Possible Pairing of Clowns..?

[SimpleAznMan]

So I have had my tank for about 2 months now and started with 1 false perc clownfish and no anemone.

Recently I purchased a White Sabae Anemone as well as the false perc clownfish that was in the same tank from the same store.

After acclimating the anemone and new clown, I put the anemone in first and let it sit in the sand bed. The moment I put the new clownfish in, it began to nip the fins on the original one plus the new one quivered/had seizures in front of the old one. So I can only guess that the new clownfish is trying to show dominance over the original clownfish.

The original doesn't seem to be submissive to the new clown... at least it doesn't show the submissive behavior, nor is it swimming near the new clown. Whenever the new clown gets close to it, the old one just darts away... plus The new one kind of dominated the area near the anemone (although I have yet to see it host).

So my question is, is running away a sign of being submissive to the dominant fish....? Does anyone have any insight as to whats going on?

20 gallon, no corals, live rock, 1 emerald crab, 2 hermit crabs, live sand, 2 false perc clownfish, 1 white sabae anemone.


Thanks for your time.

 

[ocellaris123]

The sebae anemone you have purchased is bleached, meaning it has lost its zooanthallae algae and is currently unhealthy. For future knowledge never purchase a white sea anemone from a store unless you are prepared to nurse it back to health. Now to answer your question it is generally a good idea to introduce a smaller juvenile clownfish if you are going to introduce it to an established clownfish. How big are the current clownfish? If the dominant fish is beating up the established fish with no challenge that I would indeed call that dominance, but it is still too early to tell.

 

[clowns101]

how old is the fish that was originaly in the tank?How old is the new fish?

 

[SimpleAznMan]

The white sebae anemone was in pretty poor condition after taking it home, I changed the lighting in my tank since then. When it was at th LFS, they had crap flurasent light over it. I now have a more blue color light over it, all the tentacles deflat and inflat (in a healthy manner)... they are current inflated and starting to grab on to things. The mouth was open for awhile, but since I changed lighting I also did a water change... the mouth is now closed and the anemone sits in a cup shape.. Maybe I have successfully nursed a white sebae anemone back to health..? (heard they were pretty hard to keep) Will begin to feed it twice a week starting next week.

As for the fish, got the first one about 2-2.5 months ago, bought the new one this week. I'd say the new one is a tad bit bigger then the old one. The old one doesn't put up a fight, they are beginning to swim closer together... but the new one still chases it once in a while.

 

[SimpleAznMan]

And i didnt understand the bleached comment, the anemone looks just as they do in pictures in all the stuff i looked up... plus the purple dot on the tips are beginning to reappear. The anemone was never dyed a different color to my knowledge (like some LFS dye them bright yellow to make them more attractive). Its just creamy white-ish color with purple dot on tips.

 

[Arati]

ya you have problem it sound like..

clownfish will change from male to female in as little as 1 month alone. If the new fish is larger hten it also is most likely female, even if its not. It is unlikely a larger male would submit to a smaller female. rather it would keep its own space and turn into a female itself and 2 female will not tolerate one another in a 20g .. or even a much larger tank for that matter.

Capture 1 fish and return it / or trade if for the smallest one you can find, as that will be the best shot at getting the male you need.

 

[SimpleAznMan]

Actually I think my problem fixed itself. I just saw them swimming together, in fact the new one (larger one and most likely female) kept checking out the anemone... New notice tho... they swim in a figure 8 together... anyone ever noticed this behavior before..?

 

[SimpleAznMan]

I should also mention they are both really really small, when i say one is larger then the other... its simply comparing the two. They are both juvys.