What Are These Clowns Doing And What Should I Do

[Susie Q360]

I went to the lfs today to get another clown. I've got a new breedery too, with a lid. I put the new clown in it for a few hours and then released it into the main tank(18 gal Isolation tank),because the bigger clown was paying no attention to it. Well they started swimming on their sides and shivering at each other. They almost looked like they were schooling and even swimming in and out of the rocks that the bigger clown has been sleeping in. This went on for about 30 min then the bigger clown hit the smaller one. I recaught the smaller on and put it back in the breedery.
What did we do wrong? Any suggestions will be welcomed.

 

[Colin_T]

Juvenile clownfish are neither male nor female. They are unsexed subordinates. They have gonads but they haven't developed/matured yet. When a clownfish finds a home (sea anemone) it settles into it and become a female. If another juvenile clownfish turns up it becomes a male. Then any other juveniles that turn up stay unsexed. They do not develop into male or female, they just stay as juvenile fish.
If one of the dominant fish die, ie: the female dies, then the male will become a female and the most dominant juvenile/ subordinate become the male and the pr re-form (become a pr). Every other juvenile/ subordinate then moves up the pecking order one notch.

Any clownfish that has been kept on its own for more than a month will be a female. If you add another female to the tank they will often fight to the death. Some females will accept a new male but most will only accept a juvenile/subordinate.
If you want to add a new clownfish then try to get one that is tiny and comes from a group. If the shop only has one fish in the tank don't buy it. Wait until they get 10 or 20 little fish in and then buy the smallest one you can. This should give the new fish a chance to be accepted.

It also depends on the actual clownfish. Some go nuts over time and start killing everything in the tank. It is uncommon but has happened in my tanks on occasions. I put it down to something in the seawater where I was collecting it from. Since collecting my water from a different area I haven't seen any more of these problems.

There will be some bullying as the establish fish dominates the newcomer. Quite often the new fish will be driven into a corner and kept there for the first few days. Then once it is accepted it will start to swim near the older fish and in a couple of weeks they should have paired up. A well fed clownfish will be less likely to attack a newcomer so depending on how often you feed the fish perhaps increase the number of feeds per day. Regular feeding also bring the clownfish into breeding condition and a female with eggs will be more likely to accept a new mate.

If you are having trouble getting the old fish to accept a new fish then try leaving the new fish in a breeding net in the tank for a couple of days. This should give them time to argue but it will be through the net so the smaller fish won't be harmed. Then after a few days you can release the new fish into the tank and monitor them for any signs of aggression. Let them argue a bit but separate them if it becomes too rough and the big ones starts eating the small one.

 

[Susie Q360]

I've got the little one in the breedery. The big one seems to be ignoring it. Before I release it again should I rearange the decoratins and rocks? Would this help?

 

[Colin_T]

you can try re-decorating the tank but you still have an adult female and she will still bully the new one. It is just their nature. However, it might help to calm her down a bit and take some of the heat of the newbie

 

[SkiFletch]

Agree with Colin here. As we mentioned before, the best solution is to exchange the old one and get a pair of juveniles. Unfortunately the one you have now is a mature female who has a set territory that she feels like she's gonna defend with her life. Success by adding another male or juvenile is not common. You CAN try and re-do the rockwork in an attempt to break up the clown's territory but there's no guarantee that will work.

 

[Susie Q360]

They were sold to me as a. percula clowns. I’ll post a picture of the new one once I figure out how to post one here. They both have 10 spines, counting from the start of the front dorsal fin to the start of the back dorsal fin. Am I counting in the right place? The new clown was the smallest in the tank and their were 2 bigger in with it. I kept the new clown in a breedery all night and day, kept the lights off. We removed both fish and rearranged the tank. They seem to be doing fine now, no fighting , just swimming around together and shivering. Thanks for the help.

 

[SkiFletch]

10 spines = ocellaris, 8 spines = percula, 9 spines = hybrid