Clowns

[ambulocetus]

I have two clowns, which hve been doing great for about a week. All of a sudden one of them has started to breath fairly heavily, and appears to 'wobble' from side to side as he swims. The other clown (and my hawk fish) are oing great. All three are eating fine so far too? Any help would be really appreciated!!! Thanks

 

[quarryshark]

Clown wobble, thats just how they swim. Watch the heavy breathing, but as long as he is eating...thats a good sign.
I wouldn't worry yet, just keep a good eye on him.

 

[ambulocetus]

hrm Thanks quarryshark. Couldn't get him to eat brineshrimp today grr... here is a stupid question ... can they "choke"?, he always seems to suck up the cc base, or pull fairly large bits off the lr can they sort of get lodged in his mouth? (grasping at straws here!! lol)

 

[quarryshark]

I suppose they can, but my angel eats off the sand a lot and spits out a lot of sand too. I wouldn't worry about that.
Brine? Its not a very good food. Try mysis shrimp instead.
Also, my clowns love flake food, try it.

 

[ambulocetus]

okay, could it possibly be that one is dominating the other? I see one chasing the gasping one, and he seems to be afraid to eat (will only attempt to eat if the other is far away) - good call on the flakes, they loved them!

 

[luntiz]

If they are not mated pairs then the more dominant one will harass the least dominant one. The gapsing could come from the harassment from the dominant clown.

 

[ambulocetus]

anyway to stop that (moving around rocks etc?) or will it happen as long as they are together?

 

[luntiz]

This will continue until either one dies or they both get along...which from what I read is a bit risky because most likely one will die.

 

[seacat]

I was at my lfs and while talkin to the help there we got on the topic of clowns and he said that it is normal for them to fight for the first week or 2...which ever one become more dominant than the other will become a female and the weaker one will become a male. He talked like this was normal in all cases. So hopefully he doesn't kill your more dominant one doesnt kill the other one on accident.