Clownfishy behavior??

[andira23]

So I bought two percula clowns from my lfs about a week and a half ago. Everything was cool, but now I'm noticing them chase each other around the tank...nipping....then they'll cool down get side by side and spaz out....thats what my wife calls it.... one or the other will "vibrate" for a second or two and then it all begins again... Whats going on?

80 gal tank, ph 8.2, amonia 0, nitrites 0, nitrates 2, 2 yellow bellied damsels, 3 pj cardinals, 2 wierd perculas 3 turbo snails

 

[chineseknife]

Are they juveniles, or adult? It may be that you have gotten either 2 males or 2 females and they are really fighting. Although,mine did the same thing when I first put them in. They were juvies and I am guessing they were kind of "deciding" which one was going to turn female and which was to stay a male. They also "vibrate" even now, when their anemone is getting encroached upon.

 

[andira23]

Hmm.... judging from the size, id say juves...they are just over an inch long...how big can they get?

 

[chineseknife]

pretty large, up to a few inches 4"-5" or so. I have even seen one 6"(6 years old)

 

[andira23]

damn!

 

[chineseknife]

Too big for your tank or what?

 

[TeenReefer]

this is quite normal. Both mine did it for a month or two, and then slowly one has grown bigger over the past year and a half. The two will fight until the more dominant one goes through a sex change to turn female (grows female reproduction organs) and will she will not be able to change back. If she dies than the he will make a sex change after a while if another clown is not introduced. Just monitor their "fighting" to amke sure it doesnt result in a fish loss. I wouldnt worry about it though. Good Luck!

 

[chineseknife]

What about maximum size TeenReefer?

 

[andira23]

appreciate it...I'm keeping an eye on em...I said darn, cause I couldn't believe they could get so big...I look forward to it though...I have a plenty big tank..80gal... wondering what else I could put in for it to be a nice comunity tank...Any suggestions?

 

[chineseknife]

Chromis, as general as they are, help bring the "community" type fish into the home aquarium. They will school for a while, and then usually a dominance breaks out and the schooling might stop. I started out with six and now have three left(I atribute the other hree deaths to my brittle starfish). But these three still school sometimes.

 

[tmkx3]

Hi was reading the last post sorry to but in but why do you think the brittle star had some thing to do with the loss of your fish?

My clowns do this vibrating thing too! They don't fight though. They are hosting a rock that they have dug a hole in front of. They protect it like crazy. I have a crab that likes to eat in front of there home. They tag yeam him. It's really funny to watch

Tinia

 

[chineseknife]

tmkx3- brittle stars have been known to form a sort of tent, lifting it's central disc off the substrate and standing on it's arms. Then it waits, for a tasy meal, slow swimming fish, sleeping fish and such. Also, no evidence of body present anywhere in the tank. I would have seen it as it wasn't missing long enough for it to have died of other reasons and the crabs to pick it apart, leaving a chewed up carcass floating around.
They do something that looks kind of like this..

Oh and btw- I traded it in once it got to be 13" across!!!!!

 

[StripesTheEel]

80 gallon..

your 2 percs..

try cardinals, grammas, firefish, chromis, dwarf angels or even a yellow tang

dont forget inverts, shrimp, snails and hermits

 

[TeenReefer]

chineseknife, to answer your question, male clownfish will usually be smaller than the female. You were right as of the 4"-5" range, with males being on the lower end as adults and females on the higher, very similar to livebearing freshwater fish such as swordtails and platies.