What to do with Odd Man Out?

[Skylar12]

I have a 55 gallon tank with 4 clowns. The 2 orange were added first about 18 months to 2 years ago. They got along fine together. The 2 black were added about 6 months later. Initially everybody got along splendidly. The 2 orange were inseparable, as were the 2 black ones. About a month ago, things changed. One of the orange ones (assuming the female) began picking on one of the black ones. The other 2 just kind of hung back. Then the other 2 began picking on the black one too. Now the 3 (2 orange and 1 black) hang out and seem very happy, while the poor black guy hides in the corner. He's looking pretty beat up with his fins tattered, but he's still eating.
What should we do? Should we just let nature take it's course and hope for the best, or should we remove the beaten fish and try and find him a new home? Or something else?

 

[2Addicted]

The dominant pair will kill off the other ones.

 

[Gold Stripe]

Sounds like the Orange Female beat up the Black Female and the 2 Males joined in. They will continue until they kill her and then the Orange Female will probably pick off one of the other Males. I would take the Black pair out before you lose them both.

 

[beastrx]

Agreed, even if you can't see it all the time the clownfish can be brutal to each other. Take out the black clowns and leave the orange dominant pair.

 

[davocean]

I'd pull either the pair, keep black, or pull just the black, but 3's a crowd, someone's gotta go.
I like the blacks better, but lean towards having established pair, so your call there.

 

[SwampyBill]

It's not a good idea to have more than one pair of clowns per tank; unless it's much larger than a 55 gal. The dominant pair will continue to terrorize & eventually kill the weaker ones. I suggest you find out if your LFS will take one pair as a trade or partial credit. Get a copy of Joyce D. Wilkerson's book "Clownfishes-a guide to their captive care, breeding & natural history".

 

[KShappell3]

I would have to agree. I'm having clownfish problems in my tank, and I think the best thing for me to do is to just remove the clownfish and place it in another tank. If you don't have to let nature take its course, don't!

 

[SwampyBill]

As stated in another thread, KShapell3, your problem isn't the clownfish, but having a clown tang & koran angel with all the others in a 37 gal tank...Of course they're going to get aggressive in such a small tank. Those need at least 100 gal tanks to thrive well...