Possible problem ?? Advise needed

ranger07

New member
Ok, I'm noticing my pair of false perc's acting weird.They have been together for 6 months now & have been acting & doing great.Just recently the larger (female) has been keeping the male at the bottom of the tank is a bunch of razor calupera.The male dug out a bed in the sand & basically just lays in the grass.The female keeps coming near & is twitching & shaking it's body.She doesn't attack or hurt the male,just keeps him very submissive.Is this normal,Are they attempting or starting to mate.Should I be concerned ?
I really could use some advise on this,if you have any ideas or knowledge,please let me know.
Thanks
 
It's perfectly normal for the female to keep the male submissive. Usually the male will shimmy its body in the presence of the female to indicate submissiveness.

You didn't say how old your two fish are, just that you have had them together for six months and that one is larger than the other. If they were both acquired as juveniles, then they are still going through the sexual maturation process and gender is determined by social aggression. This aggressive phase ends once the female is secure in her gender and is satisfied that the male has acknowledged her superiority.

They will eventually become a happily married couple with the male doing most of the work and the female supervising.
 
They were both bought as juvies.As they grew,the female has kept the male at bay with no change in activity.Just lately she is keeping him basically pinned in the calupera & if he wonders out she makes it known she is very upset & he quickly returns to bottom.I've just never seen this behavior.How long does it take for them to be sexually mature,before they will even consider mating?
 
You have had them for six months and they were probably only six to nine months old when you purchased them. I forgot to ask you how large they were when you bought them, but chances are they were less than 12 months old.

Since you have only two of them, they will both reach sexual maturity: the larger one will become a sexually mature female (happening right now) and the other one will mature as a male and stop there.

If you had three or four of them, the largest would mature as a female, the next in the pecking order would mature as a male and the remaining other(s) would remain sexually immature. If, for whatever reason, the female were removed, the male would become female within a week or two and the next in line would finally reach sexual maturity as a male.

If you were to remove the male from the group, the ranking sexually immature fish would reach sexual maturity as the new male. Nobody moves up the ladder unless there is a vacancy. In nature, you may have three or four or five Ocellaris clowns all residing in the same large host anemone; however, there will be only one female and one male. The others could remain sexually immature their entire lives.

Getting back to your situation. Your female is reaching sexual maturity, which is demonstrated by her behavior. In the next phase, they will be more accepting of each other and then, in the final phase, they will bond as a mated pair. If conditions are right, they might even spawn. The female will lay the eggs but the male will be charged with fanning them with his tail. In nature, that cycle could repeat itself every couple of weeks.

:D

P.S. -- One of the reasons the female keeps the male cornered is to make sure that she gets more to eat than he does. She doesn't want to take any chances that he might get to grow as fast as she does and threaten her dominance. Once she is secure in her status as the boss and satisfied that he has acknowledged her superiority, things will calm down.
 
Thanks alot Ninong.The info really helps.I just hope she doesn't stress him till he dies.I can't take my eyes off the tank,I'm constantly watching them.I don't interfear,just keep a watch.I hope the stree doesn't kill us all.
Thanks again.
 
Maroon clowns (Premnas biaculeatus) can sometimes get physical to the point of real injury but not Ocellaris clowns. Things will calm down soon.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13984721#post13984721 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Ninong
They will eventually become a happily married couple with the male doing most of the work and the female supervising.


As it should be....ROFL!!! :P

- Andrea
 
Sad news..I just scooped the dead male from my tank.She ended up killing him.Why ? I don't believe it went that far.Should I go right out & buy another,if so what size,or should I wait till she is done with this phase.
 
I'm sorry to hear that. It's quite unusual for this to happen with Ocellaris clowns but it has been known to happen with Maroon clowns.

If you get another one, it might be best to get another juvenile that is much smaller than your resident clown. This way, the new fish will almost immediately acknowledge the superiority of the resident fish and things could settle down within a matter of hours.

I would wait at least three or four weeks before adding a new fish. Let the resident fish settle down a little first. What some hobbyists have resorted to when trying to pair up Maroon clowns (or any difficult species of fish) is to install an acrylic partition in the tank closing off a small section where the new addition will be housed for a week or so. This gives both fish time to get used to seeing each other before the partition is removed. Some people even use something that has openings (holes) that are large enough for the smaller fish to swim through but not large enough for the larger fish to pursue.

An alternative is to use a small acrylic container with circulation holes that can be mounted on one side of the tank. The purpose is the same. The new fish is placed in this container for a few days until it is felt that it is safe to release it into the tank.
 
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