Claw Atticas
Aquarium Advice Apprentice
- Joined
- Jul 3, 2008
- Messages
- 41
I've noticed ever since I put my clownfish in the 3 week QT for Brooklynella, the female's been fighting with the male, leading to separation-by-breeder-net... I put them back in the main tank, and she's still fighting with him. (Humorously enough, she nags him, then does the 'clownfish waggle', to which he sometimes responds in kind)
The other day I saw him laying on the sand against the bubble-wall-maker, and thought she had 'nagged' him to death, so I went to grab him with the net, and he swam up away from the rock, seemingly very fine, and unfortunately only to be nagged by the female again. I chased the female away from the male, and noticed the male's dorsal fin was a little ragged, possibly causing him to have difficulty in swimming. The male, instead of swimming upward, 'hovered' (or 'climbed') up the live rock, where I caught him in the net, and put him in the breeder net I used for him to hide in QT.
Now in the breeder net, he seems to swim around just as well as the female, but his dorsal fin still doesn't look near as good as the female's. My questions:
1) What should I do about these two? I've moved the live rock around before, but it didn't seem to work. I turn the lights out, but it only makes her bother him less under the moon-light (LEDs). Before I put them in QT, they were fine with each other (Although they were younger then, and possibly she's grown aggressive with age)
2) I've thought of getting a firefish (pondering between purple or regular, leaning towards regular). That wouldn't have any problems with a clownfish, would it? The compatibility chart at liveaquaria.com says they're compatibile, and the clownfish is the only one it's fighting with.
3) If I have to give the female back to the LFS, will the male's dorsal fin heal back to normal?
Picture of the male (The dorsal fin doesn't look near as bad as I originally thought, but still it's been nipped at, and so has his tail)
(Pictured in the back is the pill-cutter I use to split frozen food cubes)
The other day I saw him laying on the sand against the bubble-wall-maker, and thought she had 'nagged' him to death, so I went to grab him with the net, and he swam up away from the rock, seemingly very fine, and unfortunately only to be nagged by the female again. I chased the female away from the male, and noticed the male's dorsal fin was a little ragged, possibly causing him to have difficulty in swimming. The male, instead of swimming upward, 'hovered' (or 'climbed') up the live rock, where I caught him in the net, and put him in the breeder net I used for him to hide in QT.
Now in the breeder net, he seems to swim around just as well as the female, but his dorsal fin still doesn't look near as good as the female's. My questions:
1) What should I do about these two? I've moved the live rock around before, but it didn't seem to work. I turn the lights out, but it only makes her bother him less under the moon-light (LEDs). Before I put them in QT, they were fine with each other (Although they were younger then, and possibly she's grown aggressive with age)
2) I've thought of getting a firefish (pondering between purple or regular, leaning towards regular). That wouldn't have any problems with a clownfish, would it? The compatibility chart at liveaquaria.com says they're compatibile, and the clownfish is the only one it's fighting with.
3) If I have to give the female back to the LFS, will the male's dorsal fin heal back to normal?
Picture of the male (The dorsal fin doesn't look near as bad as I originally thought, but still it's been nipped at, and so has his tail)
(Pictured in the back is the pill-cutter I use to split frozen food cubes)
How long has this been going on? It sounds pretty normal as far as clowns establishing their dominance. The female of my pair hammered the male for a good 2 weeks before she let him alone. He took a beating, but it never looked like it was being killed.
