2 ocellaris clowns in 14 gal biocube fighting and both twitching?

[italiababe4]

Hi. I am new to saltwater fish tanks so please forgive me for my knowledge. It's a hobby of my boyfriends and I'm still in the learning process. Here is the dilemna...
Our tank is a 14 gal biocube. We first bought our black ocellaris. He/she has adjusted well in our tank. After 2 weeks we decided we wanted to add a second clown to our tank in which we added a orange ocellaris. Both similar in size but our black clown is noticibly slightly bigger than our orange clown. We have had the 2 clowns for about a month without a problem. They stayed close by each other and acted fine. Tonight we noticed intense fighting egged on by out black clown and will not leave our orange clown alone. Our orange clown is now in the corner of the tank and the black one is tormenting it. The orange one is NOT backing down as I have read that males will be submissive. BOTH are twitching which is not a topic I have been able to find. They only stop fighting with the lights off. But my orange clown will not come out and the black clown is just hovering below. They just began to also stick their faces out of the water and bob up and down. My worry is I have 2 females and one is going to die. Please can someone help explain this? As I said my knowledge is very minimal and I have tried to attach a photo of our two clowns so you can see them. Please help.

 

[bribo12]

How large are they? Mine are a pair and my big female still beats the living day lights out of the male some days. It sounds like they're establishing dominance. But I could be way off

 

[italiababe4]

Our black clown is roughly 2in. And our orange is 1 1/2 inches rough est. Barely a half inch apart though.

 

[bribo12]

The orange is beating up the black? Hmm idk it may be possible they're both females in which case you'd need to rehome one. I'd keep watching for aggression. No ripped fins right? Still eating?

 

[italiababe4]

Oddly the black clown who is showing more aggression does have a tiny abrasion on its fin from our orange clown who is not showing any signs of backing down. The black clown initiates the attack and the orange fights back. Both were fed earlier and the black clown was chasing the orange during feeding but eating in the process. I just learned they began fighting prior to feeding.

 

[bribo12]

Lol clowns are funny. It does kinda sound like they're establishing dominance as both are fighting each other. When mine fight now it's not much of a fight. My big female nips the smaller one and he then shimmies against her.

 

[italiababe4]

The only submission I seen from the orange clown is he is staying in the corner of our tank above the power head not trying to be aggressive but when provoked and attacked he does attack back. I'm so new to this is it ok to have 2 different clowns in the tank?

 

[bribo12]

Yes as long as they're the same species. Just give them some time they should establish a dominance system. If it keeps going for a while and the injuries start getting worse I'd definitely find one a new home

 

[italiababe4]

And thank you for your feedback by the way. I started to get worried when I began reading forums and most stated one will twitch but not both and also one would be submissive which mine are not. I haven't had my fish for long but I definitely don't want anything to happen to either fish.

 

[italiababe4]

Ok and this brings up a topic on species. I wasn't present during the time of purchase for either fish. I go ogled the species of clowns tonight and from observation they both appeared to be ocellaris smowflake clowns but I can't be certain. How can I confirm this?

 

[bribo12]

I'm no good with the designer clowns but occelaris usually have less black highlighting around their white than perculas.

 

[italiababe4]

Here is a clearer picture of the 2 clowns. This photo was taken tonight during their battle lol.

 

[bribo12]

Lol I do believe they're both occelaris

 

[italiababe4]

Thank you for all your help. I will keep close eye to these 2 for the next few days! I Appreciate your time.

 

[bribo12]

No problem definitely keep me updated

 

[Cichlid-dude]

I think they are just settling a dominance and the fighting will die down in time. My female still beats the crap out of my male from time to time, then they cozy up with each other. Im sure they will be fine, give it a little time.

 

[Bectan01]

As long as they are both occelaris they should learn to get along. It must be mentioned though that the minimum tank size recommended for a pair is closer to 30g. Keep an eye on them!

 

[italiababe4]

Update on today.
Things have seemingly gotten more odd. Our black clown who was aggressive and trying to be more dominant is now the submissive. The orange clown is at one side of the tank and our black is in the other in a corner. When our black clown tried to leave this area our orange clown (who is a tad smaller) chases the black clown back down in the corner and our black clown twitches and shivers. The orange clowns twitching has become minimal. They are not fighting. Crazy how this was the complete opposite yesterday.

Also after reading up on saltwater tanks I am aware that the size tank we have is rather small. I don't think we will be adding more fish at this point as of now it will be live rock coral our shrimp and our clowns.

Any advice or feedback is appreciated. Thank you! !