Weird behavior and discoloration from 1 of my clowns

[Bliz]

Please help. I have a pair of ocellaris clownfish that I got on the same day 2 months ago. One of them has always lightly chased the other and I've assumed this to be the female. Lately she has been bullying the other clown so much that he is almost constantly in hiding. If she sees him see immediately chases him very rapidly around the tank until he is out of her site or he hides. I noticed today that the weaker clown's color has faded. He is a duller shade of orange then when I first got them. They both are eating well. Is this normal behavior? Is it normal for a clownfish's color to fade? I'm worried that the weaker one is going to die.

 

[badharley99]

probably stressed out like when putting livestock into your tank

 

[BonsaiNut]

Yeah; sadly clowns can easily pester a weaker member to death. It would be best to separate the weaker clown from the more aggressive one or you may end up losing the weaker one. Try a breeder cage for a bit, or a clear container with holes poked in it. The clear container concept has worked for me a number of times...

 

[Bliz]

Thanks for the reply. How long should I separate them? Do I put the aggressor in the container?

 

[BonsaiNut]

You put the weaker one in the container. If you put the stronger one in the container it just ****es her off and when you eventually let her out she goes on a scorched earth policy around the tank.

Put the smaller one in the container and put the container RIGHT in the anemone, or right next to her favorite lair. She won't like it one bit, and may initially attack the jar. Eventually she gets tired of attacking it and will just accept it being there. Meanwhile the little guy in the jar will initially be scared to death, but once he realizes he isn't about to die he will perk up. Usually he will start to display submissive dances and act in a more normal fashion. Wait until the female shows no interest in him other than to come look at him every now and then. Wait at least a week - 10 days until she gets totally comfortable with the new situation, and the little guy has had the chance to recover and get stronger. If you need to feed the little guy squirt a LITTLE food into the jar with a baster.

When you eventually let the guy out, you may want to do it at night so he can settle into the nem without her knowing what is going on. Every clown is different so let her behavior be the guide of what you do. Sometimes with a really nasty female I put a small mirror in the tank. She is so upset at her reflection it often distracts her from the male for a bit...

 

[hypnoj]

You put the weaker one in the container. If you put the stronger one in the container it just ****es her off and when you eventually let her out she goes on a scorched earth policy around the tank.

hahaha, I just love the way you put that, lol. So true :uzi:

 

[tritonman]

I introduced my 2 clowns about a month ago. The larger one was picking on the smaller after about a week or two, and it's slowly been subsiding ever since. The smaller one started doing the twitching dance early on, so I've been letting them do their thing.

 

[ConnorG]

This happened originally when I added a second clown to my tank, what I did was I took out the aggressor and put him in the QT while I gave the small one a chance to roam free and recover. The 2nd day the aggressor was in the qt he looked stressed so I moved him back, 2.5 weeks later the clowns are happily married good luck!

 

[Bliz]

I introduced my 2 clowns about a month ago. The larger one was picking on the smaller after about a week or two, and it's slowly been subsiding ever since. The smaller one started doing the twitching dance early on, so I've been letting them do their thing.

Mine were doing that as well. The dance, the twitch, the convulsion, the chase.... but its gotten more extreme lately. Today, they seem fine. Aggressor is "allowing" the weaker one to be out and about offering a chase here and there. I'm still concerned about the discolor of my perceived male. Why would he be a paler orange than he was a few weeks ago?

 

[BonsaiNut]

Why would he be a paler orange than he was a few weeks ago?

Stress. It is not unusual for these clowns to be stressed to death, to be chased so much they jump out of the tank, or to simply "disappear" one night because they got chased into the rocks and died outright.

Normally, with juveniles, if there are only two, they will sort it out. The female is the decider. The older and larger the female, the more opinionated she will become. A big mature maroon will kill a male she doesn't like before you can net him out of the tank. I have seen a female attacking and shaking a small male like a rag doll. So with older females I wouldn't chance it - there is no downside to using a cage when starting out, particularly if you have a large reef tank where it would be nearly impossible to net out a male clown once he gets loose.

 

[Whip316]

the female usually relents when the male submits and twitches. she knows she has won and he now knows his place in the tank! hehe
i see most aggression from juvi's the same size and age. they are evenly matched and will fight harder and longer. its better to get different sizes when getting clowns. this way the fight is over quickly.


off note. Bonzai, your Latz are stunning. i miss my pair...

 

[Frantz]

It took almost 2 months to get a new juvenile maroon to be free to swim around with 1 year old female in the tank. They still don't buddy up often, but I've read maroons have stronger gender tendencies than other clowns. It just takes patience and care