Ocelleris Clown eating my Mollies

[stresco]

Ok, I decided to turn my 10gal QT into a FO tank and move it to my room. I found some great pieces of rock and dead coral skeletons on the beaches of FL last week and placed them in the QT tank where i was breeding SW mollies for feeder fish for my tusk and eel. The mollies liked the new hiding places so they were happy. On thursday, I bought 2 Ocelleris Clownfish and added them to the tank with the 3 mollies i had left. I figured all would be OK, because the Clowns are half the size of the mollies. This afternoon i notice that one of the 2 mollies that are left of the the 3 (i will elaborate in a minute) was hiding between some rock and the glass of the tank and half of his tail is missing!!! :? I thought he got himself stuck, so i move the rocks around him to free him, and as soon as he starts swimming around the tank, one of the Clowns darts over, nips a piece of the molly's tail off and eats it 8O !!! I had no idea that they would do that. I mean shoot, they are so much smaller than the mollies. ACK!

As for the 3rd missing molly. I was doing a water change last night and as I was cleaning the tank the poor guy got sucked up into the intake of the filter The impeller took his head clean off. (Didn't he see "Finding Nemo"? It didn't work in the movie either.

 

[steve-s]

Clowns are still damsels and in a smaller environment like a 10 gal, size doesn't matter!

On thursday, I bought 2 Ocelleris Clownfish and added them to the tank with the 3 mollies i had left. .

The above combination will not work nor will any other with 5 fish. You should remove one set or the other or you will definately loose the mollies. Clowns can be extremely territorial and tail nipping is a definate sign of aggression.

Cheers
Steve