Ocellaris clown fighting question.

[Juice It]

I bought two Ocellaris clowns for my little reef tank that were both in the same tank at the store. Once settled in they were great for a week and now one is constantly after the other. I figured they were establishing the male/female thing but this has now been going on for a few weeks. Will things just "click" one day or am I going to eventually have a dead fish? They both continue to eat well.

Thanks, Jeff

 

[reefinghabit]

ive seen many times when clowns look like they literally want to kill eachother,if one is smaller and the other is bigger thats a good thing it mean you already have a male female pair,maybe they still are establishing a higherarchy.id suggest getting an anemone in there for them if you havent already.im sure things will settle down shortly.

 

[Juice It]

ive seen many times when clowns look like they literally want to kill eachother,if one is smaller and the other is bigger thats a good thing it mean you already have a male female pair,maybe they still are establishing a higherarchy.id suggest getting an anemone in there for them if you havent already.im sure things will settle down shortly.

They are pretty much exactly the same size. There are two anenomes in the tank that they both spend some time in however it seems the one is in attack mode all day long. The weaker of the two now spends most of the time trying to avoid the other and its almost like the dominant one seeks out the other for fun. When its feeding time they both come to eat and then its back to hiding while the other enjoys the anenomes! Will one always turn female or do they sometimes kill eachother? i have had clowns in the past and they never seemed to have issues with one another.

 

[vwwanksta69]

They are pretty much exactly the same size. There are two anenomes in the tank that they both spend some time in however it seems the one is in attack mode all day long. The weaker of the two now spends most of the time trying to avoid the other and its almost like the dominant one seeks out the other for fun. When its feeding time they both come to eat and then its back to hiding while the other enjoys the anenomes! Will one always turn female or do they sometimes kill eachother? i have had clowns in the past and they never seemed to have issues with one another.

Sounds like two females if the one is constantly looking for the other to attack. I would seperate and sell one to get a much smaller male. Did this about two months ago.

 

[davocean]

Yes, they can possibly kill each other if both are female, or even if the female does not accept the male presented.
Excessive fin tearing and biting would make me pull one, but it is quite common for it to take a bit for a pair to mellow out their differences.

 

[Reef1121]

My occelaris's fought for about 2 months in my nano before one got smaller and the other bigger, after that they were in-separable. Just duke it out for a while longer but if no change occurs you probably have 2 females and need to find a male for her or just have the one clown.