tattered maroon clownfish

[s.petrone]

hi everyone,

im having a bit of clownfish trouble. i recenlty purchased 2 maroon clownfish. both of which seemed to look the best out of multiple stores i have went to. i added them to my 30 gallon tank. right off the bat they started fighting, which i though could have been normal for the female to chase the male. although we arent sure if they both are female or if one is a male and the other is a female. the problem is it has been about 5 days now and the one clown hides under the live rock. he has barley any fins left on him, they are all bitten up. i was considering moving him into my 10 gallon tank (which has a pair of ocellaris clownfish in it) until he seems to be getting better. does anyone have any advice on what to do or how to help heal him?

 

[thincat]

Okay, I bet you bought two M clowns of the same size. Clowns are born males and the larger of the two will become the female. If they are the same size they will fight to the death to decide which will be the female. Maroons are one of the fierces of all the clowns and the fight you are having is normal. It is far better to buy a mated pair of maroons or at the least buy one clown much larger then the other to avoid the fights.

 

[s.petrone]

yes i did, they were fairly the same in size. i wish i would have known. is there anything i can do to save him. i guess i should let them fight to see but i feel so bad for him. he doesnt come out during the day or the night for that matter. hes completely hidden under the rock, and he barley eats if he eats at all.

 

[thincat]

I'm afraid that there is not much you can do. Maroon's are the worse and hardest to pair off. I wish I had better information to give you but that is a hard lesson to learn...

 

[melosu58]

Being a smaller tank does not help. See if maybe your LFS will let you return for store credit. Alot of LFS will just throw two clowns together and say they are mated when they are not.

 

[milhous3er]

You can try to take the more agressive clown out and put the non-aggresor in the tank for a day or so. Then re-arrange the rock so there are no territories anymore. Also try to keep the light off for awhile.

These are all things that I was going to try to do with my clowns. I decided its not worth the headache and possibly the loss of $30+

 

[mr_X]

in a 30, i doubt the rock rearranging will work. it didn't work for me with tangs in a 195.
i suggest removing at least one of them. maroons get to be about 5" when full grown.