Clownfish Emergency

[Zer0]

Ok, seriously, i don't know what's up with my two ocellaris. They are REALLY fighting eachother. They are even biting eachother, and twice they were like lip locked together. They are doing it right now.. They keep biting at eachother. Please i need some help or info!! Is this bad!!??

 

[Etunes]

From my history with FW that sounds like there trying to figure out whos domonit. Trying to find out whos boss. cichlids often lip lock to find out who is gonna be top dog of the tank. Clownfish are damsels, which are apparently aggressive. So i am guessing they are doing what i said and making a pecking order.

 

[Zer0]

They've been going at it for so long now! They legit aren't stoping at all.


And this is SOOO why i don't like aggressive fish.. even if they are only semi-aggressive. This is pretty gut wrenching because i have no clue how to make them stop.. and i can't really do anything.. -_-

 

[Etunes]

I would wait for some one else to chime in with more experience but i would just leave them alone for right now and let them fight, cause like i said, it sounds like they are fighting for dominince in the tank. If they aren't doing any damage to each other i would just wait, atleast over night. If there is a moonlight for overnight i would leave that off. Another thing that people say works with clown fish is turn off the lights on the aquarium and rearange some things to reset there terrotries. But wait for someone else to chime in before you do that.

 

[juice28]

ok well clowns, particularly false percs arent aggressive..not even really towards each other..how long have they been fighting? (how long is sooo ling) and were they added at the same time? and both are oce's right? not a true pec and afalse perc... I have 3 clowns(false percs, 2 orange and 1 black) i put them in one at a time and they bickered a bit..mainly the two orange ones, i got them from the same shipment so they were about the same size so they had to establish order.. then I added the black one which was larger than both and she just came in and literally ran them around the tank for about 4 days. do you have an anemone hat one is hosted to? how large is your tank and do they have enough room so they can both have their own personal space?

 

[thincat]

Sounds like a dominants fight. This will happen if they are basicly the same size. They should be okay, just watch them. Not much you can do at the moment anyway.

 

[InfernoST]

Mine bickered for a little bit then stopped but they do take their own spots in the tank and when they want they hang around together then when they are done they go back to their spots. Try putting a little pile of rocks in the other corner of the tank but leave some space behind the rock. If I remember correctly all of your rock is piled in the corner with no back access and or hiding spots, try breaking it up a bit and give them their own places so to speak.

 

[Zer0]

I think thincat hit it right on the money. They are EXACTLY the same size, and even the same colors. Also, i didn't just pile up the rocks lol, there's actually tons of place for them to go, and they do. One is all the way in the rocks right now where i cant even see him. Whenever i shut the lights off and its dark they stop fighting, so i guess i could do that whenever they do..

 

[Zer0]

I think one of my clowns is on the verge of death now. i've looked closer at the fish and hes sustained some pretty bad rips and tears on his fins.. and has lost quite a bit of color on the edges of his fins. I hope he can make a recovery.. but i just don't see it.

 

[thominil]

Keep your water as clean as possible. Do not add any meds as they just complicate things. Transfer to a QT if needed.

 

[thincat]

+1 for Tmnl's comments.

 

[Zer0]

Yeah, i do keep it as clean as possible. The only thing that's high are the nitrates which don't really affect fish. Everything else is zero. He's swimming like normal, and eating like normal too.. he just looks beat up. I'll keep an eye on him.

 

[melosu58]

Also to help stop fighting cut off the lights and move some rock around. Works every time.

 

[juice28]

i just thought of this, but your clown may be sick and the other clown knows it, i had a sick clown and he just got beat up all the time...

 

[Zer0]

Melosu, that's exactly what i did. I cut the lights and they couldnt see eachother or something and they stopped completely.

Hmm.. maybe, but i dont know if hes sick. He looked perfectly normal the first couple days i had him. He swam, ate, and played around like a healthy fish would.

 

[MichaelsLilGray]

clowns are in the same family as damsals... and if anyone has taken care of damsals they would know.. they can be royal pains to eachother... you have a classic case of 2 fish fighting for dominance and territory.. 1 of 2 things will happen.. they stop fighting and take sides of the tank.. or one will die. thats unfortunately how this kinda stuff works.

 

[bbecher]

clowns are in the same family as damsals... and if anyone has taken care of damsals they would know.. they can be royal pains to eachother... you have a classic case of 2 fish fighting for dominance and territory.. 1 of 2 things will happen.. they stop fighting and take sides of the tank.. or one will die. thats unfortunately how this kinda stuff works.

Or the fact that they establish dominance, one becomes the female and they become a mated pair?

 

[CaptainAhab]

yup

 

[Zer0]

Well, come to think of it. Is there any consolation as to why they make these weird twitches whenever they are really close to eachother? It looks like they are vibrating in the water, and when they start to do that they just let themselves flow in the water while they are are still twitching. Maybe it's bad.. but i don't really think so because they do it alot.. lol.

 

[roka64]

Clowns being clowns....