which to separate

[avoidtheboyd]

So i have recently added another clown to my tank to try to pair with my existing clown. I had separated the new clown in a breeder net for a few days before introducing to the tank. About a week went by where they were perfectly fine and had no issues with each other and even slept next to each other. I woke up this morning and the clowns were fighting. The original clown had nipped the tail fine of the new clown a little bit but he seems fine and doesn't seem to have any adverse affects from the nip. My goal for the moment was to just separate them so the one i could catch was the original.
My question is, should i leave the original clown in the breeding net and let the new clown have the tank for a week or so or should i switch the two out. I know clowns are very territorial so can having the new clown free roaming the tank make the territorial fighting worse?

 

[shifty51008]

what kind of clowns are they and what are their sizes?

 

[avoidtheboyd]

both are oscellaris and the existing clown is about 2 inches and the new clown is an inch and a quarter

 

[kcinnick]

A little nipping and fighting is normal

 

[avoidtheboyd]

But how normal is a nipped tail fin? It's not significant enough to seem to make a difference for him but it's a pretty good sized chunk out of the clear membrane on the tip of his tail fin

 

[OrionN]

They are just trying to settle down and determine their roles I the marriage

 

[slosht]

A little bickering between clowns is normal, especially when they are trying to determine dominance. What you are ideally looking for is the smaller of the two, (the new guy in this case) to submit to the larger clown.

Is the new guy shaking almost as if being electrocuted when the larger clown is nearby? Were both clowns hanging out together after the fighting or was the new guy hiding in the upper corner of the tank?
As long as the nipping doesn't get worse and they are not locking jaws they will figure it out.

To answer your question about which clown to keep in the breeder net, my suggestion is to put the estabilished clown in timeout, to give the new guy a chance to explore and establish territory. So leave the established clown in the basket for a week and then release into the tank.

 

[avoidtheboyd]

Yeah ill do that. i know clowns get aggressive when trying to get another to submit but i literally just hopped out of bed when i noticed the nipped tail and fighting so first chance that they came to the top i just swooped the net and caught one. didn't think about trying to observe if one was shaking or not. ill release in a week or so and observe after that.

 

[peco2004]

My clowns that I got together were fine in the beginning and then the bigger one started to fight with the little one nipping his fins. It was to the point I thought he was going to be killed, but the fighting has settled down and the little one has regained all his fins back. Once and awhile they fight but not often now.

 

[avoidtheboyd]

I guess they gotta duke it out a little to figure dominance but what's the point where you gotta separate them?