Will a female kill a male?

[tcwoodrn]

I had an adult pair of ORA A-Picassos that I bought from a fellow reefer (they've been paired for 2 years). About 2 months ago the male came up missing overnight (never found his body). Never showed any stress or disease, ate like a pig the day before, and looked and acted completely normal.

I waited about a month and made sure everything was stable in the tank (never found any issue) and replaced him with a really nice semi-picasso juvie. The female is about 3" and the new guy is 1". She ran him off for the month up until about 4 days ago. They've been wiggling and dancing over near the GBTA (she lives in it) every night when the actinics are on. He won't go in the GBTA, I think its because when I first introduced him he swam right in it and it stung the hell out of him.

Anyway tonight they were dancing near the nem and he actually let it touch him a few times. All of the sudden the lights went out due to the timer. She spazzed out and grabbed his entire body with her mouth and pinned him to the sand for 1-2 seconds. He appears to be fine although he swam frantically like he was hurt.


Is this normal? Will she possibly kill him? I wonder if she killed her previous male.

 

[ThunderTang]

I don't like pinning him to the ground is normal but some clowns are much different and yes she may kill him. I've had that happen with a couple clowns I had in the past but luckily I picked some clowns that never fight.

 

[tcwoodrn]

Yah it wasn't like any of the other fighting I've seen before. I think she really freaked out when the lights went out. Wish there was a way to fade them out.

If she does kill him I would have to assume she killed the other male as well. Then its off to exile for her.

 

[CockyBrock]

There is a way to fade the lights out..but you'll need a fixture with separate cords...and you could set up two timers..one for your daylights and one for actintics, which you'd want to use to simulate dawn and dusk!

If you don't have a fixture that has separate plugs/cords..then you're out of luck.

 

[aquaph8]

For a long time my female wouldn't let my male in the house. She made him sleep out side for a while and she still kicks him out on occasion. They have been together since they were born too. They never fight, but she dominates him.

 

[tcwoodrn]

There is a way to fade the lights out..but you'll need a fixture with separate cords...and you could set up two timers..one for your daylights and one for actintics, which you'd want to use to simulate dawn and dusk!

If you don't have a fixture that has separate plugs/cords..then you're out of luck.

I have a 6 bulb T5 Tek light so I do cycles with my lights. The tank starts off 2 ATI Blue +, then day cycles with 4 Blue+ 1 Blue Speacial 1 Fiji Purple. Then it goes back to the 2 Blue +, then night.

Its just that going from 2 Blue+ to nothing seemed to scare her.