and there's not fighting at all between the orange pair

 

[tufacody]

Two inches is fairly big for LFS occelaris. While occs are usually the most peaceful of the clowns, this behavior is fairly typical. Since you likely have adults and they are both the same size, its probable that you have two of the same sex, and if this is true its also quite possible that one will kill the other. Its usually recommended that when buying clowns you buy one much bigger than the other, in the hopes that one will change sex, leaving you with a pair.

Now... in the event that you are lucky enough to get a male and female, its not uncommon for clowns to beat the crap out of each other before pairing up, although occs still seem to be the gentlest in that regard. But, given their adult size, I think you are likely dealing with same sex aggression.

 

[Slickcg33]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15130306#post15130306 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by tufacody
Two inches is fairly big for LFS occelaris. While occs are usually the most peaceful of the clowns, this behavior is fairly typical. Since you likely have adults and they are both the same size, its probable that you have two of the same sex, and if this is true its also quite possible that one will kill the other. Its usually recommended that when buying clowns you buy one much bigger than the other, in the hopes that one will change sex, leaving you with a pair.

Now... in the event that you are lucky enough to get a male and female, its not uncommon for clowns to beat the crap out of each other before pairing up, although occs still seem to be the gentlest in that regard. But, given their adult size, I think you are likely dealing with same sex aggression.

I agree, however he has stated the one beaten up is staying at the top in his corner. If it was same sex i would assume it would have just been a battle to the death, not a submission and a rest period. Perhaps im wrong though, but i do think this is normal pairing behavior, not same sex aggression.

 

[tufacody]

I'm not sure I'd call this submission though. There's always a loser, and he usually winds up in an upper corner somewhere before starving to death. But either way, pretty hard to tell.

 

[vaporize]

Watch the weak one carefully, if it gets too bad, it is time to take it out of the tank. Although the big/small pairing technique works pretty well, there are still many cases that they do not like each other and will still decide to kill off each other. If the weak ones gets stressed too bad, it WILL die.

be careful.